100 Day Sun Devil Football Countdown To Kickoff, #96: GRob Never Quits

The 100 Days Countdown to Kickoff marches on, Sun Devil Nation. Our next stop on this tour in No. 96 and one of the most recent entries on this list.

December 22nd, 2011. It was just a few days before Christmas, but for the Sun Devils and their fans, it was anything but the most wonderful time of the year. Four straight losses had shattered ASU's dream of winning the Pac-12 South division title, cost them the Territorial Cup, got their coach fired and sent them to a lower-tier bowl game where they were facing a vastly superior team. It's now wonder many players mentally checked out.

But not Gerell Robinson.

Over that four-game skid, Robinson had been a beast, racking up 544 receiving yards. Every game, he left everything he had out on the field, and it was a fair question to ask whether he had anything left in the tank. Boise State found out the answer.

Initially, this historic night started off inauspiciously. Over the game's first 15 minutes, Robinson caught one of the two passes thrown his way, for just seven yards.

He picked it up a bit in the second quarter, catching four passes for 49 yards, including two key third down conversions. Sadly, the Sun Devils went into the half trailing 28-3, and many considered this already defeated bunch to play out the string and put this miserable season behind them.

The second half started slowly, with Robinson catching a pass on each of ASU's first two drives. With the Sun Devils trailing 35-10 midway through the quarter, he began to kick it into gear, hauling in 22 and 26-yard strikes on back to back plays on ASU's final drive of the third.

At that point, he had already had a fantastic game, with 130 yards on nine receptions. But this was a player who had exceeded his career-yardage high six time already in 2011. He wasn't done.

First, a 21-yard grab. Then a 21-yard touchdown on the very next play. Then a 58- yard catch and run that featured three spin moves gave him the third highest single-game yardage total in school history.

Now with 230 yards--just 47 shy of the record--ASU got the ball back with 2:42 left in the game. Could he do it?

On the third play, he hauled in what would be his final pass as a Sun Devil, an 11-yard reception along the seam that fittingly enough went for a first down.

While the rest of the team gave up and was overmatched, GRob rose up and showed the spirit and strength of a true Sun Devil. Below are all 13 of his receptions from that game.

See the previous entries on our countdown here.

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