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No Boo-Hooing: WFU is not sad LSU didn't want tackle Robinson
Steve Dykes Photo Courtesy of Wake Forest Sports Information
Defensive tackle Boo Robinson of Wake Forest runs with an interception against Virginia.
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Published: November 13, 2008
Other than Boo Robinson's mother and father, the only person who calls him by his real name is assistant coach Ray McCartney of Wake Forest.
"Every blue moon he will -- every blue moon," Robinson said. "It has to be a really blue moon."
That may be because it's a really long name. His father put Shaun and Terry together and came up with Shaunteryous.
But how Robinson, the Deacons' junior defensive tackle, came to be known as Boo is a better story. The setting is his hometown of Monroe, La., circa 1990.
"I think I was 3 and had a baby sitter," Robinson related. "But she stayed right next door to us.
"I would open her screen door and knock on the door. She used to come to the door and I would run under her legs. She used to know I was doing it, but she would get a kick out of it.
"I used to go hide somewhere in the house. And when she used to come back in I'd jump out and say ‘Boo.' When she used to baby-sit everybody she'd tell everybody, ‘There goes Boo.'
"You know when kids hear it, they're going to automatically repeat it. That's how I got the name."
Robinson has spent the past three seasons making quite a name for himself in the Deacons' defensive line. He was good last season as a sophomore, but after shedding about 25 pounds and gaining speed and quickness, he's even better as a junior.
Statistics generally tell us little about the play of a defensive tackle, but Robinson had a career-high nine tackles two weeks ago against Duke and picked of the second interception of his career last week against Virginia moments after linebacker Aaron Curry leveled quarterback Marc Verica.
He might be making that name at LSU if he had grown a couple of inches past his 6-2. He grew up a Florida State fan, but said that the lure of playing for the home-state Tigers would have probably been too much to turn down.
But he said he doesn't spend too much time on regrets.
"That's just who I am," Robinson said. "You can't take that back. That's how He made me, you know what I mean?
"Even if I had been 6-3 or 6-4, He might not have given me the strength that I have, or the agility or speed. So I just take it and make the best of it and work out at what I do and come out and play."
Robinson landed at Wake Forest because an assistant at LSU, Stacey Searles, mentioned him to Dean Hood, the former defensive coordinator of the Deacons. Searles told Hood that the Tigers weren't going to take him, but suggested Hood give him a look.
Both Hood and McCartney, the defensive-line coach, were sold on what they saw, and Robinson has given McCartney little reason to regret the decision to offer a scholarship. Robinson started 12 games last season and has started eight this season.
"He's a great kid, a wonderful kid," McCartney said. "And he's a good player, a good solid football player who has done a nice job all year. He's been very consistent.
"The biggest thing he has done is keep his weight down. He got up to about 340 (pounds) last year down the stretch and that hurt him a little bit. He was at 302 (last week) and that just makes him a quicker, more agile football player.
"And of course he's a real smart player too. He makes great decisions."
Playmaking defensive tackles are hard to come by in college football. First off, they are few and far between, and the premier programs will usually get more than their share.
In Robinson and John Russell, Wake Forest may have as good a pair as it has ever had.
"He's running so well and he's so much more athletic," Coach Jim Grobe said of Robinson. "His quickness has improved. And there's a fine line there because you don't want to get too light that you get tossed around, which I don't think is a problem for Boo. But at the same time you want to be athletic.
"And I think the biggest thing Boo would tell you is that he feels good for four quarters. He can go out there and stay as long as you want to leave him out there."
And afterward he likes to kick back watching sports on television or listening to music on the stereo. One of his favorite sports is rugby.
"I love rugby," Robinson said. "They ain't got any pads. They come out with all these rules in football and we can't do this or do that. Look at them. They ain't got any pads and they do what they want to do.
"I think if I was over there, I'd play rugby."
And while his teammates fill their iPods with hip hop or rock, Shaunteryous "Boo" Robinson of Monroe, La., prefers a style more indigenous to his hometown.
"I like blues," Robinson said. "Not a lot of people know that. I love blues.
"Good old Johnny Taylor, Sir Charles Jones, people like that. That's good music there."
■ Dan Collins can be reached at 727-7323 or at dcollins@wsjournal.com.
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