"I asked him if he would be interested in me at quarterback, and he said he would," the Ricks (Idaho) Junior College transfer said last night from his Utah home. "So, I sent him a tape, made the recruiting trip last week and decided Hawaii was for me.
"I could see in the BYU game what they were trying to do. I thought they had a lot of potential and that I could help them get to where they wanted to be."
The 22-year-old faxed his letter of intent last night to become the sixth junior college player to sign with the Rainbows this week.
Robinson, who also was recruited by Oregon State, Arkansas, Utah State and North Texas State, joins receivers John Kirby and Wesley Morris, tight end Jimmy McClain, strong safety Ron Wood and offensive lineman Jose Martinez to sign letters of intent with the Rainbows.
Defensive end Mark Mollner also has verbally committed to UH, but there is still a question about his academic status.
That won't be a problem for Robinson, who scored a 1,250 on his SAT. The 6-foot-4, 205-pounder and his wife, Jill, already have gone on their Mormon missions. They will move here Jan. 10.
"My wife did her mission work in Madrid, Spain, and I did mine in Hong Kong," Robinson said. "Coach Benjamin took me to the North Shore to show me the temple in Laie during my visit.
"It's a beautiful part of the island. We're excited about coming to Hawaii and contributing to the program. We ran the same offense at Ricks Junior College, so I'm familiar with the system."
Robinson said that Utah and BYU had a plethora of quarterbacks, and didn't show that much interest in him. This past season, he passed for nearly 2,300 yards and tossed 32 touchdown passes.
The Rainbows also secured a commitment from Wood of Sierra (Calif.) Junior College. The strong safety is 6-2, 215 pounds and runs the 40 in 4.6.
Martinez, is a 6-5, 255-pound offensive lineman from San Jose (Calif.) College. The UH coaches hope to add three more players in the early signing period.
"Even though we have their letters, I'm not really allowed to say anything specific about them until they're on campus next month," UH head coach Fred vonAppen said yesterday afternoon. "We will sign even more junior college guys next semester for the fall. I'm not sure how many we'll sign out of high school, but it might not be that many because we need immediate help."