Arguably the best football player in the 2023 NFL Draft has no shot at going No. 1 overall, and it would be a bit of a surprise if he goes in the top-10. Bijan Robinson, a running back out of the University of Texas, spent three productive years in college and showcased the sort of all-around skillset that NFL teams covet out of the backfield. At 5’11 and 215 pounds with a 4.46-second 40-yard dash, Robinson is one of the best blends of speed, power, agility, and versatility to come into the NFL in some time.
A unanimous All-American and the Doak Walker award winner for the best running back in college football during the 2022 campaign, Robinson toted the rock 539 times for 3,410 yards and 33 touchdowns across three years in Austin. He caught 60 balls for 805 yards and eight scores in college, too. Upon hearing his name called at some point on Thursday night, Robinson will immediately become one of the most dangerous all-around running backs in the NFL.
Prior to the start of the draft, Uproxx Sports caught up with Robinson through his partnership with USAA to discuss the best advice he’s gotten, his skill set, how people value running backs, and much more.
What do you have going on with USAA?
I’m partnering with USAA. It’s definitely an amazing time — I was here in Kansas City last week and went to the Whiteman Air Force Base here in Kansas City. And we did a lot of different things, toured the B-2 and the A-10, it’s pretty amazing, pretty special, how, first of all, how big they are. And then to see what they use those for, just to help this country to save so many lives in this country, it was definitely amazing. And then on top of that, just getting to meet so many, men and women in the military, definitely amazing to hear their stories.
And for myself, where the personal connection comes in, my stepdad, he was in the military as well. So just even comparing those stories, and to see just how hard they work, it’s just like football for me. They prepare, they work out, they have to keep themselves in shape in order to do things the right way. And then I think one of the coolest things that I did, I went into the helicopter, and we went up to ride around the city of Kansas City and look at the draft site. And it was pretty amazing, man. It was a great time there. I just had so much fun being a part of it. I want to thank all the men and women in the military, and just all the hard work that they do and what they sacrifice in order to keep this country safe.
You were in Kansas City, where the draft is going to be taking place. We’re two days away from the draft and this entire process being over, and you knowing what your future is going to hold. How does it feel to know that the draft is only two days away now?
It’s definitely really exciting. I’m super pumped to see where I go, where I end up, definitely a blessing to even be here with so many great guys. I know that God’s gonna place me on the right team and the right situation. I’m just super excited to see where I end up.
What’s the best piece of advice that you’ve gotten from anyone — it could be a family member, someone in football, whatever — in the lead-up to the draft about whatever you’re going to experience on Thursday?
The best advice I got was definitely from my grandpa, I call him dad. He said just enjoy every single moment that you get, because I only get this moment one time, and I got to enjoy every single moment, be positive, smile, just understand that not a lot of people are blessed to be in this position. So, have to just make what it’s worth and understand that this is nothing but a blessing that I’ve been presented with, and I’m just enjoying every single moment that I get during this time.
So I’ve watched your tape, I watched you for years at Texas. And I guess my big question is, is there anything in football that you’re not good at? Because you seem to be good at everything.
[laughs] Man, shoot, I got lots of things to work on! I can always improve on every aspect of my game, whether it’s pass catching, running the football, blocking, I think I always have room for improvement and always want to get better, man. As much as I do work on those things, obviously God gave me a gift to play the position that I play, but even I got to work on that. But I appreciate the compliment, I try to work on everything in my game every single day to try to get better, whether it’s with my vision or watching film or mimicking certain guys that I watch on film. So, there’s always room for improvement for me.
When you’re sitting down meeting with NFL teams and talking about yourself, what’s the biggest thing that you want to highlight as you make the case for, hey, I’m a good guy to bring into your organization?
I’ll just say me being versatile — lining up at receiver, at slot, running back, and being just as effective in those positions as I am at the running back position. It’s definitely very rare to find somebody that can do all three, or do things like catch the ball out the backfield and become a mismatch with corners and safeties. But I think when you do get a guy that can do those types of skill sets and abilities, that’s where your value in the position goes extremely high. That’s what I would say to NFL teams.
So you talk about the value that you bring to the position. Have you ever seen the discourse where people say maybe don’t pick a running back so high for one reason or another? And what do you think about the belief that like the running back position is devalued, or whatever people say?
I understand it, there’s a lot of one-dimensional running backs. I think that the value of the position should become high because you got guys like Christian McCaffrey, Alvin Kamara, Saquon [Barkley] that can do so many things for their offense. And I think that without those guys, maybe their offense isn’t what it is. So, if you have that type of ability, and that type of skill-set to do so many different things for your team, then that’s what makes position value what it should be. But you know, a lot of people have opinions and a lot of people say different things, but at the end of the day, it’s who’s gonna draft you, it’s what they think of you the most. We’ll just see and find out on Thursday.
Yeah, I feel like people like to say that, and then they see, like, Christian go to the Niners, and they go, wait, no, that’s unfair.
Exactly. And for me, I feel like it’s more of just a situation that you’re put in, if you’re in the right situation, then that’s when your value grows even more. But obviously, you can’t control where you go, so you got to make the best of any situation that you get put in.
Over the course of your football playing career, who have been the running backs that you’ve liked watching the most, and what is it about these guys that you see and you’re like, man, they do something that I maybe want to try and work on to add to my game?
I love to watch LaDainian Tomlinson, Marshall Faulk, Barry Sanders, those kind of guys, they’re kind of older school running backs. But I just love to watch and see how they played the game, because they can catch the ball out the backfield and they know how to get themselves out of situations that are uncommon. Not just running through these big holes and finding open gaps, but they know how to make moves in the backfield and still get 10 yards, 20 yards, or even a home run.
Even just seeing that and understanding how I want to play my game and do different things in my game that they’ve done, it’s pretty special to watch them. I’ve watched them throughout the years, got their game tape, still study them on every single play. So, those are some guys who I love to make my game after and see what they can do on the field, too.
Yeah, I think I saw the other day that Barry tweeted good luck to you. Is that the first time you’d ever had any kind of back-and-forth with him?
Yessir, yes it was. And that was a pretty special moment, as well.
My last question, I know that while you were in college, you had an NIL deal for your own mustard, so I need to know what does Bijan Robinson put on a hot dog?
Oh, you got to put on the Bijan Mustardson. You got to put it on a hot dog. I think it’s grown to be the best condiment that’s out there. I definitely got to get you some to try, but it’s definitely a good condiment to have. It’s really tasty, really good. It’s been really fun just to be a part of that and see how it’s been growing these past seven, eight months. It’s been amazing.
I’m a big mustard guy.
There we go!
So I see every NIL deal come across and that was the first one where I was like, “Oh, hell yeah, I need to one day get my hands on a bottle of that.”
Yessir, absolutely.