It is one of Virginia coach Al Groh's favorite maxims that confidence is a product of demonstrated performance. Groh should be happy to know his players are listening, as evidenced by the attitude of senior linebacker Merrill Robertson. One would be hard pressed to find a Cavalier more confident about his abilities.
Fortunately, Robertson has been able to back up his swagger on the field. His 82 tackles lead the team and place him third in the ACC. Against North Carolina, he amassed 17 tackles and throttled the Tar Heel back-up quarterback with a devastating sack in the fourth quarter.
"As long as I'm healthy, I'm gonna put up numbers," he said. "That's the way I've always been. I didn't get here because I didn't make any plays. I make plays when I'm out there."
A native of Richmond, Robertson has almost always felt confident about his ability on the football field. Although his football career got off to an inauspicious start, it was not long before he began to hone in on his copious physical skills.
"When I first started playing, I didn't love the game because I wasn't that good," he said. "That was my seventh grade year. The next year I stuck with it and I was pretty good. Ever since that year I started dominating and I said 'Hey, this is the game for me.'"
Robertson took off his ninth grade year to concentrate on basketball. In a recurring trend of athletic success, he started on the varsity team as a freshman. Yet, despite his triumph on the hardwood, he soon began longing for a return to the gridiron.
"I missed it so much that that's when I knew that I loved it," he said. "My next year, I came out, and got 40 yards on my first run. From then on, I've just been playing the game and loving it."
Robertson was recruited to Virginia as a fullback, but with a stable of running backs that included Thomas Jones, Antoine Womack and Tyree Foreman, the Cavalier coaches switched him over to the defensive line. Two years later, he moved to linebacker under Groh.
Because of injury, Robertson played in only seven games last season. Although he feels the injury hampered his effectiveness as a player, the ever-confident linebacker takes pride in his ability to play through the pain.
"I was not healthy and could not play up to my ability last season," he said. "But I didn't use that as an excuse. This season, I haven't been completely [healthy]. But hey, I just keep playing through whatever is hurt. That's what it's going to take to keep winning."
Team success, to be sure, has indeed contributed to that glowing confidence. Virginia's success has not surprised him, and he looks forward to finishing out his senior season on a high note.
"We're taking it one game at a time," Robertson said. "That's the way we've been doing it, and that's the way we're gonna keep doing it. If we don't turn the ball over, we're gonna win."
Whether his confidence is an innate part of his personality or a product of Groh's teachings is hard to say, but it is indisputable that No. 44 is the type of player who fits Groh's no-excuses style.
"That's the way [Groh] is," Robertson said. "He's put that in our minds, and that's our mindset now. We don't make excuses for ourselves. If we lose, we lose."
He cites his first game as a Cavalier as being his most memorable moment in college football. He describes the excitement of running out on the field against North Carolina and knowing that he had made it to the next level. And with the confidence that he, Groh and the Virginia team embody, it wouldn't be surprising that an even more memorable moment still is yet to come.
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