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As the Ravens took the field to begin preparation for the most important game of the season, outside linebacker Tavius Robinson stood out from his teammates.

With a temperature of 34 degrees and a wind chill of 20, players and coaches were bundled from head to toe. But Robinson was out there with no sleeves.

Even fellow Canadian Brent Urban, who embraces all things Ontario (such as the Toronto Maple Leafs and ketchup chips), had on sleeves and a shiesty (what most know as a balaclava).

Robinson was completely unfazed by the freezing temperatures, instead completely locked in on the task ahead.

“It just doesn’t bother me,” Robinson said with his signature grin.

What does bother Robinson is inactivity. And the last time the Ravens played the Steelers, Robinson had to watch helplessly from the bench, still sidelined by a broken foot, as his team dropped an incredibly important game, 27-22.

Robinson had never missed a game or even a practice while with the Ravens, a fact his coaches mentioned in the offseason as they professed their belief that 2025 would be a huge season for him.

And sure enough, Robinson came out strong despite the defense’s overall struggles to start the season. He registered two sacks in his first four games, putting himself on pace to blow away his career high of 3.5 sacks in a season.

Then he broke his foot in Week 6.

Thanks to his injury, Robinson might not have the stat line of the breakout season his team predicted.

But sticking to the grind has gotten him this far. And he’s trusting that it will get him to where he needs to be as he approaches the final year of his rookie contract — starting with a win over the Steelers on Sunday that will earn him more frigid practices with his teammates as they prepare for the playoffs.

Growing up in Guelph

Everyone at the University of Guelph knew just how good Robinson was, said former college roommate Jake Bennett. He’d probably be playing in the CFL someday.

In America, that might be a nice way of saying he’s a good college player but doesn’t have what it takes to make it in the NFL. But in Canada, it’s seen as a compliment. While there are plenty of Canadians who enjoy watching the NFL and CFL, the infrastructure for developing football talent is not the same.

“It’s hard to think the NFL is an option in Canada because not many people from Canada make it there, and I feel like you just don’t have the exposure when you’re here and the resources to advance you,” Robinson’s sister Nassia said.

Robinson tried a lot of sports — but not the national sport of hockey — at a young age. He preferred football because he liked being able to hit people. He’s known for his friendly persona and giant smile, but the mean came out on the field.

However, Robinson couldn’t play tackle football until after his eighth birthday. There were no local teams to join until high school, so he had to play what they called City Ball, which was one team that represented the entire region. As a kid, he had to travel far for games, and as he got older, he had to take it upon himself to learn what it took to lift and eat right.

His father Patrick played football and his uncle even made it to the CFL, so Robinson had examples to follow. Even so, he didn’t even think about going to an American college.

Instead, he looked around Canada and ended up choosing his hometown university in Guelph.

“At the time, it was like, ‘OK, let’s ball out here, hopefully get a minicamp invite, be an undrafted free agent,” Robinson said.

Robinson had a relationship with the program from visiting as a youth. The school also had the academic program he was interested in: landscape architecture.

“It was something that was just interesting to me, doing the blueprints and stuff of outdoor spaces,” Robinson said. “It was something that was practical. I didn’t want to just get a degree in anything at the time.”

There are no such thing as full rides in Canada, especially for athletics, so he had to work to survive.

“The maximum scholarship here, which Tavius was on, was $5,000 Canadian for the year, maximum,” said his mother, Lindy. “That has to cover your housing, your food, your tuition … it doesn’t even cover his food as an athlete.”

So to get some money in the bank before college, he worked the night shift at Tim Hortons. He would sleep during the day, work out, go to work from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. and sleep again. He was basically nocturnal, he said.

Allegedly, Robinson manned the drive-thru window, but “he was stealing all the food is what he was doing,” according to his mom and sister.

“The Easter doughnuts came out with the mini doughnuts on them,” Lindy said. “And he had eaten a lot of the mini eggs from the freezer, and they were like, ‘Who’s eating all the mini eggs?’ But it was night shift, so there was no boss in there.”

“I was still pretty skinny, so I was trying to bulk up,” Robinson said in his defense.

Robinson also had one other way to supplement what he earned from sports: His mom had a deal with him and his brother Keyon that if Keyon, a wide receiver, scored a touchdown or if Tavius made a sack, she’d give them $5 CAD.

An opportunity in America

Every other day, Robinson would go downstairs into the kitchen he shared with his Guelph teammates and tell them he was pretty sure he saw a squirrel peeking out from the hole in his bedroom wall, Bennett said.

“At night you would hear them running around,” Robinson said.

The SEC this was not. But over video games, working out and trying to catch the squirrels, Robinson and his teammates bonded.

Most players continued holding real jobs despite the workload of school and football.

“In season, you usually wouldn’t work, but then you just run really low on money,” Bennett said.

For two summers, Robinson worked landscaping jobs, which helped keep him in shape and appealed to his major. He also came up with an idea for a resale business that Bennett joined.

“He’s got an entrepreneurial edge,” Bennett said. “I would never describe him as one-dimensional. Like, he’s an unbelievable football player, and he’s gonna live that out. And he’s such a smart guy. Obviously driven — landscape architecture is challenging in itself.”

Their days together on the field got cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. While American universities found a way to get teams back on the field, Canada shut down the football season in its entirety.

Bennett began looking at American universities as a possibility to keep playing. If he could even have that idea, then Robinson, the best player on the team, definitely should consider it, Bennett thought.

After his freshman year, Robinson’s strength coach had mentioned the idea of getting his film out there. At the time, Robinson wasn’t convinced that it would make that big of a difference.

But COVID forced his hand, so he and Bennett put together film and posted it to social media. Meanwhile, Robinson and another roommate who had his driver’s license took a job with 1-800-GOT-JUNK as an easy way to make money in the pandemic.

Someone who knew someone saw Robinson’s video and reposted it, and suddenly it took off.

“It took one person to say, ‘Holy shit, this guy’s a beast,’” Bennett said.

First came an offer from San Diego State. That alone blew Robinson’s mind.

“I thought it was insane that a D1 school would offer me,” Robinson said.

But then Ole Miss came calling. Next thing he knew, he was on the phone with Ed Orgeron after LSU’s national championship. Bennett said Robinson had a whole cabinet of offer letters.

It was surreal for him and his roommates, a bunch of Canadians who couldn’t ever have imagined playing football in America. But Robinson had to make a decision fast. And loyalty is everything to him so he stuck with Ole Miss, the first SEC team to reach out.

“It all happened within a week,” Lindy said. “He was packing his bags and taking a plane. Like he literally had a bag, and he got on a plane. That was it. It was like make a decision and get down there and start training.”

He never ended up driving for 1-800-GOT-JUNK.

Life in the SEC

When Robinson stepped into the stadium for his first SEC game at the University of Florida, he was in awe of how big it was and how many people were there.

“[My teammates] were like, man, this isn’t even full capacity yet,” Robinson said.

He definitely wasn’t in Canada anymore.

But Robinson wasn’t intimidated. Although he might not have taken the leap without the pandemic, the idea that he could compete had grown as he watched big-time college football with his roommates at Guelph. Locking in on the edge rushers, he felt like he could do the same things as them and just as well, despite the difference in competition.

And now he could do it without worrying about his next meal.

“They’re able to give those full scholarships,” Lindy said. “He didn’t have to worry about his next meal or his clothing or a roof over his head or anything. Like, it was all just covered.”

Instead, he was able to focus solely on his craft, he said.

But his entry into SEC football was delayed at first by the mandatory quarantine period. For two weeks, he had to stay alone in an apartment, attending meetings by Zoom. He still found a way to grind. In the time not spent filling out paperwork, he did exercises in his apartment or went for walks.

When he joined the team, he found he was no longer the biggest guy on the roster. He also found himself in a sea of Southern accents.

“I was always saying, ‘Excuse me? Pardon me?’ because I didn’t understand anyone,” Robinson said.

Likewise, his teammates were fascinated by the Canadian in their midst. Robinson recalls having to dispute the assumption he lived in an igloo in the Arctic.

Despite the differences in their backgrounds, there was a family atmosphere among the players. His teammates, especially linebacker Momo Sanogo, accepted him into the fold, and he was able to hit the ground running. In his first season, he made five starts and appeared in 10 games for Ole Miss.

Although injuries limited him through those first two years, Robinson’s belief in himself grew and his knowledge off the field built a foundation for a big third season.

“He was always the best in his city, but he needed someone better than him to make him better,” Lindy said. “Going to Ole Miss, everybody was great, so he could learn from people better from him.”

In 2022, Robinson started all 13 games and led the team in sacks (7) and forced fumbles (5).

Suddenly, instead of hoping for a minicamp invite and an undrafted rookie free agent contract, Robinson was being invited to the NFL combine — and then inviting his friends to a draft party.

The dream had transformed from CFL to NFL. The Ravens took Robinson with the 124th overall pick in the 2023 draft.

No one else from Guelph ended up transferring with Robinson. But his former teammates gathered for watch parties of Ole Miss’s games.

“It was inspiring,” Bennett said. “And it kind of opened that mindset to, like, man, I was playing against this guy last year, and now he’s tackling Najee Harris or whatever in the ’Bama game. Like it does open doors.”

The next year, more players transferred to American schools. Bennett said he can’t prove Robinson was the motivating factor, but “it would be impossible to think Tavius didn’t have a part in opening that door a little bit.”

‘Super physical’

When the Ravens post pictures on social media of their players’ arrival outfits before each game, Lindy and Nassia swipe through them.

Whenever Robinson is included, they find him wearing the same thing: an all-black sweatsuit.

“He’s all about routine, right down to the shoes he’s going to wear for game day. He doesn’t want to have to worry about it,” Lindy said. “We do joke with him about that, like ‘Taviusssss. Change up the game day fit. Like, what are you doing?’”

But they can’t really fault him for it (although Nassia’s offer to come up with the outfit for him stands), considering that he gets his day-by-day, hard-working mentality from them.

“Entering [our first NFL] game, we were going in with just the general public,” Lindy said, stopping to crack up laughing with Nassia. “We were waiting in line with all these people, and they were like ‘You’re a parent, why are you here?’ We’re like ‘We don’t know!’ We were standing in amongst everybody. But that’s fine because we’re just common people.”

It’s the exact mentality that has led to Robinson flying under the radar with everyone outside the Ravens facility.

When Robinson was drafted by Baltimore, he was extremely excited because he knew the franchise’s on- and off-field reputation and felt he’d fit in well.

“This program is built on tough, physical, hard-working guys and guys that play with violence and kind of the style of game that I play,” Robinson said.

Three years later, his pass rush coach vehemently proclaimed him the epitome of a Raven.

“Every day, Tavius Robinson showed up — and this is not me exaggerating — he sits in the front; he takes notes; he plays hard," Chuck Smith said during organized team activities in the summer. “He’s taking more snaps than anybody here since I’ve been here in practice. He works after practice. He’s a good person. He got that ‘dog’ in him.”

Perhaps his off-the-field personality doesn’t fit the stereotype — he’s quiet, smiley and “very Canadian,” safety Kyle Hamilton said — but when he steps on the field, the “dog” comes out.

“He’s super physical,” Hamilton said. “Probably one of, if not the most physical edge we have.”

Robinson has built a reputation as a dependable run stopper. It’s not a flashy role for an outside linebacker in a position group that tries to get in the quarterback’s face and rack up sacks. But, as his mom said, the story of his life has been flying under the radar, so he hasn’t been fazed.

“Honestly, I just don’t really care,” Robinson said. “It was definitely a huge honor to hear my coaches say that, but it’s just a reminder to myself to just keep going.”

It’s all about helping the team, and the next step for him was to develop his pass rush techniques. His coaches were very excited to see what would happen.

“He’s going to be a good rusher,” Smith said during OTAs. “He’s adding rush moves to his repertoire. He’s got power, but make no bones about it, Tavius Robinson is a centerpiece in our defensive front for what he does and moving forward.”

“He is a dominant edge-setting force,” outside linebackers coach Matt Robinson said during training camp. “He’d been more of a power rusher in his first couple of years, but I think right now, he’s definitely working on some finesse moves on the edge that he can work into some of his transition rushes, and I think that’ll be a nice piece to his game.”

Robinson was poised to deliver on that high praise until his foot injury, and he returned back to his status flying under the radar to everyone outside the Ravens facility in Owings Mills.

Case in point: Veteran outside linebacker Dre’Mont Jones said he didn’t really know about Robinson before being traded to Baltimore this season.

But he certainly took note of him immediately, even though Robinson was still sidelined when he arrived.

“He’s a great guy in the locker room,” Jones said. “I know he’s a third-year player, but he definitely exudes veteran leadership.”

Hamilton said Robinson’s leadership comes through in all the fine details.

“He’s always going to do the right thing,” Hamilton said. “You never really hear coaches get on him about being in the wrong spot or doing the wrong assignment, and that’s leadership in itself because as easy as that sounds, it’s somewhat rare around the league.”

It was incredibly rare on the Ravens defense through their floundering start to the season as guys preached the importance of everyone doing their “one-eleventh.”

Robinson, who was always one of the players willing to talk after the worst losses, preached that, too. However, he was never the one other players were talking about.

When he finally returned to the field, Jones discovered Robinson was impressive for more than his work ethic. On his very first drive back, Robinson got to Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and sacked him. The Ravens ran away with a dominant 24-0 win — one that happened to set a record for the coldest kickoff in Ravens history, right up Robinson’s alley.

“I felt the energy off of it,” Jones said. “He’s definitely brought some life back to the room.”

Heading into the final game of the season, the Ravens’ pass rush is still a weak spot. But with a half sack against the Packers, Robinson has already tied his career high.

Hamilton is hoping he breaks that personal record — for himself but also for the team as they face the Pittsburgh Steelers in a must-win game if they want to make playoffs.

“I assume that would have been already checked off the list,” Hamilton said. “But, hopefully Week 18, last regular season game, we can get that and then some.”

Robinson is hoping the limitations of his injury are just a small bump in the road of a long career — one he wants to spend in Baltimore, the place he’s fit in perfectly. After this season, he has one more to prove the Ravens should extend his rookie contract.

“I would love to play here my whole career,” Robinson said. “That’s what I’m working towards for sure.”