Jaxson Robinson has had quite the journey throughout his time in college basketball. While representing the Kentucky Wildcats at SEC Media Day, the former Arkansas Razorback reflected on his time as a Hog and the interesting path his career has taken.
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Robinson spent his freshman season at Texas A&M in 2020-21 after reclassifying and heading to college as a 17-year-old. After playing in 14 games with four starts, Robinson headed to Fayetteville to play for head coach Eric Musselman.
Robinson averaged 3.4 points per game and made four starts in 16 appearances for an Arkansas team that notched its second consecutive appearance in the Elite Eight. Though he didn’t see much action down the stretch before transferring to BYU in the offseason, Robinson enjoyed being on a team with several veteran leaders and two current NBA players in Stanley Umude and Jaylin Williams.
“I think it was just a good experience for me, just being around a whole bunch of pros,” Robinson said. “I still talk to all those teammates; we’re still really close. I just feel like I took a lot of knowledge from them that I just carried on, I mean, still to this day. Just taking it as a process. My sophomore year was a lot of learning from me, just taking it to BYU, and things worked out.”
Though Robinson kept a good relationship with his former teammates at Arkansas, the sentiment is a bit different for his former coach in Fayetteville.
“I don’t really have anything to say about Coach Muss, to be honest,” Robinson said.
Following his stint with the Hogs, Robinson wanted to find a situation that featured more opportunity on the court. After transferring to BYU to play for coach Mark Pope, who he followed to Kentucky this offseason, Robinson averaged 8.5 points per game during the 2022-23 season before taking his game to a whole new level in 2023-24, averaging 14.2 points per game on the way to earning Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year honors.
“At that point in my career, I hadn’t touched the floor a lot,” Robinson said. “I didn’t have much experience. I also knew that BYU would be going to the Big 12 the year after that, so it would be good exposure for me. Coach Pope offered me an opportunity to get on the floor and play through my mistakes, which my first two coaches didn’t offer me.
“It’s a crazy story when I just look back at all the memories I’ve made throughout college. Just to look at where I am now and the progress I’ve made, it’s really cool to think about, just not giving up. That would be my message to kids all over playing basketball, just to not give up.”
The rivalry between Arkansas and Kentucky features no shortage of layers, especially with John Calipari taking over as the head coach of the Razorbacks, but Robinson is not concerned about being a unique central figure in the battle.
“I’m not really worried about that,” Robinson said. “I’m just worried about winning a championship, winning an SEC Championship and also my individual accolades. I’m not getting caught up in the whole rivalry and all that stuff. I’m just focused on winning.”