He is a Virginia guy by fact. By nature, Virginia guys always want the ball in their hands.
Ask Michael Vick, his younger brother Marcus Vick, Aaron Brooks, heck, even ask Allen Iverson, who used to play quarterback in high school in the state, if that notion is true.
So if you would have told Michael Robinson five years ago that 2005 would be the season he'd finally get his opportunity to play quarterback, chances are we'd be reading about him from afar instead of watching him in person on Saturdays.
It falls under the extremely dark areas of recruiting. The process is fun; a coach will tell you everything you want to hear to gain your intent. Someday those recruiting words may indeed come to fruition, but that someday might be five years removed from the conversation that reeled you in.
It's been a long time since Robinson had that talk. The talk when he was told he would be the guy, when he expected to be the guy. In many ways he was the guy. The guy who would play a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, punctuated by a couple football seasons that amounted to a lot of nothing.
And at the end of the day, we still didn't know what position he played.
Only this season has that subject become clearer.
When we take all those things into consideration, his exploits on the field this season have been nothing short of remarkable. You wont see his name among the Big Ten leaders in passing or completion percentage, but only if they kept a stat for intangibles.
The way he brought the Nittany Lions back against Northwestern, the way he popped that Minnesota defensive back, the way Nittany Nation should have been celebrating his tarnished comeback drive at Michigan.
The way he feels now...
"I definitely see some of my best football still ahead of me," Robinson said. "At the same time, you gotta make the most of your opportunities."
He could have picked up and left, that part probably isn't a secret by now. Plenty of teams around the country would have handed their offenses over to him and never looked back.
Robinson said he never talked to any of his teammates directly about staying at Penn State during the struggling times, because men should make their own decisions.
But you can imagine, when he decided to endure, some assuredly took their cue from him, because even when he wasn't the quarterback, he was still recognized as a leader. And when leaders make decisions, wise or otherwise, the masses usually follow behind.
He has had that type of impact on this senior class.
I have heard valid debates on both sides of the issue, whether or not Robinson should have been the starter long ago. To each his own on that topic; the toss-up will remain in the air. But like someone told me the other day, sorry, but Zack Mills was just your typical college quarterback. Nothing more. Nothing less.
"I don't watch football with the same eye that I used to," Robinson said earlier this week.
Since he made the switch to quarterback, when he watches games, he is unconsciously making his own reads and his own audibles and his own checkdowns now.
Tomorrow the curtain will close on his Beaver Stadium career. It will surely be an emotional time for him and the 22 other Penn State seniors. He has learned that the seasons do change quicker than it might seem at the outset.
He's also learned "not to take the gift that God has given us to play football, for granted."
There is still plenty of work to be accomplished before the season runs out. Robinson's goal when the season started was to bring a national championship here. It is highly unlikely now, though, and he knows the Lions will need some help.
"I don't wish bad luck on any teams," Robinson said "I'm just wishing things go our way."
If things go his way tomorrow, the Lions will have a stranglehold on the conference with one game left on the road.
But Robinson knows how he wants to be remembered at home.
"As a guy who was patient and waited his turn, and when he was given a chance, he won games," Robinson said.
It's kind of hard to ask for too much more than that.
