Brian Robinson recalls shooting in emotional press conference: ‘Lowest point in my life’
Commanders rookie running back Brian Robinson reflected on the work he put in to return to the field five weeks after he was shot twice in the leg during an attempted robbery on Aug. 28.
“That was probably the lowest point I’ve ever been in my life,” Robinson told reporters Wednesday in his first public comments since the shooting. “The only thing I remember is just receiving all the love and everybody reaching out to me, just spreading the love. That was all I needed at the time. People probably didn’t know. I don’t think the crowd knows how much that meant to me.
“It’s been a long five weeks, but it’s a lot of work,” Robinson added. “We put in a lot of work over that time. I can say I did everything I needed to do over that time period to make sure I was here today.”
Robinson returned to practice on Wednesday, 38 days after he underwent surgery for the gunshot wounds. He called it “a beautiful day for me” to be back on the field.
The 23-year-old has been ramping up in his return to action, and was seen doing drills in mid-September.
Robinson added that he feels he can “pretty much fight anything” following the support he received after the shooting.
The Commanders have a 21-day window to add Robinson to their active roster. Coach Ron Rivera has not ruled out the possibility that the running back could make his NFL debut against the Titans on Sunday.
“If he continues to progress, there’s a very good chance,” Rivera said Monday, later on Wednesday saying the Commanders will see how Robinson responds in practice.
Robinson got 8-10 reps on Wednesday, and snuck in a few reps with the scout team.
“His mental frame of mind is really good. You could see his joy,” Rivera said. “He was running around and he wanted to do more. We had to slow him down a little bit.”
Rivera added that Robinson has “a little bit [of a] ways to go” in terms of his conditioning.
“That’s always a good indicator when a guy gets his first real workout is how he’s reacting the next day,” Rivera said. “And if he practices again like he did today, then we’ll see if there’s any dropoff.”
The team selected Robinson out of Alabama in the third round of this year’s draft. He was expected to take on a heavy workload as a rookie before the shooting.