New year, new pastures. The transfer portal is an equalizing terrain that spews out your true value once you enter it. No matter if you were just plying your trade at a blueblood program or in the G5. The portal holds no prejudice and will tell you your stature among your peers. An unassuming player from the Sun Belt conference hit the portal, seeking to shake things up. Next thing he knows, some of the biggest schools in the country are vying for him. For this senior wide receiver from Appalachian State, football started quite early.

“I was probably three-years old catching passes; my dad would throw me the ball. It feels the same now, like being a kid out there playing football,” he says. From there, after spending two seasons with ASA Community College in Brooklyn, New York (2020) and UCF (2021), he landed at App State. For him, the transition was not very difficult.

“It was easy, honestly. Through high school, coach [Shawn] Clark was recruiting me, so we had developed a relationship for a long time. And home is two hours away so everything felt right,” he had said. The 6′ 2″, 205 lbs WR fit right in with the receiver room in his next three seasons with the Mountaineers. He registered 148 receptions, 2164 yards, and 15 touchdowns. It is this output that has made the Christ School in Arden graduate, Kaedin Robinson, a sensation among a plethora of teams that have made him offers right away.

On January 3, CFB insider Chris Hummer posted on X, “Appalachian State WR Kaedin Robinson has entered the transfer portal as a grad transfer, @mzenitz and I have learned for @247Sports. He caught 53 passes for 840 yards this year. Posted 905 yards and 10 TDs in 2023.” which Robinson reposted. Just scroll through his next few posts in the next 24 hours, and you will fall short of words. They list as many as ten schools that have offered Robinson a spot!

The stand-out ones include Michigan, USC, Florida State and Auburn. The less shiny ones include UCF, UCLA, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, and Cal. But wait. Wasn’t his football career in Boone over in November? Robinson suffered an apparent knee injury in App State’s loss to Coastal Carolina on November 7. Because he was a sixth-year redshirt senior, the injury meant it was done for him.

“That’s a tough one,” Appalachian State coach Shawn Clark had said back then. “What Kaedin brought to our program, work ethic and all he’s done for us, it’s tough to swallow. He’s a great kid, he’ll come back stronger than ever.” And here he comes. But Robinson indeed got a stroke of luck here.

In December, Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavis won an injunction against the NCAA asking for an extra year of eligibility, saying his JuCo years shouldn’t count toward the NCAA’s eligibility rules. Soon it was clear that other athletes with similar career records would also retain all 4 years of NCAA eligibility even if they play a year or two of JUCO. Robinson was eligible to use this because of his time at the ASA Community College. Resharing a post that talked about the ruling, he wrote on December 19, “Word on the street is I got another year 👀.”

It remains to be seen where Kaedin Robinson ends up going. With so many enticing options on the cards, it’s difficult to discern the answer. A couple of these teams, in particular, will perhaps push the hardest, though, owing to certain factors and circumstances. 

Kaedin Robinson’s recruitment could see a couple of schools pull ahead

You’d be forgiven for thinking a school on the Pacific coast, located in a city that’s probably the biggest sports market in the country, would be the biggest beneficiary of the NIL and transfer portal era. Attracting high-caliber recruits should be the easy part for Lincoln Riley and the USC Trojans. Turns out, they’re actually unable to even keep the talent that’s in-house. Superstar WR Zachariah Branch, along with a bunch of others, has left USC. This void needs to be filled, and Kaedin Robinson provides a veteran, stop-gap solution at the very least.

From one flailing behemoth to another. The Michigan Wolverines need some help, too, pronto. The Wolverines went from Natty champions merely a year ago to drifting into the abyss of B1G mediocrity. Sherrone Moore cannot afford another year like this. Being led by a first-year HC doesn’t absolve Michigan of its woes. They’ve seemingly solved their issues at quarterback, so adding a weapon to the mix is a requisite need. They’ve flexed their NIL muscles a few times already in this portal window.

This hypothesis does line up, as Michigan was the first school to make Kaedin Robinson an offer. They’ll hope a head start, albeit very slight, will prove advantageous. With so many adversaries in the fray, it’s not certain. A career-altering decision beckons for Kaedin.