John Robertson’s Fantastic Season

Villanova’s John Robertson has been a machine for the Wildcats this season. The redshirt junior quarterback from Paramus, New Jersey has been nothing short of a nightmare for opposing defenses.

Through the Wildcats’ first six games, Robertson has completed over 69 percent of his passes (119 for 172) throwing for 1,723 yards to go along with 22 touchdowns and one interception. Robertson, a dual threat quarterback hasn’t had quite the success when it comes to running the ball this season, as he’s only averaging 3.8 yards per carry, a total of 111 carries for 422 yards.

Robertson’s fantastic season began in Nova’s lone loss this season, their opening game against Syracuse. In the Wildcats’ 26-24 overtime loss to the Orange, Robertson completed 16 of 27 passes for 199 yards and a score. The dual threat quarterback also picked up various valuable first downs throughout the final drives for the Wildcats, as he picked up 115 yards on 34 attempts.

From there, it only got better for the 6-foot-1 redshirt junior. In Nova’s second and third games of the season, against Fordham and James Madison, Robertson completed 39 of 51 attempts for 553 yards and seven touchdowns. He also rushed for 80 yards on 21 attempts. In their win against James Madison, he completed 81.5 percent of his passes for 337 yards and 4 touchdowns, his best performance to date thus far.

Robertson would also terrorize Penn’s secondary this season when he completed 15 of 21 passes for 230 yards and four more touchdowns. His lone interception of the season thus far would come to the hands of Maine, however he would redeem himself throughout the game as he threw for 285 yards and four touchdowns.

The University of Rhode Island stood no chance against the Wildcats. From the start, Robertson terrorized the Rams’ through the air and on the ground as he threw for 189 yards and four touchdowns while completing 13 of 16 attempts. The scary part for the Rams’ is that Robertson was pulled after halftime as the Wildcats’ led 37-0.

William & Mary gave the Wildcats’ their toughest game of the season outside of Syracuse. Unluckily for the Tribe, they had to go up against Robertson. Robertson would have his worst conference game pass completion wise, only completing 62.5 percent of his passes.However, the junior quarterback showed his clutch ability by throwing a late touchdown pass in the fourth quarter with 53 seconds left to win against William & Mary 35-31.

With five  games left to play for Villanova, Robertson is on pace for 204 completions on 294 attempts for 2,953 yards and 37 touchdowns with just two interceptions. Will the dual threat junior be able to keep up at this pace? Could he possibly even surpass his pace? Those questions remain, the one question that has been answered without a doubt, is that Robertson is the real deal for Villanova and will be a force to be reckoned with.

Robertson has won CAA Weekly Award honors five times this season in the Wildcats’ seven games. If Robertson continues at his current pace, he will be a very strong candidate to win the Walter Payton Award, which is given annually to the FBS’ top offensive player.