Skyview football: Tanner Robison profile

In late April, I interviewed Skyview (Idaho) running back Tanner Robison, who had a great season and played an integral part in the Hawks' success. Here is the article that will appear in his team's football yearbook.

Tanner Robison:

Hawks’ powerful back had big games

and came through when needed

 By Bruce Smith

Matchup

            Tanner Robison’s senior season on the Skyview football team started slowly. However, he was proud when he put the finishing touch on it.

            Robison, the Hawks’ 6-foot, 195-pound senior running back, was on the sidelines in the opener at Fruitland. He suffered a separated shoulder as a freshmen, and it never really went away. He hurt it again during the jamboree a week before.
            The team doctor, his coaches (and his mother) felt that he should sit out. Even though the Hawks lost that game, it was probably a good idea.
             “I wish I was known for my speed, but I was a power back,” he said. “If I had a chance to run by or run over somebody, I’d probably try to run them over.”
            For the rest of the season, he made history.
            Robison finished with 1,493 yards (an average of over 160 per game). Combined with a fine junior season, might have been Skyview’s leading career rusher if not for the legendary Matt Kaiserman, who played a few years prior.
            Robison made the all-SIC team both years. As a senior, he had over 100 yards in every game except the finale, and even surpassed 200 four times. His 261-yard effort at Emmett helped the Hawks set a school total-offense record.
            “It was a good season; a lot better than I expected,” Robison said. “Everyone else had low expectations for us but, as a team, we had high expectations for ourselves. Each time we went to a game, it was a big game. It was an emotional roller coaster.”
             The roller coaster occurred during the last four weeks. After a tough 35-28 loss at Nampa, the Hawks had to defeat Middleton, Columbia and Bishop Kelly to win the 4A SIC title and then take on eventual champion Blackfoot in the playoffs.
            Robison played huge roles in those games, but he remembers Bishop Kelly the most.
            “They didn’t have anything to play for, but we had the conference championship,” he said. “They were playing dirty. Their linebacker kept putting his hands in my face, so I broke loose and scored on a 15-yard run and I high-stepped into the end zone and he was complaining to the ref(eree). I thought it was funny because after being so dirty, he was the one complaining.”
            Robison carried the ball 34 times for 206 yards in that game. He also had his longest run of the season, a 40-yarder earlier in the game for a score.
            “I went up the middle and got outside,” he recalled. “Everyone was blocking for me and I went up the sidelines. That was one of the runs I actually felt fast.”
            His only other real memory of being fast was the season, in general. Robison also played baseball for Skyview, but football was his primary sport. It started during the summer and lasted until almost Thanksgiving. He appreciated the friendships he made, especially with Zach Treinen and Ryan Rambo, who he had played together starting in Optimist League.
            There was weightlifting almost every day, and the team went to a camp at the College of Southern Idaho in June. The highlight of the preseason, however, was Skyview’s team camp, which started two-a-day practices in August.
            The camp was an overnight session and created a “tent city” outside the stadium.
            “The camp was tiring, and there were lots of emotions,” Robison said. “We didn’t get to bed until late and had to get up early, but it helped us come together as a team.”
            It also featured a talent show. The players were split up into groups and asked to create a skit that, for many of the players, ended up being one of the best memories of the season.
            “It was fun,” he said. “A lot of us weren’t that talented. It ended up being a lot of comedy acts. Our group wrote a rap (song) and we had a lineman (Hunter Montgomery) do a dance. The coaches thought it was inappropriate, but the players thought it was funny.
            “The coaches did a skit and made fun of the seniors. It was also funny.”
            It was the start of many laughs, most which took place as a way for the team to let off steam, especially after those games where the outcome wasn’t decided until the clock struck zero.
            Robison hoped those games would prepare him for the future, which likely will include an LDS Church mission and perhaps a chance to play college football. He said he impressed at least one school (Snow, a junior college in Ephraim, Utah) and visited there after the season.
            “I have good grades and they asked me to try out as a walk-on,” he said. “But playing again will have to wait until after my mission.”