Elijah Robinson (born May 25, 1985) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach and former player who is the defensive coordinator of the

Syracuse Orange The Syracuse Orange are the college athletics in the United States, athletic teams that represent Syracuse University. The school is a member of NCAA Division I and the Atlantic Coast Conference. Until 2013, Syracuse was a member of the Big East ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Penn State Lady Lions basketball, Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot ...

and has coached them as well as the

Temple Owls The Temple Owls are the college athletics, athletic teams that represent Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The current athletic director is Arthur Johnson (athletic director), Arthur Johnson. The owl has been the symbol and masco ...

Baylor Bears The Baylor Bears are the athletic teams that represent Baylor University. The teams participate in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as one of only three private school members of the Big 12 Conference. Prior t ...

, and

Texas A&M Aggies The Texas A&M Aggies are the students, graduates, and sports teams of Texas A&M University. The nickname "wikt:aggie#Etymology 2, Aggie" was once common at land-grant or "ag" (agriculture) schools in many states. The teams are also simply referr ...

Early life and education

Robinson was born on May 25, 1985, and grew up in

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a City (New Jersey), city in Camden County, New Jersey, Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan region. The city was incorporated on February 13, 1828.Snyder, John P''The Story of ...

. He attended Camden High School before transferring to Woodrow Wilson High School as a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

. At Woodrow Wilson, he helped them win the state championship with a 15–0 record and was chosen first-team All-South Jersey at

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

while also totaling 13 sacks on defense. He committed to play

for the

Tulane Green Wave The Tulane Green Wave are the athletic teams that represent Tulane University, located in New Orleans, Louisiana. Tulane competes in NCAA Division I as a member of the American Athletic Conference (The American). There are 14 Green Wave interc ...

and joined the team in 2003, but was ruled ineligible shortly before the season as he had not been approved by the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Clearinghouse. He stayed in shape, became eligible with a passing

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and Test score, scoring have changed several times. For much of its history, it was called the Scholastic Aptitude Test ...

score, and re-committed to the

. As a

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

in 2004 at Penn State, Robinson appeared in three games and had one tackle while playing

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that typically lines up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the Guard (American football), offensive guards; however, he may also line up opposite one of the offensive Tackle (gridir ...

. He

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

in 2005. He moved to playing on the

offensive line In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line (OL), while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line ( ...

in 2006. In spring 2007, Robinson was injured in practice and, when being checked out, was discovered to have a spinal condition that made him at risk of being

paralyzed Paralysis (: paralyses; also known as plegia) is a loss of motor function in one or more muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory damage. In the United States, r ...

when playing football. He then retired from football rather than take the risk from playing. Robinson graduated from Penn State in 2008 with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

and later earned a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in 2012. Robinson is a member of the Eta Alpha chapter of the

Iota Phi Theta Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African American fraternity. It was founded on September 19, 1963, at Morgan State University (then Morgan State College) in Baltimore, Maryland, and is the fifth largest Black Greek Lettered ...

fraternity.

Coaching career

After graduating from Penn State, Robinson was a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research resp ...

with the school from 2009 to 2011; he was an academic graduate assistant the first year and assisted the defense the following two years. He also served as the defensive line coach for a portion of the 2011 season. From 2012 to 2013, he served under coach Bill O'Brien as the team's director of community relations and

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) liaison. Robinson was hired as the defensive line coach for the

in 2014. He added the role of run game coordinator in 2016. He helped three players earn first-team all-conference honors at Temple, including future NFL player

Haason Reddick Haason Samir Reddick (born September 22, 1994) is an American professional football linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Temple Owls, and was selected by the Arizona Ca ...

, and in 2016 the team tied the program record with 10 wins while being a top-25 defense nationally for rush defense and yards allowed per attempt. In 2017, he was hired under

Matt Rhule Matthew Kenneth Rhule (born January 31, 1975) is an American college football coach and former linebacker. He is the head football coach for the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, a position he has held since 2023. He was also the head football c ...

to serve as the defensive line coach for the

. He was hired as the defensive line coach of the

in 2018. He helped them rank ninth-best nationally in defense in 2020 and in 2021 the entire starting defensive line he coached was signed into the NFL. He was made the team's run game coordinator in 2022 while retaining his role of defensive line coach, and in 2023 changed to being co-

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator (DC) is a coach responsible for a gridiron football team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's coaching structure, wit ...

and assistant head coach in addition to defensive line coach. After head coach

Jimbo Fisher John James "Jimbo" Fisher Jr. (born October 9, 1965) is an American college football coach. He most recently served as the head football coach at Texas A&M Aggies, Texas A&M from 2018 until 2023. Prior to that, he led Florida State Seminoles, Fl ...

was fired with two games remaining, Robinson was promoted to interim head coach. On December 3, 2023, Robinson accepted the defensive coordinator position at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

Head coaching record

References

External links

Syracuse Orange profile

Texas A&M profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Elijah 1985 births Living people American football defensive tackles American football offensive guards Baylor Bears football coaches Penn State Nittany Lions football coaches Penn State Nittany Lions football players Temple Owls football coaches Texas A&M Aggies football coaches Camden High School (New Jersey) alumni Eastside High School (Camden, New Jersey) alumni Coaches of American football from New Jersey Players of American football from Camden, New Jersey Syracuse Orange football coaches