UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- One year ago, a transfer defensive end made his presence felt immediately in his first game at Penn State.
Check that -- in his first play at Penn State.
And he only got better from there, going on to earn first-team all-Big Ten honors and second-team All-America honors.
That guy, of course, was Arnold Ebiketie, who transferred in from Temple and was way, way better than anyone could have imagined, starting off with a memorable 4-yard tackle for loss on the first play last season at Wisconsin. Ebiketie turned himself into a second-round NFL draft pick of the Atlanta Falcons.
Or, another way to put it, Penn State helped turn Ebiketie into a second-round draft pick -- taking only one year to do so.
Seeing that had to be eye opening for any potential young defensive end who might be considering a new home through the transfer portal. And as it turned out, a very impressive player from Maryland named Chop Robinson had been paying close attention to Ebiketie's success at Penn State.
"Just watching AK," Robinson said, "we're from the same area, so just seeing him develop from Temple to Penn State and watch all the weaknesses he had in his game and then just development to a higher level, I was like, OK, that's what I needed (in) my game."
It was very easy for Robinson to tell how much better Ebiketie had gotten during his time with the Nittany Lions.
"Way better," Robinson said. "It was just like a switch came on, and everything was different."
Robinson (6-3, 242) is from Gaithersburg, Md., while Ebiketie is from nearby Silver Spring, just 18 miles away. When Robinson entered the transfer portal in late March, Ebiketie took the time to give him a call.
"He called me, he was just like, 'OK, you know this is basically the last chance you have to make a second decision," Robinson said.
"He was just telling me, 'OK, I'm not telling you to come to Penn State.' He would just keep it real with me, have a man-to-man conversation. And he was like, 'OK, you need to go where you're actually needed instead of wanted.' Because a lot of people will want you, but you go somewhere you're needed, you can actually go in there and perform."
Did Robinson ask Ebiketie about how much better Penn State could make him?
"No, I just watched him, I watched a lot of other players that came in that transferred, and it was just a really big difference from where they were at to now," he said.
Robinson was a true freshman at Maryland last season and played in all 13 games. He finished with 19 tackles (2.5 for loss) and two sacks. He had been a highly rated prospect coming out of Quince Orchard High School, ranking as the No. 3 recruit in Maryland and No. 68 nationally.
Penn State was heavily involved in recruiting Robinson out of high school, so there already was a connection there between player and school. He camped at Penn State in June of 2019 and made an unofficial visit in December of that year.
As James Franklin has said frequently, the Lions prefer to have already had a relationship with a player if possible when considering potential transfers. And already having a relationship with Robinson, plus him being from one of Penn State's recruiting hotbeds, made it all the more natural that he would pick the Lions out of the portal.
"In high school, I was heavily recruited here, same coaches and everything," he said. "So once I hopped in the portal, I just felt like, OK, I know everything here, I know the pros and everything that can really help me develop my game. So I just feel like it was a no-brainer to come to the best school."
Robinson arrived in June and said he's "loving it here" at Penn State so far.
There clearly are high expectations for Robinson with the Lions, and he'll be expected to make an immediate impact this season since he's already got a full season of Big Ten experience under his belt.
What are his own expectations?
"I would just say get better as a player, get better as a person, work on my weaknesses and just win with my brothers," Robinson said.
Certainly having a chance to play in the NFL comes into play for a lot of transfers, and Penn State has shown it can develop guys for the pros. Robinson surely wants to follow in the footsteps of someone like Ebiketie in that regard, but that's a ways off, and he knows he has to stay focused on the here and now if he's going to achieve that goal.
"That's not really my main focus right now," Robinson said of a potential NFL future. "My main focus is camp, and then Purdue and just take it day by day."
