Playing cornerback at the University of Georgia is a tough business. You face elite SEC receivers and potential future NFL quarterbacks on a weekly basis. You do it under the supervision of one Kirby Paul Smart, a man who may know as much about defensive back play as any football coach in America, and isn’t shy about sharing that knowledge at high volume. And as if that weren’t enough you ply your trade in front of millions of fans who know 1/3,000,000th as much about your task than Smart, but all believe
they know 3 times more. Just ask Bryan Evans, or maybe Kelee Ringo. You can do this job at an All-American level on 98 out of 100 snaps and still get constantly yelled at by an insurance agent from Snellville like you’re Steve Spurrier kicking a puppy through the express lane at Publix with 28 items in your cart.
Being a highly-toured cornerback recruit in Athens is a risky business. And few cornerback recruits have ever arrived in Athens with the hype of Ellis Robinson, IV. Robinson signed with Georgia as the #2 overall recruit in the class of 2024 out of IMG Academy. He had the frame, speed and ball skills to play in the SEC from the moment he stepped on campus. Yet Robinson played in just four games totaled only 50 total defensive snaps during a freshman season that ended with a redshirt.
Now however, after flying under the radar a bit, Robinson appears poised to make an impact. In fairness what kept Robinson off the field last season was Georgia’s depth and uncharacteristically good injury luck at the cornerback position. Daylen Everette, Daniel Harris, and Julian Humphrey started essentially every game. With Humphrey transferring to Texas A&M Robinson moves up into that rotation a major way. And while he’a not the only young corner looking to make a spot for himself, he is the one with stratospheric upside and equally stratospheric hype attached to him.
Reports from the second scrimmage of fall camp had Robinson actually starting ahead of Harris opposite Everette. I wouldn’t necessarily take that as a sign that he’s passed Harris in the pecking order, but it is a sign that Robinson is going to play significant snaps from week one. He is absolutely going to be one-on-one against some of those elite receivers I referenced earlier with the game on the line.
And while it’s those downfield one-on-one matchups that will be closely watched by Bill from Buena Vista before he calls in to the postgame show, where Robinson will need to step up most is in the run game. If there was a hole in his game coming out of high school it was Robinson’s ability to own his sideline in the run game. Playing physically against the run isn’t optional in the SEC, and it darn sure isn’t optional in the tee of Kirby Smart. If Robinson has grown in that role over the course of the past year, he will elevate the potential for this cornerback unit significantly.
2025 floor: Third corner who plays significant snaps on the way to a clear starting spot in 2026.
2025 ceiling: Inches his way into Harris’s starting spot and flourishes in that role on the way to a 2nd team All-SEC season.
Go ‘‘Dawgs!!!
