Duce Robinson grew up the son of a Florida State football player, Dominic, and a University of Florida swimmer, Mary Beth.

There's a world where that could have made for a complicated childhood for Robinson. But along with his brothers, he quickly made his allegiance known.

"Florida State's always been a very special place to me. My pops went to Florida State. My mom went to Florida. It was always a fun rivalry," Robinson said. "Me and all my brothers were Florida State fans so my mom got the short end of the stick with that."

Reflecting back during his first interview as a Seminole on Tuesday, Robinson recalled FSU's 2013 national championship game win over Auburn as a formative sports memory.

"One of my first, earliest memories, I remember was when we watched the national championship game with Jameis (Winston) playing coach (Gus) Malzahn actually," Robinson said. "I just remember it was a school night and we were able to stay up late, watch the end of that game. It came down to the wire, but we ended up taking the dub and I just remember my pops like lifting me up over his head and putting me on his shoulder after we won. That's one of my fondest memories growing up. I think ever since then, I've always held a special place."

Eleven years later, after Robinson became a promising five-star recruit in his own right and spent the first two years of his collegiate career at USC, he's following in his father's footsteps to Tallahassee. He announced he's joining the Seminoles on Dec. 22, just under 20 years after his father played his final game as a Seminole on Jan. 1, 2005.

Dominic Robinson had 680 receiving yards, 321 punt return yards and two touchdown catches over a four-year FSU career from 2001-04.

While some may run away from following in their father's footsteps, Duce sees the beauty in following in them at FSU. However, he admits he's also interested in carving out his own legacy.

"I think (the FSU legacy is) awesome and I want to embrace that, to be able to be Dominic Robinson's son. When I came on my visit, it was his first time being back in Tallahassee for like 10 years or something," Robinson said. "It was just really cool to have him and and see him be back at his home, see him come back to Tallahassee and he knew all the places and he knew all the streets and he's telling me and my mom, 'Oh, this is where I was when I did this. This is where I was when I did that.' That's super cool.

"But then I think it's also important for me to try to carve out my own legacy. I think it's really cool to be Dominic Robinson's son, but I'm also trying to be Duce Robinson. I think that's really important and I'm really excited for the opportunity to be able to do that this season and try to be my own man."

Robinson arrives at FSU this offseason with big expectations to help resurrect a receiver room that struggled in 2024. The junior is coming off a pair of productive seasons, totaling 351 receiving yards and two touchdowns as a true freshman in 2023 and 396 yards and five touchdowns (second-most on the team) in 2024.

When he entered the portal in December, Robinson quickly heard from the Seminoles and lined up a visit. He also got the chance to talk to former FSU and Arizona State receiver Johnny Wilson, now with the Philadelphia Eagles, about who FSU head coach Mike Norvell is.

"I have a good relationship with Johnny Wilson and just being able to text him and ask him about what his experience was like, he told me, 'Coach Norvell is going to push you every single day to get the best out of you because he knows that your success means his success, right? And it's vice versa and his success is going to mean your success,'" Robinson said. "He really strives for the best for his guys and he truly loves his guys."

Robinson, who stands 6-foot-6, is a receiver much like Wilson, who measures in at 6-foot-7. He knows his size is a weapon. But also like Wilson, he's out to prove that his size isn't a hindrance to his athleticism as a receiving target.

For Robinson, that could be rooted in the fact that recruiting services ranked him as a tight end, not a receiver, coming out of high school.

"Obviously, my No. 1 attribute is my size. There's no denying that. But I think my athleticism with my size. I've always taken pride in being athletic just in general. I don't want to even be a guy that people will say, 'Oh, he's athletic for his size.' No, I don't want to be athletic for my size. I just want to be athletic in general," Robinson said. "I want to push the narrative that big guys are able to move, too. I was labeled a tight end coming out of high school, but I want to be a receiver. Just because I'm big doesn't necessarily mean I need to be a tight end. No disrespect to tight ends whatsoever. I absolutely love my tight ends and if they told me to be a tight end right now, I'll go and work. But I think it's just really important and I take pride in my athleticism."

About a week before Robinson arrived for his FSU visit, Boston College quarterback transfer Tommy Castellanos announced his commitment to the Seminoles while on a visit. In an effort to sell Robinson on joining him with the Seminoles, Castellanos returned to FSU the weekend the receiver visited and was around him all weekend long.

That has sparked what has quickly become a strong bond between the quarterback and the wideout.

"Tommy's incredible. Tommy is my person, day in and day out. He's one of the reasons I came here. When I came on my visit here, he was here as well. He made sure he was here and able to show me around and just be with me every step of the way," Robinson said. "He's been great. You can tell when you talk to someone and you can tell you're just going to be able to be lifelong friends. As soon as I talked to him, first time I ever talked to him, I'm like, 'Ok, this is my type of person. This is the person I want to be with every day. This is the person I want to throw me the football.'"

Dominic Robinson won 36 games and two ACC Championships over his four seasons with the Seminoles. While Duce won't have that much time, he's hopeful that Castellanos and he can help lead the charge to return the Seminoles to their winning ways.

"Now that I'm able to be a Seminole, I can hopefully recreate a lot of those memories," Robinson said.

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