Veteran Georgia State linebacker Josiah Robinson has a different spin on how homecoming affects a football team. He sees it as an opportunity to feed on the energy of the occasion, not succumb to the outside distractions that cause coaches to lose sleep.
“It’s very hectic, and there’s things all around us, but I see it as everybody’s coming to support us,” Robinson said. “You’ve got alumni coming back and supporting us, so I want to see myself going out to see if we can win it for them. Homecoming week has an extra leverage and extra edge on my shoulders.”
The Panthers (1-4, 0-1 Sun Belt) will host Appalachian State (3-2, 0-1) on Saturday for homecoming at Center Parc Stadium. Kickoff is at 3:30 p.m., and the game can be seen on ESPN-Plus or heard locally on WRAS-FM 88.5.
It’s hard to believe Robinson needs additional motivation. The senior inside linebacker has been a solid contributor to the defense all season and last week when a big play was needed against James Madison, Robinson was in the middle of it.
For example, when the Panthers were reeling from 17-play James Madison drive, Robinson was there to help put an end to it. He made a tackle on third down to force a short-yardage situation and got into the backfield to blow up the fourth-down play before it developed. It kept the Dukes off the board.
“Josiah had an excellent game,” Georgia State coach Dell McGee said. “He’s doing a good job of leading that group.”
A redshirt junior linebacker from Apopka, Florida, Robinson finished with a season-high 11 tackles in the 14-7 loss. He was a big part of the defense’s best performance of the season. James Madison entered the game averaging 31 points and 410 yards of total offense; GSU limited the Dukes to two scores and 285 total yards.
“I think as a defense, we definitely executed,” Robinson said. “There’s some parts of the game where you’re obviously not going to play perfect, but we could have had a shutout. It just gave us something to look forward to.”
Robinson has put together some impressive numbers this season. He has 40 total tackles — he had 63 in 12 games a year ago — with five tackles for loss, one sack, one fumble recovery and a pass breakup.
He originally signed with Coastal Carolina and played in all 13 games for the Chanticleers in 2022. He transferred to GSU in 2023 — he is one of the few remaining holdovers from the Shawn Elliott era — played in every game and was instrumental in a big victory at Louisiana-Lafayette.
Last year he finished second on the team in tackles (63) and posted double-digit stops in three consecutive games. He forced two fumbles in the team’s win at Texas State.
McGee has been impressed and said, “It’s a team game. When we all succeed, we all win. When one of us loses, we all lose. So, we just have to continue to buy into that, continue to buy into the process of what it takes, the accountability on an everyday basis.”
The defense will need another strong effort this week against Appalachian State, a team Georgia State has never beaten. The Mountaineers lead the Sun Belt in passing (271.2 yards) and are third in total offense (419.4 yards).
App State is coming off a 27-23 win over Oregon State. The Mountaineers scored 17 consecutive points in the first quarter and amassed 354 total yards.
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