Emporia State’s Tyreek Robinson set to make an impact on the court, and the turf

EMPORIA, Kan. (WIBW) - Tyreek Robinson has been with Emporia State men’s basketball for four years now. But this year, he’s becoming a multi-sport athlete.

”When we started recruiting him we were actually battling Florida State University, University of Miami, for football,” said men’s basketball head coach Craig Doty. “They saw Tyreek without his shirt on in the gym playing basketball, and they called him out to the football field and said hey, we want you to run some routes and catch some passes.”

The funny part about that is Tyreek didn’t really have much experience playing football until his senior year of high school. He ended up committing to Emporia State for basketball about a week after he visited the campus.

He actually watched a football game and met football head coach Garin Higgins during his visit. But football never really left his mind.

“I wanna say after my last game in high school, I realized how much I had actually liked it. And then my freshman year seeing the team play, and not being able to play, it kinda made me miss it a lot more.”

So last year, after a lot of talks with Coach Doty and Coach Higgins, Tyreek became a multi-sport athlete.

“You know he said he wanted to come out for football, and I was like alright we’ll give it a shot,” said Coach Higgins. “He’s doing a great job. I think he’s finally, it’s taken him a while, but it’s a process for anybody. The thing with Tyreek is he has such a great, he’s just a great person.”

And this season he’s expected to play a much bigger role with the team as a receiver.

“He’s very smart. He can pick up things really well, but I really believe him just having the confidence in himself. He had a better summer this year with us, and I think that helped him,” said Coach Higgins.

“The culture’s good, everybody’s very welcoming,” said Robinson. “Like when I came, I didn’t have no problems with anything. Everybody welcomed me in, it felt like the door was open really.”

Not to mention the size advantage he brings to the table as a 6′6″ wide out.

“He looks like he could play tight end too,” said Coach Higgins. “He’s that big. To have somebody his size and his hands, and I just had to get him triple X gloves.”

At the end of the day, Tyreek’s just happy to be a Hornet.

“I wouldn’t go anywhere, I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” said Robinson.

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