If you see Brad Robinson at Ohio Stadium on Saturday, his jersey will probably catch your eye.
Like Laura Quinn (now Laura Hawk) in the 2006 Fiesta Bowl between Ohio State and Notre Dame, Robinson will be wearing a split jersey combining the jerseys of both teams playing in The Game: Ohio State and Michigan.
In one of college football’s fiercest rivalries, you’re supposed to be firmly on one side or the other. If you’re an Ohio State fan, you don’t like That Team Up North; if you’re a Michigan fan, you don’t like that team down south.
Robinson, though, has equal rooting interests on both sides.
His older son, Andrew, is a long snapper for Michigan; his younger son, Bradley, is a long snapper for the Buckeyes.
That’s why Brad Robinson, himself a Michigan State graduate, will be wearing both scarlet and gray and maize and blue inside the Horseshoe on Saturday.
“I said, you know what, I’ve got two jerseys. I’m going to find somebody that can help merge these together, because that’s going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to just kind of wear it and support it,” Brad Robinson told Eleven Warriors. “We said, ‘We’ve got to support both boys,’ and that’s the only way we could do it is just be able to get split jerseys.”
The jersey Brad Robinson will wear to Saturday's Ohio State vs. Michigan game.
Bradley Robinson initially followed in his father’s footsteps, heading to Michigan State in 2016 after graduating from Troy High School in Athens, Michigan. After just one year with the Spartans, however, Bradley decided to transfer, and he ended up with an opportunity to join the Buckeyes as a walk-on.
Even though Andrew Robinson was already wearing maize and blue, he didn’t try to deter his younger brother from heading to Columbus.
“One of the things that I told him when he was transferring is that, ‘If Ohio State feels like home, do what you want to do,’” Andrew Robinson said. “Because at the end of the day, that last week of the regular season, we’re going to be playing one of the greatest college rivalries in the country.”
You probably won’t actually see Bradley or Andrew in game action on Saturday. Both Robinsons are backup long snappers. But they’ll both be in Ohio Stadium and in uniform and ready to play if called upon, and for the first and only time – Bradley didn’t play or travel for the Buckeyes last season due to NCAA transfer rules, while Andrew is a fifth-year senior – they’ll be standing on opposite sidelines of one of college football’s most storied games.
The brothers say they haven’t talked to each other as much as usual this week, and when they have, they’ve kept the conversation away from football. When they take the field for pregame warmups on Saturday morning, however, they expect to share a moment.
“Being able to be on the field, especially with how big the game is this year, it’s going to be truly special,” said Bradley Robinson. “Honestly not sure what my emotions are going to be like when I see him on the field like two feet away from me, and we hug it out as brothers pregame during warmups. It’s one of those things that I’m just interested to see how I will react and how he will react.”
Both brothers said it was hard to even anticipate what that moment will be like until it actually happens.
“I honestly don’t know what to expect or how it’ll be. It’s hard to describe,” Andrew said. “Like that’s your younger brother and that’s your older brother across the sideline, and I honestly have no clue how to like really explain what it will be like until it probably happens. I have like all these thoughts of how it’ll go down and how it’ll be, but it’s kind of weird to put it into words right now.”
The Robinsons say they haven’t talked much trash to each other in the week leading up to Saturday’s game, but they do have a friendly wager riding on the outcome: Whichever brother’s team loses the game will shave his head.
In total, the Robinsons will have eight family members in attendance: parents Brad and Susanna, their grandparents on both sides, a maternal uncle and Andrew’s girlfriend. Brad, his parents and Andrew’s girlfriend will be sitting in the Michigan section, while Susanna and her parents and brother will be sitting with the Ohio State families, but Brad and Susanna plan to switch seats periodically over the course of the game so that can each support each of their sons.
While most of the fans at Ohio Stadium on Saturday will be rooting hard for one team and bitterly against the other, the Robinson family will be conflicted regardless of the result – but they’re okay with that.
“Either way I look at it, we come out as winners,” Brad Robinson said. “We’re already winners, to be able to have the boys be part of two historic programs, being coached by two outstanding coaches and also getting an academic degree from two outstanding colleges. It’s just a dream come true. Growing up when these kids were young, this wasn’t a plan. It just happened to happen that this kind of fell into place to be able to have that.”
The brothers themselves, however, want their respective teams to win The Game as badly as anyone, with a Big Ten East title, championship hopes and of course, bragging rights for the next year on the line.
“I’ve been anticipating it all year long,” Bradley Robinson said. “I think going into the season, we knew both teams were going to have a solid year … both teams 10-1 with big implications from this game, so I’m just excited to be a part of it.”
“Being able to be on the field, especially with how big the game is this year, it’s going to be truly special.”– Bradley Robinson on suiting up for his first rivalry game against Michigan
Bradley Robinson will be looking to keep the bragging rights, as Ohio State looks to win its seventh straight rivalry game to end the regular season. Andrew Robinson and his Wolverines, however, will be looking to turn the tables.
“He got a Big Ten championship ring last year, and obviously that’s something that I want to cap my Michigan career off with,” Andrew said.
Having started his career at Michigan State, Bradley has been on the opposite side of both of his brother’s team’s biggest rivalries. As he prepares to be on Ohio State’s sideline for its rivalry game against Michigan for the first time this year, though, he says there’s no comparison between the two.
“Nothing even scratches the surface of how big this rivalry is,” Bradley said in regards to Ohio State vs. Michigan. “What we do down here to get ready for this game … it’s truly special, and I think it’s a difference-maker at the end of the game.”
