Bijan Robinson reveals he silently committed to Ohio State before committing to Texas

Before he was a first round NFL Draft pick, Bijan Robinson was a star running back for the Texas Longhorns. However, he very nearly ended up playing for the Ohio State Buckeyes instead.

Robinson made an appearance on Bussin’ With The Boys. There, he explained that he was actually at one point silently committed to Ohio State. However, after about a week, he made the decision to flip to Texas.

“Ohio State,” Bijan Robinson said. “I know you hate to hear this, but I silently committed to Ohio State for a week.”

Being silently committed, essentially, means that a recruit has told coaches that they’re going to a school. However, they haven’t publicly announced that decision yet and it’s before National Signing Day.

At the time, Bijan Robinson was one of the biggest prospects out there. According to the On3 Industry Ranking, he was a five-star recruit and the second-best available running back in the Class of 2020. The only running back ahead of him was Zach Evans.

“That’s exactly what it was and it was like moreso people and players in my ear telling me like, ‘You gotta go here. You should go here. We’re gonna build a dynasty here. You’re gonna be amazing.’ Which could have been true. But I just knew I could really go to Texas for a 40-year decision and not just football and I can become somebody here and always feel like this is the place for me. Then, that was the main decision for a week. When I told the coaches that was the hardest conversation of my life.”

Bijan Robinson explained that conversation and how difficult it was for him to make at that young age.

“I committed on Monday, I called them on Saturday, ‘This just isn’t the place for me.’ Like having to say that to a grown man and having him be like, ‘What are you talking about? I sent all my running backs away. You were the only one I was getting.’ It was crazy…It was just tough to have that conversation as a 17-year-old kid. I was with my family and they were just like, ‘It’s okay. It’s okay.'”

Ultimately, after speaking with Reggie Bush, Bijan Robinson chose to emphasize the relationships. That meant finding the right position coach. At the time, that was Stan Drayton at Texas, who later became the head coach at Temple.

“Position coach. You’re gonna be with him your whole time and even talking to other running backs before I got there. Like Reggie Bush, his position coach in college, that was his guy. He said the position coach was most important because if you don’t agree with him or he doesn’t agree with you, then you’re not playing and he doesn’t trust you, and he talks to the head coach. He’s the most important guy for yourself,” Robinson said.

“So, hearing that, I was like let me actually build a relationship.”

Clearly, Bijan Robinson made a smart decision, becoming a star at Texas and now working on becoming a star for the Atlanta Falcons.