Through the first five games of the season, the WVU defense has not seen the benefit of adding the American Conference Defensive Player of the Year from last season just yet. Now, concern is creeping in about why the high-level defender has not made an impact on the field yet.
UTSA transfer Jimmori Robinson has now appeared in two games for the WVU defense, after eligibility issues kept him sidelined to start the season. However, his impact has been limited so far through his first two games. The only stat that Robinson has accumulated through his first two games has been a quarterback hit in the game against Utah. Robinson has yet to record a single tackle or any other significant stats
Last season, on his way to winning American Conference Defensive Player of the Year, Robinson recorded 10.5 sacks in 2024 for the UTSA Road Runners. Robinson has proven that he has to ability to be a difference maker on the defensive side of the ball.
Getting more and more concerned with Robinson’s performance
Robinson was going to need some time to get in game shape and start to ramp up against opponents. That being said, there should not have been an expectation that Robinson would have stepped into the game and been an immediate difference maker before getting up to game speed. But not registering a tackle of any kind through his first two games is definitely concerning. We're not expecting Robinson to finish his second game with WVU with four sacks and five tackles for loss, but Robinson only being able to record a quarterback hit through his first two games is still slightly concerning.
In Robinson’s defense, last week he went up against two future NFL Draft picks – maybe even two first-round NFL Draft picks. Utah’s tackles Spencer Fano and Caleb Lomu are both going to be drafted in 2026 if they declare. Fano is one of the best offensive tackle prospects in all of college football, and Lomu is not far behind, being listed as the eighth-best tackle according to NFLDraftBuzz.com.
Regardless of whom he lines up across, Robinson has the talent to win a share of the battles and be able to land an impact on the game. And to this point, that just has not happened. As he gets more games under his belt and does not have an impact on the game, the more concerns grow for WVU fans who thought they were getting an absolute difference maker from the transfer portal.
Robinson will have another chance to start to make an impact on the field when the Mountaineers travel to Provo, Utah, on Friday to take on the BYU Cougars. The Cougars’ offensive line is a solid unit, and it will not be a cake walk for Robinson in that game either.