The phone rang Thursday at noon, and in the strange few seconds between call and answer there came an odd, if not premature, sense of nostalgia.
It has been only five years. Feels like so much more. Denard Robinson will be the first to tell you.
“Yeah,” Robinson said. “It’s crazy.”
This week is the five-year release anniversary of “NCAA Football 14,” the final video game in the wildly popular series from EA Sports. Robinson, complete with his blue jersey and winged helmet, was the series’ final cover boy before lawsuits over NCAA amateurism rules contributed to the game’s demise.
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At that time, in 2013, Robinson was entering his first NFL training camp, fresh off a dynamic career as Michigan’s quarterback that was always thrilling thanks to his ability to scramble with the speed one would expect of an experienced sprinter.
This week, Robinson’s picture has again been plastered around the internet as people reminisce about their cult-level affection for “NCAA Football.” There’s a group of guys on the forum Operation Sports still using the game’s online features to update current rosters. A used copy of the game for an old console still goes for $40 at GameStop — for reference, that year’s edition of “Madden NFL” sells for $2.99.
When Robinson posed for the cover in 2013, he had no idea how big a factor this video game would play in the way fans think of him.
“That is part of my legacy,” Robinson said. “Kids come up and be like, ‘Yeah, I still got ‘NCAA.’ You were the last one to be on the cover.’ ”
Five years ago today, NCAA Football by EA Sports hit stores for the last time 😢 pic.twitter.com/hnkKjzqNy9
— SB Nation (@SBNation) July 9, 2018
On another note, Robinson has been out of the NFL since 2016. He spent the past year virtually off the map, living in his Florida hometown.
But word came out earlier this month about Robinson’s CFL rights being traded from the Toronto Argonauts to the Saskatchewan Roughriders, and intrigue piqued again.
Even with his immediate future up in the air, Robinson was open and relaxed Thursday. There was a tone of contentment for a young man still navigating the gradual transformation of his identity, from football star to regular guy, star quarterback to dad. Whatever happens next, Robinson thinks, will happen for a reason.
“Got a couple calls from the Canada league, so probably gonna check that out, see about that,” Robinson said. “Hopefully (an NFL) team comes before that, though. If they don’t, I’ll probably be in Canada.”
First, the game.
Like so many children of the ’90s and 2000s, Denard Robinson grew up playing “NCAA Football.” “Madden NFL” was the better-selling older brother, but something about the NCAA created this cult-level devotion, something to look forward to in the slow summer days, when the game was released each July.
Robinson and his friends would gather and create themselves as players, then mash buttons and maneuver analog sticks until late into the night.
“I grew up playing that game 24-7,” Robinson said.
That kind of experience is not unique. It’s why people still play a 5-year-old game on outdated gaming systems. The NCAA series had a special place among Division I football players, guys fulfilling a dream by seeing themselves on a video game.
That, of course, was part of the problem. Because of NCAA amateurism rules, players couldn’t be paid for their likenesses that appear in the game. Instead, EA Sports and the game’s creators featured rosters that were technically generic. Michigan had a speedy, option-style quarterback named “QB #16.” Everyone knew it was Denard Robinson.
Across the country, newspapers ran stories each year with players talking about their “NCAA” ratings, who should have been faster, who should have had a higher overall rating.
“You get a chance to say, ‘OK, I was on the game,’” Robinson said. “I got to play with myself. Just as well, kids at colleges, they would love to play with their team, play with the guys they’ve met or seen. It was a dope concept to see somebody, then get to play with them on the video games.”
EA Sports held a fan vote for the cover of “NCAA 14,” and the Michigan base helped Robinson edge Texas A&M receiver Ryan Swope for the honor.
At the time, Robinson remembered thinking how cool it would be if he won. When it actually happened, he was beside himself. He told his parents, his extended family, and of course, his old friends. Hey man, I’m gonna be on the front of “NCAA.”
He did a photoshoot and toured the EA campus in Orlando. That same year, his likeness appeared in “Madden” for the first time.
But what he didn’t know then was that he’d be the last “NCAA” cover boy.
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Only a couple of weeks after “NCAA Football 14” was released, the NCAA announced it wouldn’t renew its contract with EA, noting “participation in this game is not in the best interests of the NCAA.”
By September 2013, only two months after the “NCAA Football 14” release, the Ed O’Bannon lawsuit and others helped mark the end of the NCAA series, which was also becoming increasingly expensive to produce because of licensing issues.
While court battles waged on, EA halted production of “NCAA Football” and eventually settled a lawsuit for $60 million.
“At EA Sports, college football has always been a labor of love,” a press release at the time said, “and it is unfortunate that these business and legal issues have impacted our ability to make next year’s game. This franchise has been developed by a team that is deeply committed to the tradition and culture of this sports — that’s why fans have always loved it.”
In a way, it makes sense. Robinson once walked the streets of Ann Arbor and saw the apparel stores selling shirts with his “Shoelace” nickname, a reference to his propensity for playing with his shoes untied. Robinson didn’t get money for those shirts. He didn’t even have one himself.
Right now, a company called iMackulate Vision Gaming is developing a new college football video game called “Gridiron Champions,” which could be released in 2020 but will not feature real schools or players.
If “NCAA” were to ever return in its true form, Robinson sees why student-athletes should be paid for their likenesses.
“They’ve got to come up with a better system,” Robinson said.
But he knows that would require a massive structural change.
“It’d be crazy to see that game come back out,” Robinson said. “But for right now, it’s kinda cool to be the last one on the cover.”
If you were a fan of the NCAA Football series by EA Sports, it’s a sad day because today would have been release day for NCAA 2019. 🙁 pic.twitter.com/TUqIujF1pK
— Scott Truxell (@ScottTruxell) July 11, 2018
Only a few years removed from that cover and a fifth-round selection in the NFL Draft, Denard Robinson was in career limbo.
In Jacksonville, Robinson was labeled as an “offensive weapon,” or “OW,” until the NFL asked the Jaguars to list him with a real position. He was a player they thought could line up at running back, receiver, kick returner and maybe even quarterback. Robinson’s 6-foot size and limits to his passing ability made playing quarterback full time at the pro level far from likely. He knew entering the draft he would have to change positions.
Robinson was labeled a wide receiver at the 2013 combine, but he ended up playing running back for the Jaguars after they drafted him in the fifth round. (Michael Conroy/Associated Press)
Flash forward, and 2016 was a tough year. Robinson had a strange single-car accident, when his vehicle ended up in a retention pond and Robinson was found asleep at the wheel (he has said repeatedly he wasn’t under the influence of drugs or alcohol). One of Robinson’s best friends was murdered in a road-rage accident later that summer. When Robinson’s contract was up at the end of 2016, he wasn’t extended or picked up elsewhere.
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He rushed 263 times for 1,058 yards and five touchdowns over four seasons — one of those players who bounced on and off waivers in your fantasy football league — and he says now he took his Jacksonville experience in stride.
But after 2016, Robinson faced a common dilemma among athletes. For the first time in his life, he wasn’t playing football. He was linked to teams such as the Cowboys, Bears and Jets, but nothing came to fruition. So Robinson spent the fall of 2017 doing a lot of thinking. Beyond the headlines, he was forced to ask himself hard questions.
“It showed me, ‘OK, do I love the game? How much do I love it?’” Robinson said.
At the end of the tunnel, Robinson found clear answers. Sometimes after a workout, he would see a group of kids practicing or throwing a football off in the distance. He would stand by himself and watch. And as he wrestled with his feelings, he decided football was still his passion.
“It kind of let me know, OK, you do love the game,” Robinson said. “You’ll probably eventually have to be able to be a coach or something, probably coach a little league team, or get into coaching college or something like that. … The love for the game, it always came back.”
For now, Robinson is still working out every day, doing yoga, lifting weights, running on the beach.
Robinson said he’s had talks with the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ front office, but again, he’s holding out for another shot in the NFL.
There’s also one question that comes up a lot. If Robinson were to go to the CFL, is there any chance he could play quarterback?
“It might be a chance,” Robinson said. “We talked a little bit about it. But we’ll see. … I talked to the GM at Saskatchewan, I just told him, ‘When I come up there we’ll see where you want me to play at.’ I’ll see him, he’ll see me, we’ll talk and we’ll go from there.”
In the midst of all this uncertainty, Robinson found there’s also a lot more to life. He can love football without being defined by it.
He’s invested in his charity, Shoelace Foundation, which works with children in low-income neighborhoods. He’s running the Ball For a Cause celebrity basketball game and the Lace Up! football camp this weekend, where he’ll have old teammates stopping by to help.
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“As a young kid, you think about football, football, football,” Robinson said. “As I got older, I’m starting to think more about different stuff. After college, I started thinking more and more about different things, what I would do after football is done.”
Then there’s the biggest change.
Robinson became a father on Oct. 6, 2017, with girlfriend Courtnee James. His son is named Denard Xavier Robinson Jr.
And as Robinson puts in the work trying to resurrect his football career, he has come to appreciate the raw miracle of life.
When Denard Jr. was first born, he wasn’t strong enough to lift up his own head. The first time Robinson held his son, he was amazed at how small, how delicate, this little wonder was.
“I was like, ‘Oh man, you got to be gentle. He’s a fragile person,’” Robinson said.
A post shared by Denard Robinson (@denardx) on
Slowly, Denard Jr. began to get stronger. He’d lift up his head and look around. He started communicating and learning about the world. Now, he’s crawling and beginning to move all around.
For all the talk in sports about trusting the process, Robinson never quite understood it until now.
“If you trust the process, you can see him start improving,” Robinson said. “You’re like, ‘Dang, I can see the progress in him.’”
Whatever the future holds — NFL or CFL, quarterback or running back, pro football or a normal life — Denard Robinson is here to enjoy the ride. The guy who once dazzled crowds at the Big House and graced the cover of a popular video game is now a dad.
Sometimes he’ll watch in awe as his son starts to grasp the beautiful, wide world around him. Five years after “NCAA 14,” Robinson, too, is still learning about life and all its possibilities.
“The biggest thing is watching my son grow, being with my family,” Robinson said. “It was kinda cool, just to be there for all the process he went through. Went to the doctor’s appointments, just seeing him grow. If I were on a team, it probably would have been different. OK, where would I be at? Where would he be at? Where would my family be?”
(Top photo:Jay LaPrete/Associated Press)
