Yeah, that’s him.
Heading into Saturday, most fans knew Matt McGloin would have a new primary target this season. However, few knew exactly who this new receiver would be.
Sophomore Allen Robinson quickly became a familiar name to Penn State faithful in last weekend’s loss to Ohio, when he caught six passes for 74 yards in the first quarter. The McGloin-Robinson connection showed signs of brilliance throughout the Nittany Lions’ 24-14 loss, and Robinson finished with 97 receiving yards.
The pair said it will look to continue its early success on Saturday against Virginia, when Robinson won’t be such a well-kept mystery to the opposing defense.
McGloin said he and Robinson — who had just three catches all last season — immediately demonstrated the chemistry they had been working on in the offseason.
"I’ve definitely seen a lot of progress from him throughout the season," McGloin said. "And hopefully him and I can just continue to get a better connection with each other, and hopefully he stays healthy and plays well Saturday again."
Robinson said he was pleased with the pair’s initial results and praised McGloin’s accuracy.
"Me and Matt definitely have worked together for us, getting chemistry so I think he threw a couple good balls," Robinson said. "I just gotta come down with them."
However, after an outstanding first quarter, Robinson tacked on just 23 yards in the next three and Penn State’s offense struggled as well, tallying only 115 yards in the second half.
Robinson said the Bobcat defense started playing him man-to-man, which offered other receivers an opportunity to step up. However, Shawney Kersey and Alex Kenney, the next two receivers on the depth chart, finished with a combined 56 yards in the game, and the offense as a whole struggled to string plays together.
So despite tripling his total yardage of the entire 2011 season, Robinson was not overwhelmed by his own personal performance.
"Not really," Robinson said. "At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how much the yardage I have [is] or the catches. We just wanna win games."
Robinson added that he should have caught two passes — including McGloin’s long ball on fourth-and-5 in the third quarter — that he said would have changed the game. McGloin said he overthrew Robinson on these passes.
With this in mind, there is obviously still room for improvement in terms of chemistry between the two players.
Yet, senior tackle Mike Farrell said after how much they’ve improved already, he has the utmost faith in McGloin and Robinson to continue to progress in future weeks.
"Whenever somebody asked me about the offense, that was one of the thing I always talked about — the connection that they had," Farrell said.
"Right out of the gate, [Robinson] had nine catches. I would only expect that to improve."
