Bear Insider Video: Cal OG/C Lamar Robinson

The Bears nearly completely remade their offensive line room through the portal following the 2024 season, adding four portal transfers along with three prep OL to add to the Bears’ line for the 2025 season.

Georgia State interior lineman Lamar Robinson‍ comes to Cal with two years of starting experience - his first season as a frosh at Norfold State and his junior season at Georgia State and playing in all 12 games as a reserve in 2023.

"It was a great experience," Robinson said of his time at Georgia State. "Honestly, the first coaching staff that I had there took me in, highly recruited me, showed me love, just like I was one of those guys that came in as a freshman. We also had a coaching staff change. Coach Dal McGee came in from Georgia. They did a good job. Showed love. Did a really good job with me, and the guys that they had, did the most that they could with it. So I would say, overall it was a good experience at Georgia State for me."

The Bears extended an offer to the 6-3/305 senior following their season and the new Cal lineman chose the Bears over Stanford and Virginia Tech.

"So Cal got on my radar because I had a connection - a coach said that he was going to put in a word for me at Cal," Robinson noted. "And I wasn't really thinking about Cal yet. 'Yeah, it's cool, Cal.' But I waited to take my visit, and then when I came here on my visit, I fell in love with it."

Hailing from Alexandria, Virginia, it was a temptation to choose the Hokies and stay closer to home rather than make a move to the west coast.

"Definitely it was," Robinson said. "Virginia Tech, especially with it being in my backyard and things like that. I just wanted to make sure I took all my visits. I told myself I was gonna bring my list down to three schools, Virginia Tech, Tech, Stanford and Cal. And I told myself, I'm gonna take all my visits and think well about it and make the right decision. And I feel like that's what I did."

Even though Robinson ultimately chose Cal, he’ll get to play at Virginia Tech this season in front of family and friends and was excited to see the game penciled in on the schedule.

"Yeah, definitely," Robinson said. "I mean, a lot of family and friends are gonna be at that game at Virginia Tech, good atmosphere. It's gonna be a good, fun game."

The Dean’s List student athlete values academics but the clincher for him was the vision that new Cal offensive line coach Famika Anae was the clincher for the since OL.

"So for me, honestly, I would say that the thing that sealed it was the new coach that came in, Coach Anae, the new offensive line coach. I mean, just speaking with him, the vision that he has for me personally as well as the O-line room, I think that he's going to completely turn over and change the culture in that room, and only in the upwards direction,” Robinson noted. “So really speaking with him about that was amazing, as well as seeing the campus and the area of Berkeley. I fell in love with it. I was like, I would come here as a regular student."

As for his playing style and preference for run or pass blocking?

"I would say smart, smart, consistent, powerful," Robinson said. "(I like) both, honestly, If we're moving the ball, we're converting on third down, I mean, it's a good day for us. If we're able to consistently move the ball, knock the defense off the ball, and we're scoring points, it's a good day for us."

With there being so many new bodies on the OL room, bonding and building a rapport was a big offseason priority.

"Definitely," Robinson said. "We had this little thing last Saturday. It's called Aussie day, but we had a good time, like Australian Independence Day. We all got together, listened to some music, chilled. It was a good time. And we actually I think only one guy who didn't show up, but the whole unit was out having a good time and connecting."

With spring ball just a couple weeks away, Robinson is eager to move forward in his game this spring with his new program.

"Honestly, just learning more, learning more about the game, getting feedback from coaches, just self improvement, really, just trying to focus on myself and not really compare myself to anybody or anything like that, but really just excel and see how far can I take myself with this."

The senior OL has played guard thus far in college but he’ll get plenty of looks at center, too, this spring.

"I played guard," Robinson noted. "Here, though I know I'm going to be taking a lot of reps at center, snapping the football. So that'll be good for me.

“I think that's important (playing multiple positions), especially if you're planning to go to the next level, just showing your how versatile you can be, that's extremely important. So I think, I think it's good, just a good thing."

In addition to his new OL coach and several other coaching additions, count Robinson a fan of new head strength and conditioning coach Jason Novak so far.

"Coach Novak has been great," Robinson said. "I mean, his attention to detail is amazing. The things that we're doing are hard, hard in a good way, though. As a team, we've been navigating through the workouts extremely well I feel like. He just came in and we've been attacking the workouts and he's been attacking the day, and just really trying to change the culture and the mindset of everything."

Stay tuned for more from Cal’s newest Bears in days and weeks to come.