2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Westinghouse’s Kyshawn Robinson

By: Chris Harlan
Saturday, August 5, 2023 | 3:55 PM

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Westinghouse reached the state finals last fall with a senior-heavy lineup, so the Bulldogs are destined for a down year, right?

Not so fast.

“That’s what a lot of people think, but we have a lot of underclassmen,” said sophomore Kyshawn Robinson, who started at cornerback as a freshman. “We have a chance. I’m going to say it just like that. We have a chance.”

Having Robinson surely increases those chances. The 5-foot-10, 165-pound defensive back and running back is poised to become the next big name in the City League.

Colleges already have taken notice.

He added a Penn State scholarship offer this summer to a list that includes Pitt, West Virginia, Florida, Texas A&M and others. He said he’s projected to play safety in college but will move around the secondary nowadays.

“He’s just different. He’s a special kid,” Westinghouse coach Donta Green said. “He got overshadowed last year because we had a lot of big-name guys that people knew about, and he didn’t have to play such a significant role (on offense). But he very easily could’ve been our starting tailback.”

His workload will grow this fall as a two-way starter.

An aggressive defense was one of Westinghouse’s hallmarks last season, and Robinson earned a starting spot on that side of the ball. The Bulldogs won their first 14 games and became the first City League team to reach the state finals since 1997. They held 11 opponents to a touchdown or less with two shutouts.

“When I first started, I was a little nervous,” Robinson said. “But as the season continued to go on, I started to get my feel for the game. From midget league to high school, the speed of the game changes drastically.”

He was credited with five tackles in the state championship game. Southern Columbia ultimately won, but his defense caused it some trouble. Robinson’s biggest play was a run-stuffing tackle at the goal line.

“I gave him everything that I’ve got,” he said.

Robinson’s willingness to throw his body around on defense is a trait recruiters like.

“That’s the one thing every college coach says to me,” he said. “They like my physicality and my field IQ. I can read things before the play starts.”

Robinson received his first college offers in March from Nebraska and UNLV. Pitt joined in April, and others soon followed.

“Once it started, it just kept on coming,” he said.

The City League has seen a recent uptick in major college recruits, including Brashear’s Ta’Mere Robinson, who’s at Penn State, and Westinghouse’s Dayon Hayes, who’s at Pitt. The two Robinsons are not related.

Kyshawn Robinson seems on track to be known as the best player in the City League, and eventually maybe beyond.

“No one is going to out-work him at practice,” Green said. “No one’s going to get to practice before him, and he’s one of the last ones to leave. He’s one of those kids who has the talent but also the work ethic.”

And regardless of college scholarships or City League status, Robinson said his focus nowadays is on chasing down another winning season. Westinghouse has won three of the past four City League titles.

“We’re still planning on making it far this year,” he said. “We’re going on another state run.”

Kyshawn Robinson

Westinghouse

Sophomore

RB/DB

5-10, 165

Committed to: uncommitted

Division I offers: Pitt, Penn State, West Virginia, Akron, Florida, Nebraska, Syracuse, Texas A&M, Toledo, UNLV

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Westinghouse