The Christmas season has been good for Navy defensive lineman Landon Robinson. He was the first Midshipman player to be named Defensive Player of the Year for the American Athletic Conference back on Dec. 2, and today was named a First-Team All-American by both Sports Illustrated and USA Today.
Robinson is the first Navy player to be named a First-Team All-American since Napoleon McCallum accomplished the feat in 1985 and the first Midshipman defensive player since Chet Moeller did it a decade earlier in 1975.
Entering he knew that he had his work cut out for him. After all, for a team that finished 10-3 overall and 6-2 in the American Athletic Conference, in fourth place behind Memphis, Tulane and Army, key departures from the defense from last year’s graduates like defensive end Justin Reed, linebacker Colin Ramos and safeties Mbiti Williams and Rayuan Lane III meant that it was time for the new seniors, like Robinson, to step up and fill the team’s leadership vacancies.
“We lost a lot of good players, a lot of production, but this is a developmental program. There’s guys who have been in the shadows. They’ve been lurking. They’ve been working and they’re ready for their opportunity to be that next brand of Navy football player to do really good things,” said Navy head coach Brian Newberry. “We’ve got a talented group of football players who haven’t played a ton of meaningful snaps. The repetition together will still earn that trust. That’s what we’re doing right now. We’ve got some good pieces but we just got to put it all together.”
Robinson did not see any varsity action as a freshman as a defensive end. As a sophomore in 2023, he switched to defensive lineman, played in 12 games but did not start in any of them, and finished with 28 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and 4 sacks. He also gained 24 yards and a first down on a fake punt against SMU in the first offensive carry of his collegiate career.
Last season, he started all 13 games and garnered First-Team All-AAC and All-East recognition, and finished the season with 61 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 4 sacks, 7 quarterback hurries and 2 forced fumbles. Against USF, he recorded his second offensive rushing carry when he took the snap on a fake punt and rumbled ahead for 34 yards and a first down. It was a feat that he would repeat one other time in his junior year, this time at the 125th meeting with their arch rival, Army. Early in the fourth quarter, on fourth down and five yards to go, he took a fake punt and scrambled 29 yards down the left sideline for the first down. At the conclusion of the game, which Navy won 31-13, Robinson and quarterback Blake Horvath were named co-MVP’s.
“We have a lot of older guys coming back. We have a lot of leadership coming back as well. We lost a few guys in the secondary, so we have young guys getting familiar with the positions. They’re more than capable of coming in and doing great things,” said Robinson back in August.
“I think being a good leader to them, the younger guys, instilling confidence in them and telling them that everything you’re going to see in a game is stuff that you’ll see in practice and not to worry about all the outside expectations of trying to live up to what has been there in the past but to doing you and being you. That’s all you need and all we need as a team. I think just being there for them is going to build that confidence in them and be the player that we need them to do.”
At the start of the season, the Athletic’s Bruce Feldman puts out his annual “Freak’s” list, of “the strongest, fastest and most physical players in college football.” Last year, out of the 101 players listed, Robinson came in at 48, just behind TCU wide receiver Savion Williams, who was selected by the Green Bay Packers in the third round of the NFL Draft, and six spots ahead of Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty, selected sixth overall by the Las Vegas Raiders. He was the only service academy player to make the list. In 2023, he made his first appearance on Feldman’s list at 92, again, the only service academy football player to be listed.
This year, Feldman ranks Robinson 13th out of 101, between Tennessee linebacker Arion Carter and Cincinnati defensive tackle Dontay Corleone. He writes, “This offseason, he bench pressed 465 pounds (up from 450), squatted 665 (up 15 pounds) and power cleaned 350. He vertical jumps 33 inches and hit 20.13 mph on the GPS,” while flat out admitting that “He’s a stud.” Army West Point junior offensive lineman Paolo Gennarelli was the only other service academy player to make the list at No. 99.
So far this season, he has recorded 54 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks, 7 quarterback hurries and one fumble recovery with one game left to go. He has not taken any offensive snaps this season.
The performance that Robinson put in was enough to garner some individual honors. He was named one of seven semifinalists for the Outland Trophy, which is awarded to the nation’s best interior lineman. The Football Writers Association of America did not select him as one of the three finalists, but he was named as the Defensive Player of the Year for the American Athletic Conference. Teammate Rayne Fry took home conference honors for Long Snapper of the Year.
“It was truly an honor to be recognized by the coaches, being able to be recognized by everyone in our entire conference to be recognized as the Defensive Player of the Year,” said Robinson during the Army-Navy game media day last week. “It means everything. I’m super excited to keep working and grinding and get after Army next week.”
He earned a 3.36 grade-point average last fall and majors in cyber operations. The Fairlawn, Ohio native plans on pursuing a career in the Marine Corps, NFL pursuits notwithstanding.
[NOTE: The story was originally published on Dec. 10, 2025 and has been updated.]
