Skip to main content
Join

Bijan Robinson receives praise from Barry Sanders after revealing he models game after him

ns_headshot_2024-clearby:Nick Schultz•04/20/23•

NickSchultz_7

Bijan Robinson
Stacy Revere / Staff PhotoG/Getty

During his career at Texas, Bijan Robinson put together a career worthy of first-round consideration in the NFL Draft. While there, he modeled his game after one of the best running backs to ever play the game — and he got a response on Twitter this week.

Robinson said his favorite running back of all time is Barry Sanders and he tries to play a similar style to the Detroit Lions legend, he said during an interview on Good Morning Football. That clip made its way across Sanders’ Twitter timeline, and he made a not-so-veiled pitch for a certain team to select him.

“I shouldn’t say where I would love to see him go,” Sanders said, with a winky face emoji. “He is a very talented prospect, and I am always honored when a someone has found inspiration in what I did.  Good luck @Bijan5Robinson, and maybe we will see you in #Detroit.”

During the interview, Robinson explained why Sanders is his favorite running back ever. He also said he studied his film close while playing at Texas, where rushed for 3,410 yards and 33 touchdowns over three seasons. That helped him develop the way he plays the game, and chatter continues to grow about his potential to go in the first round of next week’s draft.

“I think that, I said it a lot just because you know he knew how to get himself out of uncomfortable situations and just even how he can break a tackle and still go out 100 miles per hour is really rare in a running back’s game,” Robinson said. “I try to pride myself in that a lot and just to see how he can … keep his body language when trying to make defenders try to tackle them.

“I think that he’s the guy that set the standard. I love to watch his highlights, especially like before games and the week before games just because I’m gonna try to mimic some moves that he had and use it for my my skill set. So I think that he’s the guy that I watch a lot. And I just really enjoy his game and how he gets himself in those great situations for for what he was trying to do back in the day.”

In ESPN’s latest mock draft, Todd McShay projected Robinson to go No. 10 overall to the Philadelphia Eagles as he and Mel Kiper alternated picks. He has less than a week until he learns his fate as the NFL Draft kicks off April 27 from Kansas City.