Keenan Robinson (born July 7, 1989) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

. He played college football for the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, and was selected by the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

in the fourth round of the

2012 NFL Draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...

. He also played for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

and the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

Early life

Born in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

, Robinson attended

Plano East Senior High School Plano East Senior High School (commonly known as East, Plano East, or PESH) is a public secondary school in Plano, Texas (USA) serving high school juniors and seniors, as well as freshmen and sophomores as a part of the IB World School (beginn ...

Plano, Texas Plano ( ) is a city in Collin County, Texas, Collin County and Denton County, Texas, United States. It had a population of 285,494 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is a principal city of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Hist ...

, where he played football and ran track. In

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, he played linebacker and

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

, recording 273 career tackles with nine tackles for loss, five sacks, five forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries, six PBU, an interception, and a blocked punt. He was named an All-American by ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' and ''

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...

'' in 2006. In

track & field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

, Robinson was a two-time letterman, and was one of the state's top performers in the triple jump. He won the district triple jump championship as a junior. He got top-jumps of 6.71 meters (21 ft 11 in) in the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

and 13.88 meters (45 ft 5 in) in the

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

as a senior. In addition, he ran a 4.5

40-yard dash The 40-yard dash is a sprint covering . It is primarily run to evaluate the speed and acceleration of American football players by scouts, particularly for the NFL Draft but also for collegiate recruiting. A player's recorded time can have a he ...

, bench-pressed 280 pounds and squatted 450 pounds.

Recruiting

Regarded as a four-star recruit by ''

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

'', Robinson was listed as the No. 4 outside linebacker prospect in the class of 2007. He chose Texas over scholarship offers from

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...

and

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

, among others.

College career

Robinson

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

his initial year at Texas and spent the 2008 season mostly on special teams. As a sophomore, he started 14 games at outside linebacker and earned an honorable mention All-Big 12 selection. In 2011, Keenan was initiated into the Iota Delta chapter of

Kappa Alpha Psi Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African American fraternity. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911 at Indiana University Bloomington, the fraternity has never restricted membership on the basis of color, creed ...

fraternity at the University of Texas at Austin.

Professional career

Washington Redskins

Robinson was drafted in the fourth round of

by the

. Defensive coordinator,

Jim Haslett James Donald Haslett (born December 9, 1955) is an American football coach and former linebacker who is the head coach of the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL. He played college football for the IUP Crimson Hawks before being drafted by the Buff ...

, announced that Robinson will switch from the

outside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

position to

inside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

. On May 17, 2012, he officially signed with the Redskins to a four-year contract. He suffered a tear in his right pectoral muscle in the Week 12 win against the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

on Thanksgiving. On November 26, 2012, Robinson was placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

. Serving as a back-up to

Perry Riley Perry Alphonso Riley Jr. (born May 3, 1988) is a former American football linebacker. He was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He played college football at LSU. Early years Riley attended Stephenson ...

and on special teams, he recorded a total of 11 tackles. Keenan robinson redskins

On July 26, 2013, it was announced Robinson tore his left pectoral muscle the first day of training camp for the 2013 season and had expected to be inactive for three to five months. He was officially placed on injured reserve for the second year in a row on August 26. Robinson became a starter for the 2014 season, following the retirement of

London Fletcher London Levi Fletcher-Baker (born May 19, 1975) is a former American football linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons with the St. Louis Rams, Buffalo Bills, and Washington Redskins. He played college football ...

. In Week 1 of the 2014 season, he made his first career NFL start, a 17-6 loss against the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

, in which he recorded a total of 6 tackles. During the Week 4 45-14 loss against the

, Robinson recorded his first career interception off an

Eli Manning Elisha Nelson Manning (born January 3, 1981) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons with the New York Giants. A member of the Manning football dynasty, he is the youngest son o ...

pass that was knocked out of the hands of Giants receiver

Rueben Randle Rueben Jacob Randle (born May 7, 1991) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the New York Giants in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft. He played college football at Louisiana State University (LSU). He has also spe ...

by Redskins safety

Brandon Meriweather Brandon Meriweather (born January 14, 1984) is a former American football free safety. He played college football at the University of Miami, and was drafted by the New England Patriots in the first round of the 2007 NFL Draft. Meriweather h ...

, and was then picked off by Robinson. He had also recorded a total of 13 tackles in that game. In a Week 7 19-17 win against the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

, Robinson recorded a career-high 14 total tackles. He was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance. On Veterans Day 2014, Robinson received the Ed Block Courage Award as he was the Redskins' recipient for the annual award. In a Week 4, 2015 game against the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

, Robinson recorded his second career interception against

Tom Brady Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. (born August 3, 1977) is an American football quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He spent his first 20 seasons with the New England Patriots organization, with which ...

New York Giants

On March 10, 2016, Robinson signed a one-year contract with the

. On March 21, 2017, Robinson re-signed with the Giants. He was placed on injured reserve on November 14, 2017 after suffering a quad injury in Week 9.

Buffalo Bills

On July 24, 2018, Robinson signed with the

. On August 23, 2018, Robinson announced his retirement from the NFL.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Keenan 1989 births Living people Plano East Senior High School alumni Sportspeople from Plano, Texas Players of American football from Texas American football linebackers Texas Longhorns football players Washington Redskins players New York Giants players Buffalo Bills players Ed Block Courage Award recipients