![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/TDP-Z-QueRobinson_HANDOUT-02.jpg\")
A young Que Robinson, right, sits with his cousin Aikeem, center, and sister Tiyana in an undated family photo. (Photo courtesy of Raheem Collier)<\/p>\nThe father left with no warning and no suspicion. No reconciliation. He left his son and granddaughter standing on the other side, a bridge between them that Quandarrius Robinson wanted to mend but never could.<\/p>\n
And so, a week before the future Broncos draft pick\u2019s\u00a0senior year at Alabama, Tyneshia Whatley had no choice but to call her son and tell him. No matter the scar it would leave.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey, are you busy?\u201d Whatley asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, ma\u2019am,\u201d Robinson replied, with Alabama about to play Western Kentucky in a few days.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell,\u201d Whatley replied. \u201cCan you come home for a minute?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor?\u201d<\/p>\n
Willie Robinson Jr. lived a complicated life, phasing in and out of contact with Whatley and Robinson. His mother and father died within three months of each other, his family shrinking, his mind sinking. He turned to drugs. Whatley tried to offer him help, but kept him at bay from Robinson. Still, Willie proudly told everyone in rehab that he had a son playing football for the Crimson Tide and a granddaughter named Riley.<\/p>\n
Sister Ella Headen urged him to just call Robinson.<\/p>\n
Willie couldn\u2019t. He felt he had little to offer, as Headen recounted.<\/p>\n
In late August, Willie went missing. A family friend going for a walk eventually found his body. He\u2019d taken his own life.<\/p>\n
He died believing his son resented him because of the choices he\u2019d made, Whatley said. He was wrong.<\/p>\n
Quandarrius \u201cQue\u201d Robinson lived wanting his father to meet Riley, the little girl who arrived that same summer, the little girl he wanted to create a different future for.<\/p>\n
Que had little to say after gunning it the hour back from Tuscaloosa to Ensley, Alabama, sitting in silence with Whatley and his sisters. He had little to say at his aunt Headen\u2019s house, standing in silence as relatives on his dad\u2019s side he didn\u2019t know hugged him.<\/p>\n
Two days later, Whatley called her son again and told him the county morgue needed his signature so his father could be released for cremation.<\/p>\n
\u201cMama, I can\u2019t,\u201d Robinson told her.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to,\u201d she replied. They went back and forth.<\/p>\n
And then he broke down.<\/p>\n
The hope of making it out of Ensley, a hope few realized, nearly ended right there. But that week, in a feat of mental fortitude Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack still marvels at, Robinson recorded a sack in a win over WKU. He strung together a season of high-impact reps in SEC play. And in April, the Broncos selected the 6-foot-4, 243-pound Robinson in the fourth round of the NFL draft.<\/p>\n
He began his Alabama career frustrated, a backup, nearly booted from the program after a DUI arrest his sophomore year. He ended it as one of the most beloved people in Bama\u2019s building, as one staffer described.<\/p>\n
In May, he stood at his locker in Denver after rookie minicamp, holder of the first college degree in his family\u2019s history and a $5 million rookie deal. Pained, still, by a loss of a fatherhood he never really had. But intent, now, on creating his own.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou obviously want to give the kid the best opportunity at life,\u201d Robinson said of his daughter.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though you didn\u2019t (have it).\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n
The screams echoed down Pineview Road that day in 2014, as Whatley\u2019s ears perked up, recognizing her daughter\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n
Mama! He got a gun! He got a gun!<\/p>\n
She threw open the door of her family\u2019s home and saw Robinson sprinting down the street, sister on his heels, a group of boys trailing in their wake.<\/p>\n
Wrong time. Wrong place. A young Robinson had gone for a game of pickup basketball in Birmingham\u2019s Central Park, and smoked everyone, as Whatley tells it. Everyone, unfortunately, included a gang that called themselves the \u201cPark Boys.\u201d Robinson and his sisters came and holed up in the house, the Park Boys threatening to burst in.<\/p>\n
They backed off, eventually. Others have been less lucky with gang violence in Ensley.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always have tried to embed in my kids, like \u2014 this ain\u2019t the life,\u201d Whatley said. \u201cI taught them the struggle. And I\u2019m glad they know what the struggle is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robinson and his two sisters attended Central Park Elementary, where principal Nichole Davis-Williams sometimes had to hustle kids inside as gunfire broke out in the streets. They later went to Jackson-Olin High, where school resource officer Francesca Clark said she\u2019s seen over 40 students die from gun violence in the area since 2015.<\/p>\n
The school is nestled on the border between Ensley and Pratt, two neighborhoods in Birmingham connected by a couple of streets and a path that winds across a bridge over a creek. But there\u2019s a neighborhood rivalry that\u2019s trickled down from older generations, as Robinson\u2019s cousin Raheem Collier said, that\u2019s woven into bloodlines.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very common for the kids to wake up one day and their friend be there,\u201d Clark said, \u201cand the next day they\u2019ve been killed.\u201d<\/p>\n
A young Que Robinson, right, sits with his cousin Aikeem, center, and sister Tiyana in an undated family photo. (Photo courtesy of Raheem Collier)<\/p>\n
As a kid, the now-32-year-old Collier signed up for any sport he could in an effort to stay safe. He told his younger brother Aikeem to do the same. Aikeem told Robinson to do the same. They passed a mentality down, from generation to generation, as both Collier and Aikeem played at Jackson-Olin.<\/p>\n
One of us gotta make it.<\/p>\n
The problem was that few \u2014 including some in Robinson\u2019s own family \u2014 actually thought he would. He was a sweet boy with an old soul, but also hyperactive, prompting so many calls for Whatley to pick up her son from school that she once lost her job as a nurse\u2019s assistant.<\/p>\n
When Robinson was 6 years old, a doctor suggested prescribing Ritalin. Whatley was raised by two parents who sold drugs and used them. When she was 11 years old, her father explained to her he was a pimp, and to never let anyone talk her into entering that world. It was fatherhood, in some form.<\/p>\n
She told the doctor no medicine for her son.<\/p>\n
Robinson eventually saw a school psychiatrist in the fourth grade, but Whatley had little help for a long time. Willie was in and out of contact. Family members whispered about her son. She prescribed her own remedies.<\/p>\n
One: A family motto that still holds true to this day, except for the fact that Robinson is now 6-foot-5. Act up, you get beat up.<\/p>\n
Two: Football, a hope that seemed far from the rotating roofs of family homes and apartments in Ensley.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told my kids, y\u2019all got to keep doing the impossible,\u201d Whatley said. \u201cPlease keep doing the impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her son did. Robinson rounded into a skinny but powerful four-star edge rusher at Jackson-Olin, where Alabama head coach Nick Saban once took a chopper out from Tuscaloosa just to see him. And he headed up to Bama in 2020, the weight of that Village Creek bridge between Ensley and Pratt on his shoulders.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want him to be successful,\u201d said Davis-Williams, Robinson\u2019s senior-year principal at Jackson-Olin. \u201cWe need\u00a0him to be successful. So that we can say to other kids in Ensley, \u2018Look what Que did. Que did it, you can do it too.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Robinson, though, redshirted his freshman year and was wedged behind future NFL first-round picks Will Anderson Jr. and Dallas Turner at outside linebacker. He was an afterthought at a powerhouse. He needed to grow \u2014 in all ways.<\/p>\n
On Aug. 28, 2021, at around 11:30 p.m., Whatley got a call from someone she didn\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
\u201cUm, hey,\u201d the voice came, as Whatley recounted.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey,\u201d she responded.<\/p>\n
\u201cTell me,\u201d Whatley continued, \u201cain\u2019t nothing wrong with my child.\u201d<\/p>\n
A pause came.<\/p>\n
\u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n
When news broke that Robinson was arrested for a DUI <\/a>that weekend in August, the world saw another example of a prime talent who\u2019d blown his shot. Facebook comments called for him to be booted from the program. Typical, one user wrote underneath a post from a local ABC station in Birmingham<\/a>. His own hometown, in neighborhood and barbershop talk, wrote him off, as Collier recounted.<\/p>\n Those who knew Robinson, though, were stunned.<\/p>\n \u201cPut it like this,\u201d said Karl Scott, who coached at Alabama from 2018-2020 and recruited Robinson. \u201cIf I got that report that a Bama player had a DUI on a night \u2014 a weekend night \u2014 Que would probably be one of the last ones that I guessed.\u201d<\/p>\n Alabama suspended Robinson indefinitely. When Davis-Williams heard, her reaction was simple: God dang.<\/p>\n He can\u2019t let it go like this,\u00a0Davis-Williams recalled thinking.\u00a0This can\u2019t be the end.<\/p>\n It easily could\u2019ve been. Davis-Williams had seen young men with promise get sent back to Ensley and lose everything. Perhaps Robinson, if he were booted, would\u2019ve latched on with another college football program. But everyone was scared of the alternative.<\/p>\n \u201cIf he wasn\u2019t able to stay, I don\u2019t know where he\u2019d be,\u201d Clark said. \u201cI really don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n Ashleigh Kimble, Alabama\u2019s assistant director of recruiting operations, had slowly entered Robinson\u2019s inner circle of trust. He came into her office \u201cgenuinely remorseful,\u201d she said. And Saban knew enough to know that the list of options for Robinson was slim. So he met with Robinson, and told him he wouldn\u2019t give up on him.<\/p>\n It turned him into a man, cousin Collier believes. Robinson told his mother he wasn\u2019t drinking nothing else. He\u2019d seen the cliff. He\u2019d teetered there. And Robinson realized the opportunity in front of him to change his \u2014 and his family\u2019s \u2014 path.<\/p>\n \u201cI had another opportunity, for the most part,\u201d Robinson said of meeting with Saban. \u201cI appreciate him for that, love him for it. And for the most part, I didn\u2019t squander it.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd ever since then, I\u2019ve just been on my high horse, man, just trying to work to get to where I\u2019m at now.\u201d<\/p>\n He turned into Alabama\u2019s \u201cMr. Everything\u201d on special teams, as current outside linebackers coach Christian Robinson (no relation) described. But Robinson entered his senior year with just 124 cumulative defensive snaps at Alabama. His daughter, Riley, came last summer, so suddenly that Whatley didn\u2019t know there was a baby on the way until after she was born.<\/p>\n Robinson walked into Kimble\u2019s office, a bastion of his time at Alabama, nervous. Really\u00a0nervous.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s like, \u2018Okay, I really gotta step it up,’\u201d Kimble recalled, \u201c\u2018because I have someone I have to provide for now.’\u201d<\/p>\n The weight of a life that\u2019s never been easy, though, came crashing with Willie\u2019s death. Robinson lamented to his mother that he never got a chance to tell his father he wasn\u2019t mad at him. He lamented to Kimble that his father never got a chance to meet Riley.<\/p>\n Whatley eventually drove to Tuscaloosa to convince her son to put pen to paper on his father\u2019s death certificate. It got signed. Willie was cremated.<\/p>\n Except Robinson couldn\u2019t bring himself to sign it. Whatley had to forge her son\u2019s signature.<\/p>\n He told his mother that he was going to stop playing football and find a job. Help stabilize the family. Whatley, the mother who always pushed her kids toward dreams she never had the chance to see, told him that wasn\u2019t an option.<\/p>\n What did I always tell you?\u00a0she implored.\u00a0Keep doing the impossible.<\/p>\n Robinson stayed at Alabama through Saban\u2019s retirement and the hire of Kalen DeBoer. He spent more time studying film. He started lighting into younger teammates who goofed off at practice, and became a \u201cstandard-bearer\u201d in Bama\u2019s program, as the defensive coordinator Wommack said. He assumed a starting role at outside linebacker amid injury and never let go.<\/p>\n He finished with four sacks in nine games. Robinson picked up Georgia\u2019s right tackle in one game, as Christian recalled, and buried South Carolina\u2019s tackle on a late two-point conversion try that would\u2019ve tied an October matchup.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was supposed to be staying in the core of the formation, but he kinda aborts and sees what\u2019s happening and makes the play,\u201d Christian Robinson recalled. \u201cI mean, that is a defining play for the rest of my room on some of the things that we\u2019ll teach.\u201d<\/p>\n The Broncos, seeing a raw prospect with instant special-teams value, called Robinson in the fourth round. Whatley asked herself if it was real. Collier still gets emotional when he thinks about the moment. Davis-Williams started jumping up and down, to no place in particular.<\/p>\n \u201cI just can\u2019t say enough about \u2014 this is the guy it should\u2019ve happened to,\u201d Davis-Williams said. \u201cIt really is. He deserves it. This family deserves it.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was their way out.\u201d<\/p>\n Across his senior year at Alabama, Robinson and his position coach Christian Robinson talked at length about the concept of time. The value of it. Maximizing it. And in warmups before every game, Christian stepped aside and let the 23-year-old deliver a few words on the bigger picture to the group.<\/p>\n Tomorrow isn\u2019t promised, Robinson would tell them.<\/p>\n \u201cI think when he said that,\u201d Christian Robinson said, \u201cguys kinda knew what he was talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n In the years to come, whatever Robinson ends up being, Davis-Williams and Clark will be able to tell the tale of their \u201cGreat Hope\u201d in the halls of Jackson-Olin. Of the boy who was so focused his senior year that he rebuffed Davis-Williams\u2019 offers for $20 so he could get a haircut before prom.<\/p>\n Of the boy who made a way for his family when there was none, who emerged from every hole that life had dug for him.<\/p>\n In Denver, the Broncos have a \u201cvision\u201d for him, as head coach Sean Payton acknowledged last Thursday. Coaches throughout Robinson\u2019s career have pointed to a special blend of bend and burst in his 6-foot-5 frame. He\u2019s popped as a pass-rusher across OTAs and minicamp, and has taken a heavy dose of special-teams reps.<\/p>\n \u201cHe has all the traits you look for at that position,\u201d Broncos general manager George Paton said after Robinson was drafted.<\/p>\n Colorado Crisis Line: 1-844-493-8255,\u00a0coloradocrisisservices.org<\/a>. Chat online or text TALK to 38255.<\/p>\n 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Dial 988 for national hotline.<\/p>\n Mental Health First Aid:\u00a0mhfaco.org<\/a>. Get trained to recognize the signs and how to respond.<\/p>\n![\"Que](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/TDP-Z-GettyImages-1294067359.jpg\")
Que Robinson (34) of the Alabama Crimson Tide celebrates after defeating the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 31-14 in the 2021 College Football Playoff Semifinal Game at the Rose Bowl Game at AT&T Stadium on Jan. 01, 2021 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"Missouri](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/TDP-Z-Que-Robinson-AP-05.jpg\")
Missouri quarterback Brady Cook (12) is hit by Alabama linebacker Que Robinson (34) during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo\/Vasha Hunt)<\/p>\n![\"Denver](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/TDP-L-Broncos-minicamp-RJS-17036.jpg\")
Denver Broncos linebacker Que Robinson (51) practices during Broncos minicamp at Broncos Park in Englewood, Colorado, on June 10, 2025. (Photo by RJ Sangosti\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n