Darius Robinson was born on November 17th 1991 in College Park, Georgia. From a young age on, he showed his promise as an athlete when he started playing football as a running back at eight years old. Later he switched to quarterback, while also competing as a three-sport-athlete in track and field and basketball.

For his final two years of high school, the by then defensive back transferred to Westlake High School, a school known for producing NFL talent players like Anthony Mitchell or “Pacman” Jones. Making the switch to cornerback his first season there, Robinson played on the same team as NFL MVP Cam Newton. At the end of his high school career, Robinson was ranked as a 4-star-recruit by 247 sports and had around 50 scholarship offers.

After originally deciding to play for Miami, he flipped his commitment after the Miami athletics scandal was made public. Being offered to go to Stanford, the young defensive back wanted to pursue his career there. But because his parents would never be able to see him play, he decided to stay near home, so his decision was between Auburn and Clemson.

Ultimately Robinson committed to Clemson because first year head coach Dabo Swinney offered him the chance to play without having to redshirt. He played in seven games as a freshman and hauled in once interception before playing in eleven games his sophomore year, starting six of them. Being poised to have a breakout year as a junior, Robinson started six out of seven games, before fracturing his ankle in the second quarter of a game against Virginia Tech.

“Being a leader isn’t always just about your play, it’s about how you carry yourself.”

A life-changing event, as he said. “This was the time, when I thought for the first time: 'Hey Darius, you need to do something else because football may not take you to where you want to go because you can get injured at any point'. I wasn’t feeling any pain, I just remember like a voice telling me: 'This is the start of something new'”. While rehabbing his injury, the young defensive back started going into business outside of football.

Coming back as a senior, Robinson was appointed as co-captain on defense. Being a captain of a unit with nine players, who made a 53-man roster in the NFL showed to him that, “being a leader isn’t always just about your play, it’s about how you carry yourself.”

His senior season went great, as the College Park native started in all 13 games, racked up 37 tackles, three TFL and picked off three passes, leading the Clemson Tigers to an Orange Bowl victory.

The brutal business of the sport

Despite his performance, Robinson was not selected in the 2014 NFL Draft, but was signed by the Buffalo Bills. However, he injured his shoulder at practice. While diagnosed with a dislocated shoulder something felt strange about his injury. Robinson was unable to play for the next three and a half months - unusual for this kind of injury. When reporting to the first day of training camp, the Bills released Robinson.

After talking to his agents, Robinson decided to decline other offers and get his shoulder checked by a doctor instead. Turned out the injury was not only a dislocated shoulder, but he had suffered a bony Bankart lesion (torn glenoid labrum with an additional fracture in the shoulder socket).

After communicating with his former team, the Buffalo Bills, he was sent to an independent specialist, who also confirmed the Bankart lesion. Robinson went on to sue the Bills, leading to him being paid for the first eleven games of the season, without ever playing for them again.

The start of something new

Disappointed and resented, Robinson took the money from his lawsuit and invested it in his business. During his three years away from the game, he had quite a lot of success with his branding and marketing company called “Bosses United International”. But as time went on, he was increasingly bored and wanted to make his return to the gridiron.

Joining the New Yorker Lions in 2018, Robinson won the Eurobowl, before making his way to the Swarco Raiders, where he won the Austrian Bowl, the CEFL Bowl and the CEFL MVP title in 2019. After pausing a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the defensive back joined the Las Rozas Black Demons.

Joining the European League of Football

After hearing of the European League of Football, Robinson decided to call the Wroclaw Panthers which tried to recruit him in 2018 already. A perfect match since the Polish team was looking for an American cornerback.

Despite turning 30 last November, the defensive playmaker is still one of the best players at his position in all of Europe. When asked about why he is playing in the league, Robinson said: “I like the European League of Football. I think it’s the best platform in Europe.”

While still playing great, age will slowly but surely catch up to the American. Planning to play two to three more years in the league, Robinson, as always, is already making plans for the time after his active career. “I like the lifestyle in Europe, I plan on being in Europe long term. Maybe I can start a life after football here. We’ll see.” One of his plans is to organize camps to help the sport of football grow even more in Europe.

Life off the field

But football is not everything in the life of the talented cornerback. Beside his career in sports and working for his business, Robinson is also pursuing a rap career as “DRobCEO.” Being around music since he was thirteen, the Clemson alumni wrote one of the universities most famous fan songs “We too deep”. The rapper even had an own record label for a short period of time.

“Work now, party later”

Despite going through a lot of adversity during his career, Darius Robinson still managed to be successful on and off the field. When asked about his advice to the younger generation, he said: “Work now, party later. The fun is in the success. When you start succeeding, you’re gonna have so much fun and the fun is getting amplified. And the things you think you are missing out on now, will be even better in the future."