Wan'Dale Robinson, Giants Wide Receiver

What's up everybody? Guess who's hosting a new podcast? No Mercy with Stephen A. Smith. Listen as I pull back the curtain on everything beyond the world of sports. Interviewing influential guests, outspoken celebrities, and thought leaders across the political, financial, and social spectrum.

You know me, I'll give you my unbiased opinion. A No Mercy episode drops every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. No Mercy with Stephen A. Smith, a presentation of Cadence 13 and Odyssey Studio available on the Odyssey app or wherever you listen to your podcast. Fantasy Football Leagues are one on the waiver wire, and with trades, and with savvy starter sit decisions. The Fantasy Football Today Podcast will help you along the way with the best advice on how to manage your team and dominate your league. With 8 episodes per week, Fantasy Football Today is the only resource you'll need. Start sit, grade the trade, fantasy cops to settle your league disputes, and so much more.

Check out Fantasy Football Today anywhere podcasts are found. The New York football Giants are red hot. Another come from behind victory last weekend up against the Baltimore Ravens.

The Giants are now 5-1, and they have a Sunday matchup, 1 o'clock with the Jacksonville Jaguars in Jacksonville. And now joining us at his first touchdown reception last week, made his return, and that's Wandale Robinson, the rookie wide receiver out of Kentucky, kind enough to join us on the Zach Gelb show. Wandale, appreciate the time as always. Congratulations on the first touchdown. How you been? I've been good.

Thank you. Well take me through that first score. So you made the return coming off the knee injury, and you find a way to get into the end zone.

Take me through your perspective of it. Well I mean it was third down, and we had called a little pick play, and David Sills did a really nice job of helping me out. I was just wide open to get right there in the end zone. When you're standing in that end zone with the Giants fans going nuts at MetLife Stadium, and you put in all that work your entire life to get an NFL touchdown, just what's going through your head while you're in the end zone?

Shout out to you. I remember I just went blank. It was just crazy.

At the moment I was just waiting for my whole life. What did you do with the football? Did you keep the football?

No, my mom has it. It's back home in Kentucky. Well that's awesome. So was your mom at the game? Yeah, my mom and dad were at the game. So what did that mean to you? That's got to be awesome.

I mean they were both there whenever this journey started, so just to see it all come full circle was great. We saw you back on the field last weekend, and you had success. You brought a lot of energy to the team. How's the knee feeling? Are you fully healthy now? Yeah, I'm feeling great. I mean just back to practicing fully and doing everything, back to the way I felt like I was doing so. It's just been feeling great and just being able to get my work. Wandell Robinson here with us from the Giants. The thing that stood out to me the most in the game last week from you individually was the energy, like I was talking about, that you brought to the team.

Where does that energy come from? I mean part of it was just built up, just being out for so long. I mean I just kind of feel like I'm one of those guys that just want to make plays and just give us a spark to continue going in game. What type of player do you eventually think you could become?

Who knows? I just want to continue to get better every day. At the end of the day I want to be the best, but just got to continue to work and just help my football team win. How has that transition been? How do you describe that transition going from Kentucky to the NFL and now getting a game or two under your belt in the National Football League? I mean it wasn't too hard or anything, but just had to come in and work and part of that was the preparation and just the help with the coaches and some of my teammates and the leadership that I've had around me.

It was a pretty easy transition just to get going into the groove of things, so it's been nice. You talk about the coaches. Brian Daybal has really taken the New York area by storm.

They've been looking for a good competitive football team for quite some time with the state of the Giants the last few years. You being new to this, Brian Daybal being new to New York, what has impressed you the most with your head football coach? He's just a great guy. He takes care of his players. We love playing for him, so it makes it easy for us just to go out there and do our job for him, especially knowing that he's just going to take care of us.

He's always thinking about us and always wants what's best for us. Wandale Robinson here with us from the Giants. Giants go up against Jacksonville this Sunday. He's coming off a touchdown performance and a victory for Big Blue. Your quarterback, Daniel Jones, this is a big year for him.

Off to a good start. How do you view your quarterback and how are you guys building that chemistry? He's a tremendous leader and he's a tough dude. Ever since I got here, that's one thing that I wanted to do with Daniel is just build that chemistry. Luckily, he texted me after I got drafted.

From there, we just started building and just continuing to throw each and every day and just talking about things and how he wants things done. You've barely been able to play two games. Are you comfortable yet in the NFL or is that still a little bit of an acclimation period for you? I kind of felt like once I got an end zone, I kind of just felt normal again. I was just back out there playing football again and everything just kind of started slowing down just after a couple snaps and stuff. Just getting back in the groove of things.

It was just nice. I saw the Giants put out on social media and I follow you on Twitter and I saw you retweeted this. Something along the lines of people poking fun at this being the worst 5-1 football team they've ever seen. A lot of people still doubting the Giants. What do you say to people that are doubting your football team?

At the end of the day, we have no problem with it. We're just worried about what we have inside of our locker room and what's inside the building. We're just going to continue to do what we do and continue to try to go 1-0 each and every week and continue to work each and every week just to get better. What have you learned from Saquon Barkley?

How to be a pro. You just see how he comes into work and what he does. Especially during those games.

How he goes about it. Even if there's some negative plays and things like that, he's not pouting or anything like that. He's just been a really big guy for us and this whole organization. And his biggest problem has just been staying on the field but he's back.

He looks like he could win the Comeback Player of the Year award this year if he stays healthy. That's just got to bring a great energy to the locker room. Just having a guy like that who's all focused on the team and makes big plays just back. He's got to make the whole locker room feel good. Oh yeah, definitely. He's always team first and he's going to do whatever he can to help us win too.

Wrap it up with Lawndale Robinson from the Giants. What clicked for you at Kentucky? So you were in Nebraska for a few years.

Then you go back home. You had a great year a year ago at Kentucky. What was it where it really turned your game around going to Kentucky? I would say Liam Cohen, now the offensive coordinator at the Los Angeles Rams. He was really the one that convinced me to go back home.

I don't think I would have ended up going back home if he didn't get hired. From the moment that I got there, he just really taught me everything within the offense that we had. That being the Rams scheme. It prepared me to get into an NFL scheme and knowing how to study and things like that. Just teaching me how to play receiver. Before then I had more carries than I did catches in college football.

It was just a different transition. He just allowed me to learn and make plays. Is it crazy to you a little bit how quickly this has come together for you with all that you just said about the change and transition that you went through? A little bit, but at the end of the day I know the work that I put in. At the end of the day I just want to continue to get better.

I just want to take advantage of my opportunities. Giants fans only seen you play for a game or two and they're not real familiar with your background. What would you tell Giants fans about your game and what you could bring to the football team?

I'm versatile and just going to make plays and just going to be energy gossip. Take me back to the night you got the phone call and you got drafted by the Giants in the second round. What do you remember about that? At the start of the draft I actually looked down at my phone as everybody was just kind of settling in. I was greeting people and I looked down at my phone and I had no service.

So I was figuring out how I could get service in the span of three minutes. So I figured it out and then eventually within probably 20 minutes I ended up getting a call and the Vikings were actually on the clock so I'm thinking I'm going to Minnesota. And then I looked down and it's a New Jersey number and I'm kind of like, New Jersey?

What's in New Jersey? And then it was Joe and he was on the phone and he said, hey Wanda. That was really about all I remember but they have the audio from it. I just remember I was crying and stuff with my mom and my dad. It was just a moment that we had been waiting for my whole life. How long did it take to sink in that you got drafted in the second round by the Giants? Was it right away? No, it took a really long time. There's even still some days I walk in to work and I'm like, I'm really playing football for the Giants.

It was kind of crazy. This is a game that I've been playing since I was five and now I'm really here where I dreamed of being. Well it's great to see you back on the field healthy. It's good to see you again in the end zone last week. This team is 5-1. Expectations are changing. Just how good of a football team do you think you have there?

You've been in that locker room day in and day out. I think we can be as good as we want to be. At the end of the day we just have to prepare and do what we have to do early in the week.

Then on Sundays just do what we have to do and the outcome will be the outcome. I want to just take you back to your college days real quickly. Wrap it up with Wandale Robinson from the Giants. Mark Stoops has done a sensational job with that Kentucky program. What is it about Coach Stoops because that entire feel about the way that we view Kentucky nationally is now totally different.

He's very similar to Coach Dave's. Just taking care of his players and always putting his players first. You just want to play for a guy like that. Then having a really great support staff around him with the coaches. Always having a good game plan. He's always done a really good job with that and just making sure the team is ready to play. A name that's been skyrocketing is your former quarterback Will Levis. Whenever he gets drafted this year what does an NFL team get in Will Levis, the quarterback? He's a smart tough dude. He can make all the throws.

I'm sure on pro day and stuff everybody is going to go crazy. He's just a really good dude as well too. He's a great leader. He came into the locker room within two months and became a captain.

He's a really good dude and just somebody you would love to have as your quarterback as well. When you guys get set for Jacksonville, what's been the biggest point of emphasis this week in the preparation for this Jaguars defense? We just have to be physical. It all starts up front. At the end of the day we have to make plays on the outside.

Everybody has to do their role and play their part. Last one before we let Wandel Robinson run. Mike Kafka, tell me about your offensive coordinator because his name is starting to get linked to some head coaching jobs and maybe people think he could be a head coach in this league one day. He's a very offensive mind.

He's really creative and just being able to get us in a lot of different spots and do a lot of different things and just do a lot of different things within the offense. Well we appreciate the time. Thanks so much. Congrats on the touchdown last week and good luck this upcoming weekend.

Yep, I appreciate it. You listen to your podcast. Stay anywhere podcasts are found. Wherever you listen to your podcast.