Roderick Robinson II is ready to be the guy at UAB

Roderick Robinson II spent three years at Georgia learning how to play running back at the highest level. He just never got the chance to show it.

A four-star recruit out of Lincoln High in San Diego, Robinson arrived in Athens as the 13th-ranked back in the 2023 class. He flashed as a true freshman — 70 yards on seven touches in the Orange Bowl — and then the injuries came. Turf toe wiped out most of 2024. A broken ankle followed. By the time he entered the transfer portal in January, Robinson had appeared in just 17 games across three seasons and had more time logged studying film than carrying the ball.

He’s done waiting.

“I just wanted to go somewhere where the coaches believed in me, had almost as much confidence in me as I do in myself,” Robinson said on UAB’s Inferno Podcast. “Coach Brig and Coach Mitchell, they provided that. They told me what it was from the jump and how much they believed in me and all the confidence they had in me. Just hearing that from the people that are going to be putting you on the field, it tends to give you that security that you’re looking for.”

What Georgia built

Robinson doesn’t talk about his time in Athens like a player who got buried on a depth chart. He talks about it like someone who went to grad school.

“When I got to Georgia, I just took it for what it was and really appreciate it — being able to go against a great defense every day in practice with one of the greatest defensive coaches as a head coach,” Robinson said on the podcast. “… Having to sit a little bit, I mean, you could make it a negative or you can make it a positive. And I always try to make things positive. Being able to sit that time, especially with the injuries, it really allowed me to be able to watch more film and learn the game a lot more.”

The details reveal how much he absorbed. Robinson rattled off pre-snap reads like a quarterback — identifying pass protection assignments, reading blitz packages, diagnosing coverages — all things he says he never encountered in high school.

“Now I can look pre-snap and see, OK, who do I have to pick up in pass protection, who can come, who can’t come — if I get out on my route, who would be guarding me,” he said. “It just makes things easier for me and the quarterback.”

He also inherited something less tangible. Georgia’s culture runs on what Robinson called “bloody Tuesdays” — full-contact, high-intensity practice days designed to simulate game speed. Connection was a core team value. Robinson brought both with him to Birmingham.

Birmingham was always the play

The UAB connection wasn’t random. Robinson’s father, Roderick Sr., was born and raised in Birmingham — a story Steve Irvine detailed in a feature for the Birmingham Banner that traced the family’s roots through Smithville, West End, Center Point and Pinson Valley. Robinson’s grandmother still lives near campus. As a kid, Robinson rode past UAB with his family on trips to Birmingham.

“My dad is from Birmingham,” Robinson said on the podcast. “I grew up in South Carolina for a lot of my life with my mom and my grandparents.”

Even before he committed, Robinson had a feel for the place. “With my family being from Birmingham, I always just hear about — we rode past the school a couple times growing up,” he said.

Running backs coach Danny Mitchell — a San Diego native who knew Robinson from the 7-on-7 circuit — made the initial call. The full story of that phone call, including the 619 area code Robinson mistook for San Diego State, is worth reading in Irvine’s piece. But the coaching staff’s persistence and Robinson’s family ties to the city made UAB feel less like a portal destination and more like a homecoming.

“I can’t take credit for recruiting him,” Mitchell told the Banner. “I just got him in contact with us. The greatest recruiters were his grandma and his dad.”

The right room

What Robinson walked into at UAB is a running backs room with a development pedigree few programs in the Group of 6 can match.

Hindley Brigham returned to UAB this offseason after a year away. Before that, he developed record-setting backs like Spencer Brown, DeWayne McBride and Jermaine “Skull” Brown Jr. during UAB’s remarkable post-reinstatement run under Bill Clark. Brigham’s room produced NFL draft picks and some of the most prolific rushing seasons in program history. His philosophy is simple — own it completely.

“You are responsible for your room. You’re really the head coach of that room,” Brigham said on the podcast. “I take responsibility for it and am concerned about the well-being of the group every day.”

Mitchell, who ran the room while Brigham was away, was blunt about what his return means.

“I’ve coached football at every level, in 21 different countries all over the world. I’ve been around a lot of really great coaches,” Mitchell said on the Inferno Podcast. “The best running back coach I’ve ever been around is sitting right here to my left. I’m not just saying this because we’re on a show. I really truly mean it.”

The two now co-coach the position — an unusual arrangement Brigham proposed when he came back. Both say it’s working.

“We early on sort of proposed that why don’t we just proceed as if we’re both the running back coach,” Brigham said. “It’s fit what we’ve done thus far. I think it’s going to be a great benefit to our players.”

Wired the right way

Mitchell has known Robinson since he was in the eighth grade, playing on the opposite sideline at a San Diego 7-on-7 tournament. He remembers the impression vividly.

“I’m like, man, I’m so glad this is not tackle football — and he was in eighth grade,” Mitchell said on the podcast.

What Mitchell sees now isn’t just the physical tools — 6-2, 240 pounds, a player who describes his own running style as “violent” and models his game after Derrick Henry, Joe Mixon and Le’Veon Bell. It’s the mentality.

“Yes, this position is about production. This game’s about production. But if that’s all you’re solely looking for, then you’re wrong,” Mitchell said. “It’s a mentality — and he’s wired the right way. That’s how this room is. They’re wired the right way.”

Robinson is the anchor of a rebuilt group that includes Louisiana-Monroe transfer Braylon McReynolds, Coastal Carolina transfer Ja’Vin Simpkins and Duke transfer Marquise Collins, who spent most of 2025 at UAB battling injuries. All four had outstanding spring practices — enough that some observers have quietly suggested this could be the best running back room in the American Athletic Conference.

Brigham expects Robinson to wear defenses down and open the door for the rest.

“It’s hard to tackle somebody that’s 240 pounds that moves so effortlessly like he does,” Brigham said. “That’s going to put a stress on tacklers. And then you throw Bam McReynolds and Javin Simpkins and Marquise Collins out there and those guys are going to explode and create a completely different dimension.”

The leader

Robinson is the oldest of six siblings — four brothers and a sister. He was raised by military parents who, in his words, “didn’t let me slack around at all for nothing.” He’s been the example-setter his entire life.

That dynamic followed him to UAB. His younger brother Rashad, a senior running back at Lincoln High, flipped his commitment from the University of San Diego to walk on with the Blazers after Robinson asked the coaching staff to take a look at his film.

“I want this room to be the best position on the football team,” Robinson said. “No matter who we play, no matter who is on the other side of the field.”

He’s studying sports administration and wants to stay in the game after football — analytics, coaching or becoming an agent. He’s got two years of eligibility and a clear view of what he came to Birmingham to do.

What surprised him most about spring practice wasn’t the scheme or the speed. It was the chemistry.

“For us to get along the way we do, like we’ve known each other for years — like we’ve been playing together for years — has been surprising to me, to be honest,” Robinson said. “… I feel like we all work harder for each other because we know what we’ve all been through. We’re real personal, if that makes sense.”

Robinson spent three seasons at Georgia preparing for a role he never got to play. At UAB, the stage is his.

“It was just a fresh start,” Robinson said. “… I just wanted to go somewhere where I was appreciated and where I would be able to showcase all of my abilities.”

Steve Irvine’s feature on Robinson’s recruitment and family ties to Birmingham was published by the Birmingham Banner on Feb. 8, 2026.