Round 5, pick #152 Panthers select XFL (formerly West Virginia) Safety Kenny Robinson

[1of10Charnatives]

3 minutes ago, sunset said:

Read the article that was posted just above your comment. He seems like a great dude who made a mistake. 

Yep, did so. The letter definitely seems promising. Just hoping it was done genuinely and not at the behest of an agent or other handler looking to put a good face on a bad situation. I suspect time will tell either way, and if the young man has learned his lesson, I will be pulling for him this fall. 

[CarolinaNCSU]

54 minutes ago, 1of10Charnatives said:

This seems a tad risky to bring in a questionable character guy on a team with new coaching staff that just gutted all it's veteran leadership. Who is gonna keep this guy on the straght and narrow?  If it works great, if it doesn't you potentially have a locker room problem or a distraction. Maybe make Derrick Brown his rookie camp/training camp roomie, since he's notably high character...

 

2 minutes ago, 1of10Charnatives said:

People make mistakes and are human. The letter seems to be admission of a serious error in judgement and ownership of that decision. It's completely unnecessary for you to accuse literally everyone else of lying to defend with rationalization something the young man in question isn't defending himself.

Let's all just give the young man some leeway as a fallible human being without needlessly pointing fingers at each other for no reason, shall we?

I mean you seem to at least read the letter and wouldn't buy into your first post ITT anymore, but within 5 minutes of him being drafted you questioned his entire character without knowing anything about him and posted about him potentially being a locker room problem.  

Now...you want to give this young man some leeway.  Yeah I'm just going to let your own posts fight each other. 

[ImaginaryKev]

First time we've had range and cover ability in the safety room in a while. One dude might be able to double as a Derwin James type. I'm happy about it even if one or two of these guys busts bc it says the team has a competent plan on defense. Corner is still the weak link but that's true for most teams in the NFL currently. 

[Shabby]

 

After my intial, "Who??" reaction, wow.. I think we likely got quite the positional steal here.

Robinson was the only XFL draft eligible player (I believe). He has shown excellent ball hawk skills at WVU (7 picks/2 seasons) and the XFL (2 picks/8 times thrown at), and he's still only 21 years old. XFL coaches raved about him. Bama and Oklahoma tried to recruit him to transfer after his expulsion. Speaks well of his character and ability.

Honestly, I was hoping for a flashy offensive weapon from this deep WR draft class for Brady to play with- which I know, I know, that's a luxury we didn't need. But with the way they've drafted so far, this the first time it's felt like the organization as a whole had a plan- and they are executing it flawlessly.

I really can't recall loving every pick we've made in a draft.. ever. Feels like the pieces Rhule is acquiring to revamp our Defensive/Team identity are all exceptional athletes at their position -AND- have the high character to buy into his system and put in the work to chase their potential.

Seems right in line with how Ja Rhule rebuilt Temple and Baylor, and here's hoping he's about to MURRRRDUHHH it again.

Keep Pounding!

[CarolinaNCSU]

Also in this thread, a lot of guys who didn't have a buddy in class ever ask them what the answer to #4 was and who also properly cited every reference in their research papers

[Sgt Schultz]

22 minutes ago, TheMostInterestingMan said:

I get a very different vibe from him. He honestly seems to have pretty high character qualities to me. Messed up in college. Owns it. Is ready to rectify his mistake. I’ll take those guys all day if they are genuine. It’s hard to trust someone who has NEVER done something wrong. But the guys that own their mistakes and correct them? Those are the people I trust the most 

That is what I get from it, too.  The last thing I want is for this team to become the Carolina Convicts.  This situation does not at all look like one that the coaching staff is going to suddenly have to add a probation coordinator for.

I go back to a two things: he owns what he did, and faced with a lemon of a situation, he made lemonade.  Sounds like he might have made a pretty good pitcher of it, too.

[Pejorative Miscreant]

5 minutes ago, Greatman77 said:

We all made mistakes and bad choices when we were young, and I am no exception. But you are wrong about this. I didn't cheat in school at any level, and saying "everybody does it" is lame. Having said that I am OK with this pick. He seems sincerely sorry for cheating, and there are players with a lot darker histories in the NFL.

To me character issues are guys constantly getting into trouble.  A guy that gets in trouble once is an error in judgement.  Don’t see any issues with the pick. Ideally wanted OP but would rather have value.  Rather have four good safeties than 3  and a meh OL that will never see the field.  The roster will sort itself out.  

[ImaginaryKev]

Having a few rangy guys who can pick off bad passes in the back end helps in our division.

finally we might've fixed the long neglected safety spot too, been an issue as long as I've been a fan

[SCO96]

50 minutes ago, TheSpecialJuan said:

Special Juan...this is totally off topic, do you happen to play Star Wars Battlefront 2?

[Toker Smurf]

54 minutes ago, MadHatter said:

Non physical LB and non physical ball hawk FS is not even close to the same.  Geez

I understand there's a difference. I assume his scouting analysis isn't comparing him to linebackers or defensive tackles for that matter but to other DBs. Geez.

[Pantera1]

It isn’t the fall. It’s how you get up. 
 

He’s also the first non-A rated pick we’ve made so far. B+ seems to be consensus. 

[1of10Charnatives]

4 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I don't think a lot of people realize that for a lot of these prospects, college was just a necessary evil. They were there majoring in football.

I've been saying for a while that with all of the revenue that college football generates, it should be entirely possible to put degree programs in place that are geared towards young men who are there primarily to pursue athletic potential.  Some scholarship athletes may not be academically capable of more rigorous majors, but that doesn't mean the school they play for should just put them through sham classes of little or no benefit to them afterwards.  Design courses for those so inclined that will give them practical life skills, like how to manage money and time, how to pursue careers in sports and related fields if a professional playing career doesn't wind up being an option.

It's extremely cynical to assume that just because a college football player isn't academically at the same level as non athlete students academically that they either cannot become so or have no meaningful skills that could be refined otherwise by a college or university that genuinely wanted to help them better themselves. It's disappointing that institutions of supposed higher learning can lower themselves to exploit these young men for their athletic gifts to the tune of literally billions of dollars, but can't be bothered to tailor educational programs that would legitimately benefit those student athletes not at the same level as other students academically. If a guy can cut it in the classroom while also playing for the school kudos to him, but if he can't the school should do better by him than just exploiting his athletic talents for a profit while winking at his educational development.  Everybody knows that only a fraction of college football players ever seen an NFL paycheck, so when are we going to stop pretending that the longshot of an NFL career is a fair enough exchange on the school's part?

Also I think every athletic scholarship should be for six years, with only half load of coursework required while playing sports, and an additional two years full scholarship once athletic eligibility is up to focus exclusively on academics. If you can make all that money they bring in, you can keep them in school two more years, it ain't gonna break your endowment.

Btw, Linville, not directing this at you, just ranting on the topic since you mentioned it. I'll go back to watching round 17 of the draft now.

[1of10Charnatives]

15 minutes ago, CarolinaNCSU said:

 

I mean you seem to at least read the letter and wouldn't buy into your first post ITT anymore, but within 5 minutes of him being drafted you questioned his entire character without knowing anything about him and posted about him potentially being a locker room problem.  

Now...you want to give this young man some leeway.  Yeah I'm just going to let your own posts fight each other. 

Yes, like many 5th round picks, I didn't know anything about him except the thing I heard first, which sounded bad, so I expressed some skepticism. Then I saw something posted that gave me further information, so I altered my position to take the new information into account. What exactly is it that you find fault with in that? 

Not being locked into a view regardless of information?

Being willing to change your view when new information is presented?

I'm not sure why you would imply these are bad things, or that I'm somehow being inconsistent by being flexible instead of intractable.

[Sgt Schultz]

6 minutes ago, 1of10Charnatives said:

Yes, like many 5th round picks, I didn't know anything about him except the thing I heard first, which sounded bad, so I expressed some skepticism. Then I saw something posted that gave me further information, so I altered my position to take the new information into account. What exactly is it that you find fault with in that? 

Not being locked into a view regardless of information?

Being willing to change your view when new information is presented?

I'm not sure why you would imply these are bad things, or that I'm somehow being inconsistent by being flexible instead of intractable.

WHAT?  You considered new information and re-evaluated your opinion?  Why on earth would you do that?

The process is supposed to be you hear about something, form an opinion, then read the facts, disregard any that don't fit your opinion, and if there aren't enough to support your opinion, then make some up.  If that doesn't work, double down.