Mark Robinson was playing running back for the Southeast Missouri State University Redhawks in 2019, their third-leading rusher at the D-I school that year, putting up 364 yards on the ground with four touchdowns on 74 carries. He didn’t have much hope of making it to the NFL at that point before he entered the transfer portal and came out the other end at Ole Miss.
But not even being in a more prominent school would have salvaged his NFL dreams, surely. After sitting out the requisite season in 2020 due to the transfer, Robinson begrudgingly made a position switch from running back to linebacker at the request of his coaches for his senior season in 2021, a decision he certainly embraces in hindsight.