Mark Zerof-US PRESSWIRE
Sometimes the light comes on with the quick flick of a switch.
Sometimes it takes a long time for the light to shine.
Demarco Robinson took a full season to warm up, but Kentucky’s coaches are saying the sophomore wide receiver will be worth the wait come fall.
Robinson, who set a Georgia state record for receiving with his 1,655 yards as a senior, managed to rack up just 20 total yards of offense last season for the Wildcats.
“He had the big eyes, like all freshmen get at times,” coach Joker Phillips said. “He just never put everything together.”
This season, Robinson could open eyes around the SEC, not just as a go-to wide receiver, but also as a kick returner.
“His acceleration is ridiculous,” sophomore quarterback Maxwell Smith said of his favorite target in UK’s Blue-White spring game. “You get the ball in his hands and he can take off and just lose the guy in no time. Demarco has really good feet; he’s like a ballet dancer.”
Robinson caught passes of 69 and 21 yards from Smith en route to a team-best nine catches for 146 yards in the spring game.
In the scrimmage the week before, he had two other touchdown catches that drew rave reviews from Cats coaches.
“There’s something to be said for a guy that, every time you have a scrimmage, he makes a play,” Phillips said. “Demarco Robinson is that guy. Every time we came into (Commonwealth Stadium), he made a huge play for us.”
It’s been a slower process than Robinson and his coaches might have liked, but he’s started getting comfortable with the offense, which has turned him into a legitimate playmaker like he was at Martin Luther King High School in Georgia, where he caught 27 touchdown passes and returned two kicks for scores as a senior.
Robinson sometimes wondered if he’d be able to get back to that high school form. He breathed a sigh of relief after one of UK’s scrimmages this spring.
“It felt real good,” he said. “That’s really what I’ve been waiting for, just to catch that feel, the old feeling. It felt good. … It amps your confidence up.”
It won’t take nearly as long for him to warm up come fall, Robinson predicted.
“I’m finally getting the hang of the game,” he said. “It’s my second year; I’m just feeling better about the whole situation.”
