Oklahoma left guard Duke Robinson is a mountain of a man. While his 6-foot-6, 325-pound frame helps him now, it hasn’t always been easy being the big kid.
Advertisement
Jenni Carlson: How did you get the nickname Duke?
Duke Robinson: I had an uncle when he was little, they called him Duke. I guess I just kind of fell into it behind him. His name isn’t Duke anymore. It’s Woo now.
JC: Woo?DR: Yeah. I really don’t know. (Laughs.)
JC: When you first got here, you tried to go with your given name, George. What happened?
DR: When I first got here, everybody called me Duke Robinson. I was like, "No, my name is George Robinson. Duke is a nickname.” But after a while, so many people called me that, I was so used to everybody calling me Duke, it just kind of fell into place.
JC: You OK with that?
DR: I’m OK with it. My dad isn’t OK with it, though.
JC: Your dad?
DR: I’m the second. He doesn’t call me Duke. He calls me Junior.
JC: Tell me about when you started playing football.
DR: I started a little bit my freshman year in high school, but I wanted to be a basketball player.
JC: So, you really didn’t play football until high school?
DR: I was always too big to play little league.
JC: They said, "You’re gonna hurt these guys”?
DR: It would’ve been terrible. But that kind of gave me an edge throughout my whole life — "They wouldn’t let me play when I was little. OK, I’ll show y’all.”
JC: Did you think early on you might have a future in football?
DR: Not really. I wanted to play basketball until my junior year of high school. Then my coach sat me down and told me I couldn’t straddle the fence anymore. I needed to lead the team.
JC: Do you play basketball anymore?
DR: I banged on Big Phil (Loadholt).
JC: Beat him?
DR: Oh, yeah. It was a big-guy game. Me, him and Brandon Walker playing a game of 21. I won.
JC: You strike me as a power player.
DR: I can take ‘em to the perimeter. Head fake ... take it to the hole, bang ‘em. I can get real physical down in the paint.
Want to know about Robinson’s signature dreadlocks? Check out my blog at NewsOK.com.
Thank you for joining our conversations on newsok. We encourage your discussions but ask that you stay within the bounds of our terms and conditions. Please help us by reporting comments that violate these guidelines. To review our rules of engagement, go to Commenting and posting policy.
Fitness and Nutrition
Visit NewsOK's latest Know it and find out why proper diet and exercise are key.
Related to this story
Articles
All eyes are on Bradford, McCoy 10/11/2008 DALLAS — One comes from that most Oklahoman of places, Oklahoma City, with a name befitting his pretentiousless home and personality. Sam.
The other...
OU-Texas: It's all about the 'D' in Big D 10/11/2008 DALLAS — Intelligent football minds have often said, "Offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships.”
Today, quarterbacks Sam...
1
Prev
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
Thank you for joining our conversations on newsok. We encourage your discussions but ask that you stay within the bounds of our terms and conditions. Please help us by reporting comments that violate these guidelines. To review our rules of engagement, go to Commenting and posting policy.
Log in below or sign up (it's free).