New Mexico State gives defensive lineman Alton Robinson a second chance

The Aggies have done it again.

They have recruited another defensive lineman with ties to a Power 5 program. This time, however, the recruit coming in has ties to the Texas A&M Aggies instead of the Arizona Wildcats.

The 6-3, 245 pound recruit, Alton Robinson, was a highly recruited defensive end out of the San Antonio area in 2016. Ranked as the 72nd best player in Texas by 247 Sports, Robinson had offers from Texas, Alabama, California, Michigan, Baylor, Houston, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech but chose to sign with Texas A&M.

Unfortunately, Robinson got into some legal trouble that caused his scholarship to Texas A&M to be revoked. He ended up playing his freshman year at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, where he had 31 solo tackles, 14 sacks and three forced fumbles.

Fortunately it looks as if Robinson has matured and moved past his legal mishap, as NMSU did an extensive background check on the soon to be sophomore and found that his college coaches see him as a “very deserving kid.” What is more comforting is the fact that his college roommate from NEO, Kris’Sean Edwards, will be playing for the Aggies this fall as well.

While Robinson definitely has the talent and potential to be the best defensive player on New Mexico State’s football team, he still has to decide whether he wants to stay on campus.

Jason Groves of Las Cruces Sun-News reported on Saturday that Robinson signed a financial aid agreement with New Mexico State, which is a non-binding document for the athlete and has gotten interest from South Florida, Kentucky and Oklahoma State. According to Groves, however, Doug Martin has said that he is confident Robinson will be on campus in the fall and will play with the team.

Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

This is huge for the Aggies depth and talent level as they lost their projected top playmaker on the defensive line, Kourtland Busby, this spring due to academic issues. Additionally, they also lost some other rotational pieces and were losing talent at a fast rate. But that didn’t phase Martin.

Martin and his staff have done an incredible job of finding players to replace Busby and the other lost talent with Robinson and Calvin Allen. It will be exciting to see how these players fit into Spaziani’s defense and fun to watch them this fall. Let’s hope they dominate the edges and help lead the Aggies to a great season!