Glenn Guilbeau / Gannett Louisiana
BATON ROUGE Rashard Robinson is from the same Ely High School in Pompano Beach, Fla., that produced Patrick Peterson the highest paid defensive back in the NFL who won both the Chuck Bednarik and Jim Thorpe awards while at LSU in 2010.
Robinson also became one of LSU's best defensive backs last season without the bother of preseason camp as he was held out because the NCAA Clearinghouse had to review his academic work.
In other words, Robinson was not easily impressed by this Leonard Fournette guy. Fournette arrived on the LSU campus last June as the consensus No. 1 prep tailback in the nation out of St. Augustine High in New Orleans and is expected to be the next Kevin Faulk only bigger and faster.
So Robinson welcomed Fournette with a shot of sarcasm.
'You're Leonard Fournette,' Robinson told him as if he was a 5-year-old at Fan Day. 'Can I take a selfie with you?'
Fournette, flocked to by fans of all ages for the last two years at St. Augustine, started to oblige.
'But Rashard walked off,' Fournette said Sunday at LSU Media Day. 'Other guys do stuff like that. Everything's fun. I've been enjoying everything.'
Fournette is already a humble young man beyond his years, but because of guys like Robinson and the overall talent on the LSU team, Fournette is beginning to be humbled a bit.
'The game is faster,' he said. 'The holes that used to be this wide close in an amount of seconds.'
Contact started Friday, and the 6-foot-1, 224-pound Fournette was stopped short of the end zone in a goal-line drill by 6-1, 197-pound true freshman safety Devin Voorhies. But Fournette says no one has put a good lick on him yet.
'No. No sir, not yet. It's going to come, but I'm just waiting on it,' he said.
Fournette has adjusted his selfie prediction for the 2014 season, but it is still a bit brash.
'For my freshman year - 1,000 yard rusher, All-American, All-SEC and hopefully Heisman candidate,' he said in matter-of-fact style.
When he committed to LSU at the Under Armour all-star game in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Jan. 2, he predicted a Heisman Trophy win. He has downsized, but not by much. Asked if he will get enough carries to win the Heisman, Fournette said, 'Oh, yes sir.' Then he went team.
'All the running backs are great, and with us working together, it might be Terrence (Magee) or Kenny (Hilliard),' he said. 'Hopefully somebody will be a Heisman candidate.'
A lofty goal, yes, but do not compare Fournette's Heisman boast to that of former LSU quarterback Ryan Perrilloux back in 2005. It's hard to win a Heisman when you are red-shirted, which is what happened to Perrilloux, who also never became a regular starter.
Fournette will play this season, and he will start. And he will dominate. He is that good.
With some major youth issues at quarterback and at wide receiver, Fournette wil likely get enough carries to make a run at the Heisman if LSU can win enough games.
By then, Robinson may really want a selfie with Fournette. Meanwhile, Fournette could not be happier to be at LSU.
'I thought about Alabama, but this is home,' he said. 'I'm from New Orleans, and the place where I'm from, a lot of people don't make it out at my age. So I'm just thankful to be here.'
