ST. JOHN | The practice was taking place on Lake Central's dusty, run-down football field. The Indians were fighting, battling, to get better.
Out of nowhere, L.C. coach Brett St. Germain stormed up and started screaming at junior linebacker Gelen Robinson. The 6-foot-2, 232-pound junior was confused.
"Get off the field," St. Germain yelled.
Robinson had done nothing wrong. Quite the contrary. He was being what he is, unbelievable. But that wasn't working.
"We were trying to work on some things on our offense," St. Germain said. "Gelen was getting into our backfield on every play. We couldn't get anything accomplished.
"So he had to go over on the side."
That's what region football coaches wished for when they played L.C. Robinson's numbers were ridiculous. He was the one player in Northwest Indiana who could not be blocked.
He had 95 tackles, 47 tackles for loss, 13 sacks, 29 hurries, five forced fumbles and two recoveries.
Robinson, for the second year in a row, is The Times Defensive Player of the Year.
"I got yelled at a couple of times at practice," Robinson said. "I had to sit out. So I asked, 'Why?' I was told because I was too dominant.'
With all of this, the most shocking thing is Robinson has yet to receive a college scholarship offer. He is on almost everybody's radar. But most of the powers are waiting for him to grow three or four more inches.
His father, Glenn Robinson, was a 6-foot-7 basketball star from Roosevelt's glory days. His brother, Glenn III, is a 6-foot-6 freshman star at Michigan in hoops.
"They're all waiting for me to grow," Robinson said.
He visited Notre Dame, Illinois and Michigan this fall. He's heard from Florida, Georgia, UCLA, Alabama, Tennessee, Arizona State, Missouri and most of the Big Ten.
"Gelen is just a remarkable football player," St. Germain said. "He's very strong, very quick, very athletic. He loves to get to the ball and make a hit. And when he does make a hit everyone knows it. It's fierce and it hurts.
"But off the field he's one of the nicest young men you'd ever want to meet."
Jared Tomich was a star defender at Lake Central in the early 1990s. Then, he went to Nebraska and became an All-American before a five-year run in the NFL.
Former Lake Central coach Elmer Britton used to complain about Tomich not being honored by all-area teams back in the day. But in those days everyone ran away from the defensive end.
With Robinson, you can't. He played inside linebacker, outside linebacker, defensive end and nose guard. He was a free agent in L.C.'s defensive scheme.
If you ran away from him the next snap he would be where the ball was going.
"I played anywhere on defense," Robinson said. "Wherever I could help my team."
There is one goal left for No. 9 in blue.
"I have one year left," he said. "I want to go further come tourney time. We haven't gotten past the second game since I've been here. That is my main goal."
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