
Matt Robinson Wins ACC's Brian Piccolo Award
11/30/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 30, 2007
Wake Forest defensive end Matt Robinson on Friday was named as the recipient of the Atlantic Coast Conference's Brian Piccolo Award for 2007.
The award was established in 1970 and is given to the ACC's most courageous player in voting by the league's head coaches. Piccolo was one of Wake Forest's most famous student-athletes, earning All-America honors in 1964 after leading the nation in rushing and scoring. Piccolo played professionally for the Chicago Bears for four seasons before his career came to an end after he was stricken with cancer in 1970.
Robinson, a fifth-year senior defensive end from Cedartown, Ga., has been a starter for most of the season. He started seven games this year and made 22 tackles including two tackles for loss.
During the final game of the 2005 season, Robinson sustained a fractured patella of his left knee. In addition to being a very unique injury, it also produced a high level of pain. He underwent surgery to stabilize the patella with wires and was then immobilized to allow the bone to heal. Despite a long and trying rehabilitation period and Matt's complete dedication to the rehab process, he was not able to regain a functional level of strength.
Robinson underwent a second surgery in July, 2006 to remove the wires with the hope that the hardware might be irritating the soft tissue of the quadriceps tendon. He continued to work to gain strength with a goal of possibly returning to play at some point during Wake Forest's ACC Championship season of 2006. When his knee function did not return, Robinson re-focused on making it back in time for spring football in 2007.
Despite pain and swelling, he was able to complete spring drills and then underwent a third surgery in the spring of 2007. This arthroscopic procedure was performed to smooth the patellar surface and clear away scar tissue that was producing some of the irritation in his knee.
Matt continued to rehab throughout this past summer by staying in Winston-Salem and working with the Wake Forest staff each day. His hard work paid off as he was in the starting lineup for Wake's season-opener at Boston College on Sept. 1.
Unfortunately, Robinson suffered a sprained ankle on Wake Forest's first play from scrimmage against the Eagles. The sidelined him for three more weeks but did not discourage him. Robinson returned to the starting line-up against Duke on Oct. 6 and has been a mainstay for the Deacons ever since.
Throughout the ordeal, Robinson has maintained a positive attide and has defined the term perseverance while also continuing to provide an example of leadership to each member of the Deacon football team.
Robinson was recently granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA which will allow him to play his final season in 2008.
Robinson is the fourth Deacon to win the Piccolo Award, following in the footsteps of John Lewis in 1996, John Piedmonte in 1983 and Kenny Duckett in 1982.