ATHENS — It probably will come as no surprise to find out that Gerald Robinson was good at sports other than basketball. Football, especially.
A senior guard for the Georgia Bulldogs, Robinson starred as a running back in the youth programs in and around Nashville when he was a kid. Usually he would line up in the backfield and take a lateral around one end or the other.
“I’d just hit the sideline and go,” said the Bulldogs’ senior guard, laughing.
Fortunately for Georgia, Robinson gave up all other sports to focus on the one he plays now.
“Football was a little too much contact,” said Robinson, who also was a good baseball player. “And I didn’t like the constant stoppage in play. Same thing with baseball, too much standing around. Basketball was like a happy medium?”
Raw speed is what made Robinson such a good football player, and it’s one of his primary assets in basketball, too. His quickness and acceleration will be on full display Saturday as the Bulldogs (10-11, 1-6 SEC) take on Tennessee (10-12, 2-5) at 8 p.m. in Knoxville. Georgia will attempt its first sweep of the Vols since 2001.
The Vols can attest to how Robinson’s speed translates on the hardwood. Robinson was Georgia’s only double-figure scorer, with 16 points, when the Bulldogs defeated Tennessee in overtime 57-53 on Jan. 18 in Athens. Two of Robinson’s points tied the score with 17 seconds remaining in regulation, and he sank a pair of free throws with 26 seconds left in overtime, giving Georgia a three-point cushion it never relinquished.
Robinson’s speed has been a constant in an otherwise up-and-down season for the Bulldogs. They lost their third consecutive game, all since that Tennessee game, with a 59-51 loss at Auburn on Wednesday. Robinson led the way with 16 points, and he is the team’s No. 2 scorer at 13.5 points per game. He has scored in double figures in all but two of Georgia’s SEC games.
“Quickness and speed, in any sport, often determines how successful you are,” Georgia coach Mark Fox said. “It’s hard to guard it. It’s hard to match up with it. So it’s a vital asset to have in any sport. Obviously Gerald is one of the faster guys in the league, especially with the ball in his hands.”
Robinson comes by it naturally. His father, Gerald Sr., who is the men’s and women’s tennis coach at Tennessee State, was a multi-sport star in high school in Mobile and won several championships as a sprinter.
“It’s probably just genes,” Robinson said. “I’ve heard it since I was a kid, that speed and quickness has always been one of my assets. Sometimes I don’t realize how fast I’m going because it gets me in trouble sometimes. It’s kind of like a gift and a curse. Sometimes I go faster than I need to.”
Oddly enough, Robinson said he has no idea exactly how fast he is. He never ran track in high school, and the only timed runs he has had at Georgia have been condition-related, distance runs.
But Robinson’s teammates said his speed was evident the day he showed up as a transfer from Tennessee State in 2009.
“One of the fastest guys I’ve seen,” said senior Connor Nolte, who arrived the same year. “When you see him get a steal, if he gets one step you know nobody’s going to catch him. You just assume he’s going to get to the hoop first.”
Robinson believes he is as quick as anybody he faces.
“I always feel like I’m faster than whoever else is out there,” he said. “But I’m always trying to be the best basketball player. This is not track and field.”
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