Terrell Robinson Signs With DII Powerhouse St. Augustine

Terrell Robinson took his time on his college decision. In many ways, he waited long enough until the fit was right.

But it turned out, he didn't have to look far at all.

That's because Robinson, a North Carolina native who attends Winston-Salem Mount Tabor High School and is a member of Run U Xpress Track Club, signed with Saint Augustine University, the men's program which recently hired Olympian Bershawn Jackson as its head coach.

Jackson also coaches Robinson at Run U Xpress.

Jackson certainly was going to know Robinson's ability more than most. But this much was true and plainly obvious: Robinson was one of the most dominant 55m and 60m sprint talents in the nation over the past two indoor seasons.

This past winter, he was ranked at U.S. No. 2 in the 55m dash with a time of 6.24. He was also ranked at U.S. No. 9 in the 60m dash with a time of 6.72.

Previous to this week, Robinson had run 10.43 in the 100m dash and 21.67 in the 200m dash. Both marks were wind-aided. But on Tuesday, he lowered those marks to 10.31 and 21.21 -- though those performances were flat FAT times without wind-readings.

To put it simply, Robinson is exceptionally talented.

When MileSplit caught wind that Robinson was exploring his NCAA options, we wanted to catch up with the Mount Tabor senior to find out which lucky program was signing the young sprints star.

Would it be a traditional southern powerhouse? What about an established NCAA Division I in-state program?

Could an opportunity out west be too good to pass up?

Non of those options ended up meeting the criteria of Robinson's final selection.

Saint Augustine University, an NCAA Division II program that resides in Raleigh, North Carolina, was the final pick. Robinson's decision might come as a slight surprise, given that he has competed for years alongside athletes who are headed to Division I universities. But you would be remiss if you discounted a strong coach-athlete rapport.

"Coach Bershawn Jackson, who has coached me at Run U Xpress, actually took the head coaching job at Saint Augustine. He'll be the coach there next year." Robinson told us.

"The familiarity helps. But he still made the effort to do an in-home visit."

Jackson is more than just a sprints coach for Run U Xpress. The soon-to-be Falcons' head coach previously competed for Saint Augustine and went on to have a world-class career as a hurdler.

Then there was another fact about Jackson as a recruiter.

"He was still reaching out to other schools for me on my behalf when I was going through the recruiting process," said Robinson.

"Coach Jackson clearly has my best interest in mind."

At the Division II level, the Falcons are considered a modern-day track and field powerhouse. The men and women have amassed 39 team titles on the track throughout the team's history, with their latest title coming in the spring of 2017.

And when they aren't winning titles, it's not uncommon to see the Falcons among the top-five teams in the national meet standings.

At the end of the day, the academic and athletic prestige was there. And Saint Augustine's meet schedule is going to be anything but easy.

"We're still going to face a lot of high level competition," Robinson said. "We're still going to these super competitive meets like the Penn Relays and we still get to face a lot of these D1 guys. At the end of the day, we still have to go out and execute."

What other schools was Robinson looking at?

"Texas, Iowa and North Carolina A&T," Robinson told us. "I was probably leaning towards [North Carolina] A&T before my Saint Augustine's visit."

What's next? Robinson says he's now focused on the very exciting future that the Saint Augustine men have in front of them, one that could reshape how we view the men's program in the future. Perhaps they've signed a future All-American.

"Just wait," Robinson said. "We have more big recruiting pieces coming in."