The countdown to the 2018 college football season is on. Four FCS teams are in action Aug. 25 as Duquesne takes on UMass, Prairie View faces Rice and North Carolina A&T and Jacksonville State square off in ESPN’s FCS Kickoff.
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HERO Sports is coutning down each day by highlighting the best player in FCS football who wears the jersey number of the number of days to kickoff. You can find the running list of top players here.
*Note: Jersey numbers are from the 2017 season.
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22: Rashad Robinson, DB (Sr.) — James Madison
There are numerous ways to qualify how good JMU's secondary was in 2017, but the easiest might be just to roll out tape of cornerback Rashad Robinson and watch the jaws start to drop.
Robinson, a high school quarterback who transitioned to corner in college, had shown flashes of greatness early in his career. He took it to the next level last season, locking down everyone from CAA rivals to Biletnikoff contenders. Now, he's a consensus All-American who was just named the CAA's Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.
Robinson was the key building block to JMU's success in the secondary the last two years. A prototypical lockdown corner, Robinson posted nine pass breakups and seven interceptions in 2017. He might have gotten more, but half the time, it seemed like most quarterbacks didn't want to throw the ball anywhere near him.
It's probably no accident that the only two CAA players with more interceptions than Robinson last year were two guys that were constantly on the other side of the field from him — JMU safety Jordan Brown and JMU corner Jimmy Moreland.
Robinson, who was named to the Buck Buchanan Watch List yesterday, should have an outstanding final year ahead of him in Harrisonburg before jumping to the NFL.
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FCS Kickoff Countdown: The Best Player in FCS Who Wears Each Number, 1-99
CFB Countdown: The Best Player in FBS Football, 1-99
