NFL Draft 2012: University of Notre Dame Cornerback Robert Blanton

Robert Blanton is a serious, steady, solid defensive back from the University of Notre Dame. We sat down for an interview at the 2012 NFL combine. He came off as a solid team guy who was focused on the task at hand, which was the combine. He seemed serious but friendly and was a very nice guy to talk to.   

Talking to Blanton, it was obvious that he was a confident player and person who seemed pretty focused on the combine. We discussed a lot of things, and one of the questions I asked him what he felt he could offer to the team that drafted him.

He said that he could offer “everything," mainly his mentality, "which is a count-on-me mentality and being a count-on-me guy.”

We discussed playing in college and how exciting it must be at times and how crazy it could be at times. I asked him what his favorite moment was as a college athlete, and his answer was short and brief, but very telling as to what kind of guy he is and what motivates him. He simply said “anytime we win."

During our conversation, Blanton and I discussed his playing style and the things he liked to do on the field. I asked him what he considered to be the strength of his game, and his answer was, “my intelligence, my football IQ and being a physical guy." 

He talked about being physical and smart and using those attributes to his advantage. 

We talked about how exciting it must be to be on the doorstep of the NFL and whether that was a dream of his. I asked him what it was like to be so close to accomplishing this dream, and his answer was that it “feels amazing, but you still got to keep working, got a long ways to go.”

Blanton is not a guaranteed type of player like a first-rounder is, and with that in mind, I think it is interesting to find ou what the later-round guys think will happen in their first year in the NFL. I asked him what are your expectations for year one in the NFL? He said “you know, be blessed enough to make a team and prove I belong and I can be the best."

We got into some interesting things when we talked about favorite places to play. He made the point that it was obvious that it was at his home stadium at Notre Dame.  

I asked, where is your favorite place to play other than your home field?

He told me that “it was fun when we played at Michigan, the crowd was pretty rowdy, and you got the fans yelling at you and saying mean things to you.  So that's always pretty fun, always a good experience.”

Blanton is a decent-sized cornerback with good press-coverage skills. He  looks like a good athlete who takes pride on his profession. He looks to be a player that will be very coachable, and should be a guy in the hunt for a special teams job and a backup as a rookie in the NFL.