Mr. Touchdown: San Jose State Spartans’ Robinson has a nose for the end zone

SAN JOSE — Kairee Robinson only needed one good leg to make Alonzo Carter a believer.

Sitting next to NFL All-Pro running back Maurice Jones-Drew and legendary De La Salle head coach Bob Ladouceur in the Owen Owens Field stands, Carter watched Robinson, then a Spartans senior, rush for over 100 yards on a broken ankle. Carter, San Jose State’s running backs coach, knew he had to offer the five-foot-seven, 190-pound running back a scholarship. He did just that a week later.

“Just to see him out there leading his team even though he was injured, was amazing to see,” Carter recalled of his first impression of Robinson. “He gives you all he got. He has the warrior mentality and leaves it all on the field.”

Fast forward five years, and Robinson is on track to have his best season as a San Jose State Spartan and is quickly moving up the SJSU record book.

The senior is on pace to rush for over 750 yards for the season year in a row and has scored in each of the four games he’s played in, a pace that would give him 14 touchdowns, two shy of Tyler Irvin’s school-record of 16 set in 2015. With six rushing touchdowns this season, Robinson has 19 as a Spartan, already putting him in a tie for eighth all-time. He’ll crack the top-4 with two more rushing TDs.

Robinson’s contributions as a leader are just as important as his yards and touchdowns to the Spartans (1-4, 0-1 Mountain West), whose tough early-season schedule doesn’t get any easier with a showdown at Boise State (2-3, 1-0 MW) on Saturday.

“That man is the poster boy of what you want as a coach,” said Carter. “He’s so well respected in the locker room. He mentors the younger guys. I’m just proud of his development. He’s not the biggest kid, but he’s very impactful with his leadership. You’re starting to see his hard work pay off.”

Robinson gets much of his hard-working attitude and determination from his mother, Jessica Frey, who raised Kairee and his three siblings in Antioch as a single mother.

“It was a lot of $5 Little Caesars pizza for dinner,” Robinson said. “I love my mama cause she did everything she could for us.”

Robinson shined as a running back in the Antioch Youth Football League. Often the best player on the field, Robinson’s play attracted the attention of football coaches at nearby football powerhouse De La Salle High School.

“We lived in Antioch at the time and it wasn’t a great area,” Frey said. “I knew I had to get him out of there if he was going to succeed in life, on or off the football field. I wrote letters and he talked to coaches just so he could be seen.”

It was a dream come true for Robinson who enrolled at De La Salle in 2014. His favorite player growing up was Jones-Drew who also grew up in Antioch and played running back at De La Salle in the early 2000s’. Robinson grew up watching Jones-Drew tear up defenses for almost a decade in the NFL, and even had his jersey as a kid.

Robinson broke out during his junior year at De La Salle. He rushed for 2,012 yards and 26 touchdowns, and was named an All-Bay Area running back by the Bay Area News Group.

“He was a huge part of our offense, and on some nights, it felt like he was our entire offense,” said De La Salle head coach Justin Alumbaugh, who coached Robinson for three years.

As a senior, Robinson suffered a broken ankle which could have wiped out his final season with the Spartans. But Robinson played the whole season with the injury and still managed to rush for over 1,000 yards.

Robinson garnered interest from a few Division I schools, but no Power 5 teams. Because of his smaller stature, bigger schools shied away from the All-League running back.

He decided to take Carter’s offer and go to SJSU, but when he arrived, Robinson had to fight for playing time in a crowded backfield. Playing behind established Spartan tailbacks Tyler Nevens and the late Dejon Packer, Robinson had to earn every snap.

During Robinson’s first three years, his playing time fluctuated. The young running back had to wait his turn before becoming the team’s full-time starter.

“He was this young, big-haired, warm, fuzzy, laughable kid that always had a smile on his face,” Carter said. “I used to tell him that he needed to work for people to take him more seriously.”

Robinson’s breakthrough came last season as he ran for a career-high 752 yards and 10 touchdowns. Earlier this year, Robinson was named a Doak Walker Award candidate — an honor given to the best college running back in college football.

Now in his fifth season on the team, Robinson sees his role differently than he did when he was an underclassman. He’s evolved from being the young and loud kid in the huddle to now being the elder statesman who’s charged with bringing wisdom to a young Spartan offense.