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Why Oklahoma State football teammates see Zac Robinson excelling with Atlanta Falcons
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- Why Oklahoma State football teammates see Zac Robinson excelling with Atlanta Falcons
STILLWATER — Sitting alone in his Atlanta home, David Paulsen looked down at his buzzing phone where a news alert had just come through, telling him that his hometown NFL team, the Falcons, had just hired a new offensive coordinator .
Paulsen let out a brief but joyous scream.
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You see, there's only one other football team that conjures as much emotion in Paulsen as the Falcons, and that's the Oklahoma State Cowboys , for whom he played until 2012.
Yet it was his first season of 2009 when he shared the field with quarterback Zac Robinson — the man whose name had just lit up Paulsen's phone screen as the Falcons' new offensive coordinator .
"I was really excited when I saw the notification pop up on there," Paulsen told The Oklahoman earlier this week, just days after Robinson was hired by new head coach Raheem Morris in Atlanta. "I've got my Oklahoma State fandom, and then there's Atlanta, and there's usually not a lot of crossover. When Oklahoma State finds its way to Atlanta, it's a big deal for me."
Robinson quarterbacked the Cowboys from 2006-09 and was drafted by the New England Patriots , spending time with four NFL teams as a backup or practice squad player over his four-year career.
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He was hired as an analyst for Pro Football Focus, while also working as a personal quarterback coach until 2019, when Los Angeles Rams head man Sean McVay hired Robinson as an assistant quarterbacks coach.
More: Collect Wisdom: Former OSU quarterback Zac Robinson finds passion through coaching
Zac Robinson was OSU's quarterback from 2006-09, and many former teammates are excited to see what he does as the Falcons' offensive coordinator.
In 2021, McVay promoted Robinson to pass game coordinator and quarterbacks coach, where he stayed until Morris — the Rams defensive coordinator the past two seasons — was hired as the Falcons' head coach and lured Robinson to tag along.
Paulsen isn't only excited because his former quarterback is now running the offense of his favorite NFL team. He's excited because he seen the depth of Robinson's football brain.
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"As a fullback, the quarterbacks and running backs are in the same space a lot," Paulsen said. "He had a cool confidence about him. He had knowledge of the full gamut of what our offense was capable of. That was the last year of Mike Gundy calling plays before Dana Holgorsen was hired.
"We weren't as hurry-up as what the future iterations of that offense became, but he ran it really well."
Paulsen wasn't the only one impressed by Robinson's football knowledge at OSU.
"It was apparent his knowledge of the game and concepts at that time from even my very young perspective," said Clint Chelf, who shared the quarterback room with Robinson and Brandon Weeden as a freshman in 2009. "It's not a surprise to me that he's been successful in coaching. I know he helped Weeden out a lot when he filled in for him."
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Teammates say Robinson was most vocal in the film room, whether he was dissecting an upcoming opponent or teaching young receivers the intricacies of route-running.
Former Cowboy receiver Adarius Bowman crossed over with Robinson earlier in the quarterback's career, but saw much of the same in 2005-07.
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"Man, Zac's first pass was probably to me," Bowman said with a laugh. "I was there at the very beginning. His IQ was higher than what we all expected. He had got labeled as a runner, but he proved he could do way more than that and showed 'em what he was worth."
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Bowman, who has now moved into the coaching realm in his home state of Tennessee, spent 12 years in the Canadian Football League, and while it's not the NFL, it has the same business-like approach. And Bowman can see why Robinson fits in as a pro coach.
"Zac's character has always been professional," Bowman said. "Soft-spoken guy but when he talks, he's sharing valuable information. He ain't gonna just ramble and he has a personality that calms you as a player."
In his Cowboy days, Robinson's personality and leadership bridged beyond his offensive teammates to pull together the entire locker room.
"One of the things that always blew my mind was how he was always the pretty-boy quarterback that everyone loved, but he never fed into that," said Andre Sexton, a safety who came in with Robinson in the 2005 recruiting class. "He didn't go out. He'd stay at home with Matt Fodge and Dan Bailey , the special teams guys, and watch college football. He didn't need to be in the spotlight.
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"He's very relatable, and that's one thing I noticed from our first conversations."
Now that Paulsen's Cowboy and Falcon fandom are intersecting, Paulsen is excited to see what Robinson and the new offensive staff can do with the Falcons' talented young playmakers like running back Bijan Robinson , receiver Drake London and tight end Kyle Pitts — all first-round draft picks from the last three years. And working for a defensive-minded head coach, Robinson will be calling his own shots with the offense.
"Zac will have a lot of tools at his disposal," Paulsen said. "Now, it's all about finding the right quarterback to run that offense. So if he can get a good quarterback underneath him who he can build confidence in and really run this offense, I know Atlanta's really excited to score points consistently again.
"I hope Zac brings some of that swagger that he had in Stillwater here, and I'm really excited to see what happens."
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Scott Wright covers Oklahoma State athletics for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Scott? He can be reached at swright@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @ScottWrightOK . Sign up for the Oklahoma State Cowboys newsletter to access more OSU coverage. Support Scott's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com or by using the link at the top of this page.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State football teammates see Zac Robinson excelling with Falcons
