FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — After Bijan Robinson was selected No. 8 overall by the Atlanta Falcons at the highest level of football on Thursday, the 21-year-old went back to the beginning.
There was a sense of symmetry for Robinson. His first professional team and the first football team he played on shared a mascot — the Falcons.
Of course, the Tucson Falcons were nowhere close to the Atlanta Falcons. Not in the same state or time zone — Robinson grew up in Arizona — but it did begin the running back’s love of the game he’ll now be paid to do.
“That was a fun time playing with them,” Robinson said. “We stole every slogan from the Falcons. We were the Dirty Birds, we came through heavy.
“But yeah, that was my first team right there and it’s just crazy that now we’re here.”
Like I said God had it written all along! So happy to get rollin with the @AtlantaFalcons #biablessing pic.twitter.com/Ldw7UdRKii
— Bijan Robinson (@Bijan5Robinson) April 28, 2023
Robinson wore No. 8 in his first year of playing football, but that’s not a number he’ll likely wear in Atlanta since it belongs to tight end Kyle Pitts. In his second season, he wore No. 1 — currently worn by cornerback Jeff Okudah.
Robinson said he doesn’t know what number he’ll wear yet, saying “we’ll see what happens,” but it was a small piece of his past fitting into his present when he ended up on the Falcons for the second time in his life.
In between, he played for the Salpointe Catholic Lancers in high school and the Texas Longhorns before being drafted by Atlanta. He won a Pop Warner league national title playing for the Marana Broncos in 2014 as a running back and linebacker.
The team was written about in the local media and in a TucsonLocalMedia story. Robinson was quoted in the story, saying “we were confident and nervous at the same time. I mean I was nervous.”
There were no obvious nerves Friday, when he met with the local media in Georgia for the first time as a pro. What he did do, though, was mention his roots: the photo and his first major Pop Warner coach.
“Coach Carlos was my guy. He really helped me as another father figure for me,” Robinson said. “He did so many great things with me and was the coolest dude and just how he used me in Pop Warner on the field.
“It was fun to play with him and fun to play for him. Coach Carlos, I’m going to say thank you. You’re amazing, man.”