Game Day DossierPlayer Dossier · USC at Penn State · Oct 10
#14
Ta'Mere Robinson
Linebacker · 6-3 · 240 · R-Jr. · Pittsburgh, PA · Brashear HS
Five years ago this month, he was a year into rehab, coaching his high-school teammates from a sideline in Pittsburgh. Saturday night he walks back into Beaver Stadium — as USC's starting linebacker, against the school that stuck with him.
The Road Back
October 2021 · junior year, Brashear HS
A four-star linebacker having a breakout season tears his ACL and MCL. Season over. The surgery ends the recruiting visits — USC, Notre Dame and Clemson were all on the schedule.
July 2022 · still rehabbing
Commits to Penn State — in his words, because the Nittany Lions "stuck with me" through the injury while he couldn't play a down.
Fall 2022 · senior year
Misses the entire season. By October he'd been sidelined 51 straight weeks. He spent it coaching teammates from the sideline instead of putting out a senior tape.
2023–2024 · Penn State
Works his way back: 3 games as a true freshman, then 14 games in 2024 on a Penn State team that reached the College Football Playoff semifinal.
April 2025
Enters the portal and transfers to USC. Plays all 13 games in 2025, mostly special teams — still no college start.
October 3, 2026
With the starting job open, he gets the first start of his college career — and delivers: 6 tackles, a TFL and a sack in a 25–21 Homecoming win.
October 10, 2026
Back to Beaver Stadium. The White Out — the crowd he used to run out in front of — and this time he hears it from the other sideline.
First Start, By The Numbers
Saturday · 25–21 win · first college start
Three college seasons, two programs, not one start — then six tackles and a sack the first time his name was called. That's not a debut. That's five years of work showing up on schedule.
Career, Season by Season
| Season | Team | Games | Tackles | Notes |
|---|
| 2023 | Penn State | 3 | 2 | true freshman |
| 2024 | Penn State | 14 | 11 | 1.5 TFL · CFP semifinal team |
| 2025 | USC | 13 | 11 | 1 TFL · all 13 games, special teams |
| 2026 | USC | 6 | 11 | 1 TFL · 1 sack · first career start |
Season figures from the official Penn State and USC athletics bios and the official box scores.
The grades agree the arrow is up: PFF scored last week’s start — 54 snaps, his biggest night as a Trojan — his best game of the season (62.9).
His live player card
Grades, snap counts, game-by-game trend charts — open the dossier and type 14. →
"It's definitely been hard, a long process … just standing on the sidelines every game. Dang, I wish I was putting my tape out."
— Robinson in October 2022, 51 weeks into rehab (Nittany Sports Now)
The Homecoming
Saturday night · Beaver Stadium · the White Out
He's been inside a White Out. He's heard 107,000 people in white from the home tunnel. Penn State is the school that believed in a kid with a rebuilt knee and no senior tape — and he rewarded that belief for two seasons before going west to chase a bigger role.
Saturday there's no villain in this story. Just a Pittsburgh kid, four hours from home, starting at linebacker in the loudest stadium in the sport — against the only other team that ever gave him a shot. Whatever happens, both sidelines made him.
One wrinkle for your roster card: USC has two #14s — Robinson at linebacker and Jayden Maiava at quarterback. When the PA says "tackle by number 14," now you know which one.