Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/115002
A llen Robinson never expected to coast through Penn State���s off-season. He had no intention of resting on the accomplishments of a breakout sophomore year in which he led the Big Ten and set a school record with 77 catches for 1,013 yards. But just in case, head coach Bill O���Brien and conditioning coach Craig Fitzgerald have continued pushing the talented receiver the past few months. ���With Coach O���Brien as the head man, I don���t think you ever can rest,��� Robinson said. ���Same thing with Coach Fitz. Those guys push me every day as if I had zero catches. Coach O���Brien was joking around yesterday, saying I had a good year and stuff, but that catching the most passes of anyone in the Big Ten is like being the world���s tallest midget.��� Big Ten teams don���t tend to fling the ball around with abandon, and those that do tend to finish at the bottom of the league standings. At least that was the case before Penn State went 6-2 in conference play last year with a radically redesigned offense. But world���s tallest midget? That���s cold. Especially considering that Robinson is looking anything but diminutive these days. One look at his chiseled physique and you understand just how determined Robinson is to continue his rapid ascent. Thanks largely to Fitzgerald, who was only too happy to open up the weight room when Robinson would text him at 5 a.m., the 6-foot-3 junior-to-be has added 10 pounds of muscle during the past four months and now weighs about 209 pounds. He expects the extra weight to help him in any number of ways this coming fall. ���We want to be aggressive on the edge,��� Robinson said. ���We want to be a little chippy at times, whether it���s blocking, route-running, going up for balls, things like that. We want to have the edge as receivers. I know the guys BIG BANG THEORY Will an intensive off-season training regimen help Allen Robinson make an even stronger impact this coming fall? John Beale