Can Travaris Robinson help Georgia football in return to Alabama?

Alabama football will see plenty of familiar faces on the opposing sideline during Saturday’s matchup with Georgia. Besides Kirby Smart and the rest of the returning Bulldogs who UA saw in the 2023 SEC championship game, UGA will have former Alabama cornerbacks coach Travaris Robinson.

Smart and the Bulldogs scooped up Robinson after Nick Saban’s January retirement, making him their safeties coach and co-defensive coordinator.

“He’s a really good coach,” Smart said Monday in Athens. “He’s a really good recruiter, he’s a great person. So he’s brought a lot of energy, enthusiasm, confidence day-to-day in our players. He’s a good football coach so we’re very fortunate to have him, and he’s got a lot of knowledge.”

Robinson was in the news last season, after Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin held a Sunday press conference to claim he was calling the Crimson Tide’s defensive plays. Kiffin said he thought Robinson was in charge, instead of former UA defensive coordinator Kevin Steele.

Saban denied Kiffin’s allegation, and both Steele and Robinson echoed that when finally made available to reporters before the Rose Bowl.

Now on Georgia’s staff, Robinson has earned positive reviews from both Smart and players, even on the other side of the ball.

“He’s brought a lot of wisdom,” wide receiver Arian Smith said Monday. “He’s a good coach. He coached with coach (Will) Muschamp at South Carolina. So obviously, he knows what he’s doing, what he’s talking about. So I can’t really say, because I’m on the other side of the ball. He’s a defensive coach. I mean, I love coach T-Rob. He talks to me every day, even though he doesn’t coach me.”

As for whether he’ll be able to help Georgia specifically against the Crimson Tide, it seems doubtful. After Kalen DeBoer took over for Saban, he hired Kane Wommack as his defensive coordinator.

Wommack runs a totally different system than Robinson saw under Saban and Steele.

“Pertaining to them, I mean he really hasn’t been part of their staff,” Smart said. “So like, intricacies into what they do defensively or offensively, not a lot there. I mean, he knows some of their players, but we know a lot of their players too, because we recruited a lot of them. And I mean, (UGA DBs coach Donte Williams) was out with some of them out in California. So it’s not a lot to speak of, a lot of things that you hang your hat on. You’re worried about how we play, not particulars about their players.”