Blue and Gold Illustrated

UNDER THE DOME dropped from 26 against Texas to 23 versus Vir- ginia, and then to 18 against both Georgia Te c h a n d C l e m s o n , while totaling only five catches for 60 yards (compared to Brown's 20 for 261 yards and two scores). V e r s u s U M a s s Sept. 26, Robinson's knee locked up during stretching drills. "I don't know what the moral of that story is," Robinson said with a chuckle. "It was just one of those freak occur- rences." Yet the nadir of his N o t r e D a m e c a r e e r would occur in the 24-22 loss at Clemson Oct. 3. Robinson dropped a pass in the end zone and let a two-pointer slip through his grasp after the Irish cut the deficit to 21-9. They weren't simple catches, but Rob- inson had raised the bar enough his first two sea- sons when he made the most difficult of recep- tions, especially in prac- tice, look routine with his flypaper hands. "I just didn't make the play there and step up when I needed to," Rob- inson said. "You can't blame it on anything. You can't blame it on the weather, you can't blame it on the throws … as a receiver, my one job is to catch, and I didn't do that." He was touched by how teammates and coaches had his back, especially after a long conversation with head coach Brian Kelly two days after the game, but recognizes the ultimate solution rests on him. "The one thing I know, I can't take anything se- riously except for what I put on the practice field," Robinson said. "The work that you put in is the only kind of capital of hard evidence that you have. That is the one thing I have to go back to. … I can't put stock in the articles and the projects. It can change — like it has." "I believe in Corey," Kelly said. "Corey's got to believe in himself, and he will. He's got to go attack the football. He's letting the football come to him. He's let- ting it eat him up a little bit … once he starts at- tacking the football, I think we're going to see somebody that can make the plays that we expect him to make." Robinson is bent on not letting the current malaise define him or his football career. A 2 0 1 4 A c a d e m i c A l l - American after catching 40 passes that averaged 13.5 yards and included five touchdowns, Robin- son is aware of theories that he might be spread- ing himself too thin or, because he is the jack- of-all-trades, he might not be a master of any, including reaching his full potential as a foot- ball player. NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL TICKETS 25 YEARS IN BUSINESS Call today for Special Discount 1-800-925-2500 www.NotreDameTickets.com

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