Coaches and media members alike have given up on trying to box Tyree Robinson into one position.
In his third year as a starter, Robinson has played all over the field in Oregon’s secondary and all but ditched a position label. It doesn’t matter where he pops up on the Oregon depth chart prior to gameday; whether he starts at cornerback or safety, Robinson won’t stick there for long and will jump around to wherever Oregon’s coaches need him.
“Everyday I’m just checking in with my coaches,” Robinson said. “They’re gonna let me know where I’m at every week; I just want to be one of the key players on defense. I’m trying to match up with the best receiver on the other side of the field and just be that guy.”
Amid a rocky start to the season in which the Ducks’ defense has surrendered 258 passing yards per game — 94th in the nation — Robinson has quietly become one of the Ducks’ most consistent defensive players while filling a multitude of roles.
Robinson has started three games at safety and one at corner for the Ducks thus far and is slated to start at corner during Oregon’s matchup with Washington State. At 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds, Robinson provides a strong presence on the outside for the Ducks when shifting to corner. He is able to hold his own against some of the more physical receivers in the Pac-12.
“[Robinson] allows us to have a bigger corner in the boundary,” Oregon sophomore safety Khalil Oliver said. “When teams usually want to run into the boundary, they see him out there and they have less of a tendency to do that. He provides a presence out there.”
The Ducks have been plagued by penalty issues on defense this season, and are tied for second-worst in the country with 106 penalty yards per game. Robinson is not an exception; he was called for a crucial pass-interference penalty on a deep ball late in the first half of Oregon’s 41-38 upset-loss to Colorado.
While he hasn’t been the stop gap that Oregon needs through the air, Robinson has improved tremendously in one facet of the game: He has become a much more efficient tackler than he was last year.
Robinson is second among Oregon players in tackles this season with a total of 22, and he leads the Ducks with 21 solo tackles. According to the Twitter account CFB Film Room, Robinson missed on 16.2 percent of his tackle attempts last season. But Robinson did not miss a tackle through the first three games.
“I was just watching all the game film I had last year, just all the tackles that I missed and just the things I had to work on,” Robinson said. “I took that in as one of my goals in the offseason and the summer and I just worked on it every single day. I just wanted to be one of those guys who separated himself from everybody else.”
As one of the elder statesmen on Oregon’s roster, Robinson has emerged as a strong voice in the locker room as the Ducks search for an identity after falling to 2-2 on the year with the loss to the Buffaloes.
Robinson, along with fellow upperclassmen Cameron Hunt and several other Ducks, was vocal during a players-only meeting in the days following the Colorado loss. Robinson was among several Oregon players who felt some of the Ducks’ younger players overlooked Colorado.
“You didn’t come to Oregon to put on a magic jersey and play good,” Robinson said in reference to younger players on the team. “No. You have to go out there and put in the work.”
Follow Jarrid Denney on Twitter @jarrid_denney