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'Sedriffic The Terrific' Something Special; Admires Storm Great George LaFrance

March 21, 2008 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Tampa Bay Storm News Release


By JOHN (Hondo) HAHN Special Writer, Tampa Bay Storm

There are a lot of adjectives that describe Sedrick Robinson. He gives you running, receiving, returning and respectability. More importantly, his head coach, Tim Marcum, at the Tampa Bay Storm, and others around the Arena Football League will tell you, "Sed just makes things happen."

He is the embodiment of the classic AFL player. A true "Ironman" for many positions. Yet, he goes unnoticed to some degree because he gets caught up in that cadre of weapons that only the final statistics can provide.

Not surprisingly, his specialty has been returning kick offs in the AFL for the last seven seasons. His career 28 kick off returns for touchdowns is tops among any current or past AFL players.

Robinson comes to the Storm for the first time with some nostalgic admiration and reverence. Back in 2001, his first Arena season, Sedrick knew of Storm great, George LaFrance.

ROBINSON WORE NO. 25 UNTIL NOW

"I actually had his number (25) when I was in college (Kentucky Wesleyan), but when I realized he was one of the best off the nets, I wanted that number," said Robinson, who just turned 33 March 1.

Sedrick had the number with five teams in the next seven seasons, but when he got to Tampa and answer was simple, "Well, you can't have that number." Retired by the organization, he understood, and for the first time, he took number 18.

"I respected that, he was a great player here and in the league for a long time" he said of LaFrance, who still holds 19 Storm records, 15 of them on both kick off and missed field goal returns. "I respect him and respect what he did for the league. Just coming here and playing for a team that he played for is an honor to me."

When Sedrick was playing in Las Vegas, he got to meet the Storm great one. "It was a hello, how are you kind of thing," Robinson said. "It was a honor meeting him." What turns out to be somewhat of ‘Urban Legend' is the fact Sedrick got pointers from LaFrance.

"George actually came out to Vegas to talk to our team when Sed was out there," said Ron James, currently an assistant coach with the Utah Blaze, who had Robinson at Kentucky Wesleyan and the Houston ThunderBears. "So, he knows who he is. So learning the game from him? He was well before Sedrick's time."

TALE OF TIPS ONLY ‘URBAN LEGEND'

Robinson at one time had told a writer about meeting LaFrance. The writer then misconstrued it as having been some kind of an instructional time with the 12-year veteran of the AFL. "I never got any pointers from him," Sedrick said. "I always took it as a compliment and just never corrected them (the reporters)."

What is undeniable, however, is that Robinson did learn from James at Kentucky Wesleyan and from Houston ThunderBears' special teams coach Gary Gussman, now in the same position with the New Orleans VooDoo. "Coach James spent a lot of time on the kicking game," said Sedrick. "I had a lot of opportunity to improve."

After college, Robinson found himself in minor league baseball where he also excelled. Football stuck in the back of his mind and a friend convinced him to try the indoor game. That led him to the Peoria (Illinois) Pirates when they were in the Indoor Football League but presently are in af2.

With Peoria (1999-2000) he didn't have many kick off returns, especially the first season, because there are no nets, but kickers have to keep the ball in bounds. "There were a lot of squib kicks and I can't remember having but two or three runbacks for touchdowns," he said. In fact, in 2000, when Peoria won the IFL championship, Robinson had 21 KORs, that included 19 during the regular season (19.6 average), but none for scores.

SED BECOMES AFFECTIONATE ‘TRAVELIN BEAR'

His next opportunity came with the Houston ThunderBears, affectionately called the "Travelin' Bears" because the team played all its games on the road and was only based in the Texas city.

"He's perfect for the indoor game since he's very quick and agile," said James when he and head coach Steve Thonn went to sign him. "One of his strengths is making things happen after he gets the ball in his hands. It was natural to put him on the net because he can start and stop on a dime and makes people miss.

"He's just got a knack for it," James continued. "And there are few guys you run into during the course of your career. I was blessed to run into him." During that first season, with no home crowd pandemonium, Sed had 39 KORs (22.6 yard average) and three were runback for TDs.

James said "I just told him to get it off the net and go." He added that Robinson began to learn passing routes, the ‘Jack' linebacker position and all the other things that go along with AFL football. "He just became the player he is today."

What is remarkable about Robinson is that in high school, where he mostly was a quarterback, he ran the 40-yard dash in only 4.8, but improved that as he matured to 4.5 in college. Other things that make him special is the fact that baseball had taught him how to judge fly balls and he can take balls on ‘the short hop' as well. His big hands allow him to corral balls, especially on fumbles.

An example of that was in the Storm's first home game. As Seth Marler's kick came off the lower bar on the right-hand net system, Robinson on coverage leaped at the eight-yard-line, came down with the ball at the six and walked into the end zone.

VERSATILE ATHLETE WAS HEADED TO RAMPAGE

"He has one of the best vertical leaps I've seen," added James. "He's not one of the tallest (5-foot-10) out there but he can dunk a basketball off two feet. A phenomenal athlete and a very special kind of person."

After stints with the New Jersey and Las Vegas Gladiators and two years each at the Columbus Destroyers and the Austin Wranglers, Robinson nearly didn't come to the Storm. The native of Franklin, Georgia, had already signed a contract to play in Grand Rapids where his former ‘Travelin' Bears' coach Thonn landed this year. "I didn't make it to an office store where I could fax it back in time before their offices closed in Grand Rapids," Robinson said. "So, in the middle of the night I realized I wanted to play closer to home. My dad (Harold Robinson) had passed away two months earlier and I lost my grandmother after that."

Sedrick then called coach Thonn and let him know "how much I appreciated all that he had done for me, but I just wanted to play closer to home. At the same time I was speaking to coach Thonn and coach Marcum was calling. Coach Marcum said all the right things."

"We want you to come here and be our return guy,' said Marcum.

"When a guy tells you up front what you are going to do, the choice is easy when they tell you that you are going to be the return man," said Robinson, with no disrespect to Thonn, who did understand the situation.

"We needed that extra dynamic guy that can get the ball off the net," added Marcum, "When Austin decided not to come back (in the AFL), we went after him (a free agent). He's a super guy and solid."

‘SEDRIFFIC' HAS AN ARRAY OF WEAPONS

Already, Sedrick has 19 KORs for 345 yards and an 18.2 average. He has no touchdowns, but has given the offense excellent field position where it has been able to score easily.

He has contributed in many areas including receiving with 12 catches, 88 yards and 3 touchdowns. His two fumble recoveries went for 15 yards and a touchdown. Add 2.5 tackles on KOR coverage, 143.7 yards in all-purpose yardage a game and the one net recovery gives meaning to all-round ability.

"In this league, the more you can do, the more you are going to stay around," Sedrick said. "

That was evident during the first season of Sed's travels. After having three consecutive games of more than 100 return yards, an average of 22.4, during that season with the ‘Travelin' Bears,' the next game was against Arizona in West Valley City's E Center, about 10 minutes from downtown Salt Lake City.

Walking out of the E-Center, following a light practice session, the Houston team's only executive wrote on a notepad three special words: "Sedriffic the Terrific."

"What do you think of that?" he said to Robinson, who was smiling. "That's pretty good," Sedrick said. In answer to how he feels now about the nickname, that few have really picked up, but among those Travelin Bears' alumni it was popular, Sedrick retorted: "I didn't mind it; it was something unique."

That's what makes Sedriffic the Terrific so special.



Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from March 21, 2008


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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