On the Plains with Jahquez Robinson: ‘Cherishing every moment’

AUBURN, Ala. – Comfortability plays a big part in both team and individual performance and success in almost anything, and senior safety Jahquez Robinson believes it’s a trait that will reap benefits for Auburn football in 2025. 

Robinson arrived on the Plains last July and had only two weeks to get acclimated to a new home and program prior to his first fall camp. Now entering his second season, he feels much more at home with the Orange and Blue. 

“I had two weeks to get it right and it was right into fall camp,” Robinson said. “I was bouncing around between positions, learning different packages, getting familiar with the language, the verbiage. That was the hardest thing for me, but now I’m more familiar with that. My confidence is a lot higher because I have those reps under my belt. I have the trust of the coaches now, and I trust the coaches to put me in the best situations to be successful as well. Everything is pretty much coming together.”

The sense of confidence is not only radiating through Robinson, but also throughout the whole football facility entering the third year under head coach Hugh Freeze. 

With back-to-back top 10 recruiting classes and another good haul of players from the transfer portal, Freeze hasn’t shied away from believing this team can live up to the high expectations to win, expressing optimism at AMBUSH tour events and SEC Media Days. The players are reiterating what Freeze has been saying this summer. 

“Iron sharpens iron every day. If we have a good offense going against a good defense, we have no choice but to get better every day,” Robinson added. “It’s definitely a different type of feel.”

The oldest of six kids from Jacksonville, Florida, family has been a big part of Robinson’s life long before he arrived at Auburn. It’s only fitting the family atmosphere of the Auburn community and football program was a big reason Robinson found his way here. 

Along with having his parents as role models within his own home, Robinson leaned on and looked up to another family member in particular to help get him to where he is today – 10-year NFL veteran wide receiver and uncle Laveranues Coles. To Robinson, Coles is an example of what is achievable through hard work. 

“It’s really big to see somebody right in front of you who you can touch and be like ‘OK, he did everything the right way,’” Robinson said. “He took care of himself and provided for his family. I feel like that’s a big part of me still pushing, continuing to get better and continuing to drive. That’s my biggest motivator is seeing what he did and him being on my side, continuing to push me and encourage me on and off the field.”

The son of a former Marine, Robinson was raised with a structured lifestyle and admits that he enjoyed some of the freedoms of college in the early stages. However, after a couple of previous stops along his college football journey, Jahquez feels as if his arrival at Auburn set him back on the right track.

“It was easy to snap back into that mode because I knew I needed to get back to my principles and what I was taught,” Robinson said. “Once I got back to certain principles, I was able to start stacking days and getting better as a player and a person on and off the field.”

With a finance degree already in hand and working toward his second degree in exercise science, Robinson enters his final college football season in 2025, and getting back to those principles has him ready to make the most of it. 

“I’m starting to feel it a little bit, but it hasn’t really completely hit me that this is my last fall camp, last season,” Robinson said. “I’m so excited to get the year going because we do have a very good team. I’m kind of excited, but also kind of sad that this is my last year, my last go-around in college, being around the guys. I’ve been cherishing every moment.”

In a position room led by first-year coach TJ Rushing, Robinson and his unit feel as though the group is ready to hold each other accountable and become the best unit it can be. As that accountability spreads throughout the building, Jahquez and his teammates believe they can leave a legacy that will last long after they’re gone. 

“I want us to be remembered as the group who brought Auburn back to its glory, got everything rolling again,” Robinson said. “All we’ve been talking about is sacrificing now for later. Just building that team culture, that team structure and just practicing hard to establish a standard for the Auburn Tigers for years to come.”