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Robinson on Stanford dream

Stanford has been the dream school for Curtis Robinson for several years, and the Rivals100 Cardinal linebacker commit has the documentation to prove it.
Back in his middle school days, Robinson answered the prompt, "Where do you see yourself in 10 years" with remarkable foresight.
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This is crazy pic.twitter.com/lFqZ5SbcUL- Curtis Robinson (@_curtisrobinson) July 1, 2015
"It really has been lifelong," Robinson said of his desire to attend Stanford. "I didn't have a real understanding of it until about six or seventh grade when I started to realize kind of how high school and college were going to work. But it's always been a dream of mine. Once recruiting started I couldn't really let that out because of the way stuff goes. But that was always in my head as a lifelong dream."
While perhaps not a lifelong dream along the lines of attending Stanford, Robinson received one of the highest honors a high school football player can receive when he was invited to The Opening, which was held in Oregon last week.
"It was awesome," Robinson said. "It was probably the best football experience I've had so far. It exceeded my expectations. I knew going in a little bit what it was going to be like because I've had teammates that had gone or the past two years. So I was kind of ready for it but they shocked me when I got there. A lot of people will just talk about the gear but even just being able to be coached by (great players) like Willie McGinest and NFL coaches up there was amazing. To be able to meet people like Victor Cruz, Richard Sherman, it was awesome."
Sherman, who, like Robinson, hails from Southern California, made a similar college decision roughly a decade ago.
"I made sure that I met him face to face and I talked to him about my commitment to Stanford," Robinson said. "He was really excited for that, so that was cool to talk to him about that."
Robinson was assigned to the same 7-on-7 team as Stanford's two other commits at the event, Kaden Smith and K.J. Costello. He enjoyed getting to know his future teammates.
"That was cool," Robinson said. "That was one of the best parts of it. I know K.J. personally because we're both from the same part of California and play against each other but I hadn't ever met Kaden Smith before. He was one of the original commits with me and K.J. He ended up being my roommate up there. It was awesome to get to know to him and get face to face and become friends with him now."
Robinson also did his best to try and convince several of the uncommitted prospects in attendance to join Costello, Smith and co. on The Farm.
"It was just a couple of guys," Robinson said. "The first one was David Long, he's a cornerback from Loyola. He's been talking about he has a lot of interest in Stanford, so he's been a main target of mine... We are close friends so we talk about it a lot and it's definitely a good chance. The other one is Demetris Robertson, a target out of Georgia. He's an athlete, he plays both sides of the ball. I know that he's a big target and that Stanford is definitely high up on his list."
In addition to forming bonds with his future college teammates, Robinson has been developing relationships with his future college coaches. He's stayed in close contact with several Cardinal assistants, and his relationship with the program has grown closer in the months since he took his first trip to campus in April.
"Our relationship has grown, obviously," Robinson said. "After the visit that I took, that was the (launch point for) the relationship that me and the coaches have. Since then there has been a lot of contact with them, talking to them, getting to know how they are a lot better."
"I've been in touch with Coach Shaw, Coach Bloom and Coach Anderson. I've been in less contact with Coach Shaw, but I talk to Coach Bloom and Coach Anderson almost daily."
Robinson's conversations with Stanford's coaching staff have covered plenty of ground. They have not, however, focused on continuing to convince the Rivals100 prospect that Stanford was the right choice.
"I let them know from the get go how solid my commitment was because a lot of people will have soft commitments and I just didn't want them to worry about that," Robinson said. "My commitment's hard and it's going to stay. That was kind of the first thing I let them know of so that wasn't a scare for them. We've just been talking about various things like the application, which we talked about a little bit a while ago. I got that done, which is good. Now it's just checking up, like I just got a message today, we were talking about The Opening and stuff like that."
Robinson admits working through the application was time-consuming, but he's aware of the benefits that come with potentially being admitted.
"It was long but it was definitely worth it," Robinson said. "That's kind of something you have to do for Stanford because it's a different school, for sure. It's on another level than any other college. It was definitely worth the work."
Robinson, who is listed by Rivals.com as the nation's No. 7 outside linebacker, No. 6 player in California, and No. 33 overall player in the nation, will play the outside linebacker position on The Farm.
"They definitely like me more outside," Robinson said. "Typically they'll run a 3-4 defense but there are situations where I could potentially roll down to a pass rusher from the outside backer position and I could even play the nickel position to cover."
The four-star standout will return to Stanford's camp in a few week for the program's Junior Day on August 1st.
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