Florida State wide receiver Duce Robinson keeps stacking up preseason recognition, and the latest nod landed Monday when he was placed on the Maxwell Award watch list.
Robinson’s first season with the Seminoles was strong enough to put him on the national radar, and now he’s in the mix for college football’s top individual honor, which has been awarded every year since 1937 to the sport’s outstanding player.
The senior from Phoenix, Arizona, turned in a breakout 2025 campaign that made him Florida State’s go-to target. He finished with 56 catches for 1,081 yards and six touchdowns, becoming the program’s first 1,000-yard receiver since Tamorrion Terry in 2019. His five games with at least 120 receiving yards matched the most by any Power Four receiver, and his 19.30 yards per catch ranked second in the ACC, trailing only teammate Micahi Danzy at 21.15.
Robinson was especially dangerous in league play, averaging an ACC-best 102.8 receiving yards per game over eight conference matchups. That stretch helped him pick up two ACC Receiver of the Week honors and a spot among the Biletnikoff Award semifinalists.
The Maxwell watch list is only the latest preseason recognition for Robinson. He was already voted to the All-ACC Preseason Team and selected as a nominee for the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team.
His profile has grown well beyond the field, too. Robinson became Florida State’s first first-team Academic All-American since kicker Dustin Hopkins in 2012, and only the ninth player in school history to earn that distinction.
“I want my success to be a reflection of the team’s success because I came back to be playing right now. I came back so that next year at this time we’re still playing,” Robinson said in January. “So that’s the ultimate goal: when mid-January rolls around, we’re still being talked about, we’re still playing.”
Florida State opens the season against New Mexico State on August 29, and Robinson will look to back up the hype with another big year.
The Maxwell Award winner will be announced on December 10 during the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show.
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