National attention-getting catch part of Robinson coming into his own as Nicholls receiver

Depending on the source, it was either the catch of the day, one of top plays of the day, or a candidate for catch of the year.

The play that seemed to capture the nation was a touchdown catch by Nicholls receiver David Robinson Jr. in the Colonels’ 38-7 home win last Saturday over Houston Christian University.

With HCU defensive back Devion Hargrove draped all over him, Robinson, a 6-foot-3 senior receiver, made a one-handed grab of a 14-yard touchdown toss from Colonels quarterback Pat McQuaide that staked Nicholls to an early 7-0 lead.

Robinson made the catch in such a fashion that no one in the game played on Manning Field at Guidry Stadium in Thibodaux actually saw the ball. Most saw the penalty flag thrown against Hargrove for pass interference.

More than just the pass interference calls motivated Robinson during his spectacular play.

“Me and him were kind of talking back and forth for probably the three previous plays,” said Robinson, referring to Hargrove. “He kind of got me going a little bit and kind of took it personal and was ready to go and just had to make a play right there.”

Robinson took a diplomatic approach to what transpired between he and the HCU defender.

“A lot of things I wouldn’t want to say in front of my mom, most likely. He brought the passion out of me and it felt good to play at that level,” the normally soft-spoken Robinson said.

While Robinson admitted it was the best catch of his Nicholls career, he had no idea it would garner such national attention.

Sam Acho of ESPN2’s college football highlight show called it the catch of the day. It was named the No. 3 play of the day on ESPN’s SportsCenter.

“After the game, got in at halftime and my phone is blowing up with all of the notifications. I saw the ESPN notification that everybody was sending me. That’s when I really found out,” said Robinson.

While praising the effort, many of the Nicholls coaches and players didn’t realize the magnitude of the reception at the time.

“We just ran fades. We felt like we would get one-on-one matchups outside,” said Nicholls offensive coordinator Rob Christophel. “David is long and tall. He’s a great matchup against a shorter defensive back. Pat went to that side. It wasn’t anything real complicated. It wasn’t rocket science. They just did a great job of executing and David made a Sports Center Top 10 catch.

“I think David just did a unbelievable job of fighting through everything that was going on with the DB and still concentrating and making an unbelievable one-handed catch. Great concentration.”

“When it actually happened, I did not know he caught it,” said Nicholls receivers coach Sean Murphy. “I saw the PI (pass interference) and I saw the flag come out. It was a play down there where we were taking a shot down to them. When they told me he caught it, I thought, initially, it had deflected off a defender and he caught it. When I actually saw it when I got home, it was one of the most incredible catches I have been a part of.

“He (McQuaide) went to the right spot. I thought David beat him (the defensive back) off the ball initially, but the ball was a little bit late, and that’s when I saw the PI happen, it was definitely thrown where it was supposed to be. He just made a spectacular catch.”

“I made it hard for him,” McQuaide said. “I didn’t make a great throw. He had a great release off the line. I kind of got it to him a little late, obviously, he made an incredible play.

“It’s funny – the national media, all the people outside of our circle, ‘oh, my God, David Robinson made this incredible catch, – that’s No. 5. That’s what he does. Nobody was surprised to see that from him. It’s a lot of hard work, a lot of time, a lot of throws, a lot of catches, that just showed on Saturday.”

At the time of the play, McQuaide said he thought of something that might have been more meaningful to the Colonels.

“That was the first time we had scored on an opening drive this year. That was kind of the big focus. Obviously, it was an incredible catch, and everybody was fired up for how amazing the catch was. After that, we put our foot on the gas at the beginning of the game. Instead of taking the first punch, we threw the first punch,” said McQuaide.

It was more than just the touchdown catch that was noteworthy for Robinson. For the sixth-year player at Nicholls whose father also played for the Colonels, it marked the first 100-yard reception day of his career after adding a 63-yard catch later in the game. It was the second week in a row that Robinson came up with a touchdown reception.

Robinson has come into his own in his final year at Nicholls, waiting for his turn to shine after sitting behind such Colonel stalwart receivers such as Damion Jeanpiere, Dai’Jean Dixon, and C.J. Bates in recent years.

“I sat behind JP (Jeanpiere) and 5 (Dixon) and I got to watch those boys play every year and really ball out. I’ve said this before, I looked at 5 like a role model. I talked to him before the game. I talked to him after the game. I try to be the same model for the young guys – if they need anything, ask me about routes, just some technique things that I didn’t know in high school,” said Robinson, who currently wears jersey No. 5.

“I’ll say this about David, he bleeds red and gray. He bleeds Colonel football,” Murphy said. “He’s from this area and is a guy that has continually shown up to work every single day and going on Year 6 now, and he’s really starting to get what he deserves. He works his butt off every day at practice. He’s starting to come on really like being the playmaker we always felt he could be.”