(Editor's note: This is the fourth in a series of feature profiles on this year's Hall of Fame and Wall of Honor selections that will be posted every Thursday, leading up to the Nov. 22 Hall of Fame banquet.)
 
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
           
Four years ago, a certain know-it-all writer had the unmitigated gall to pen that Baylor's 2015 defensive line was arguably the best in program history.
           
"For you old heads, yes, better than the 1980 front four with Charles Benson, Joe Campbell, Max McGeary and Tommy Tabor and the '91 group that included Santana Dotson, Robin Jones, Marcus Lowe and Albert Fontenot."
           
OK, I was wrong.
           
On Nov. 22, Robin "Big Cat" Jones will join his former defensive line mate, Santana Dotson, in the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame in a 2019 class that includes fellow football players John Adickes and Steve Beaird, former All-Americans Ryan Baca from men's golf and Lauren Hagans Paquette from track & field, baseball's Josh Ford, softball's Lisa Ferguson Murphy and Curtis Jerrells from men's basketball.
           
"To be 50 years old – I played football almost 30 years ago – and to still be thought of in a positive light at Baylor, I'm telling you it just means a lot to me just to be in folks' memories, that I am worthy to be in the Hall of Fame. That's incredible," Jones said.
           
Because he did have to wait 28 years after his playing days were over, it means more now to the two-time All-Southwest Conference defensive end that earned third-team All-America honors as a senior in 1991.
           
"I've sat in the audience supporting friends (at the Hall of Fame banquet), and some of those guys were still playing pro football," Jones said. "I just know that so many things can come at you that you can't really appreciate it yet. . . . To me, what made the Hall of Fame call so good is that it capped my whole career. To me, it made it official, legitimate, that it was a great career."
           
Until his junior year at Dallas Hillcrest High School, Jones hadn't really given much thought to playing in college, "it was just about playing in high school with your friends and having a good time."
           
But that spring, the recruiting letters started flooding in from all over the country. "All these people were sending me mail, and I was walking home like, 'Man, this is pretty neat.' That's when I realized, you know what, I can probably do this thing."
           
With all the suitors lined up, his choice came down to Oklahoma and Baylor, Barry Switzer or Grant Teaff.
           
"I really enjoyed my visit to Oklahoma, I liked Barry Switzer, I liked the whole OU mystique," he said. "it really came down to the people. I feel like they were all good schools to play football, but where do you want to find your partners for life? That's kind of how I got to Baylor."
           
Recruited by Baylor defensive coordinator Pete Fredenburg, now the head coach at UMHB, Jones said he made you feel like you were the best thing in the world. "We need you to come and save this college from destruction."
           
But as soon as Jones showed up to campus that August, "he was trying to make me feel like I was lucky to just have a scholarship."
           
"A few months ago, I was being recruited by Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Oklahoma State," he said. "And then my first day, he was like, 'Son, you're just lucky to even be here.'''
           
Looking back on it now, though, he knows that was just part of the process.
           
When he got the call about being elected to the Hall of Fame, one of the first people Robin called was Coach Fredenburg to thank "him for pushing me, because I feel like if he wasn't coaching me the way the he was, I wouldn't have been the player I became."
           
A 6-foot-3, 250-pound linebacker at the start of his Baylor career, Jones was dubbed with the "Big Cat" nickname that he still carries to this day. Linebackers coach John Goodner called him that "because I came in at 250 pounds and was agile like a big cat."
           
During his redshirt sophomore season in 1989, Jones was part of the "8-ball Posse," a group of defensive linemen that included John Godfrey, Yerritt Long, Marcus Lowe, Reggie Howard, Darrin Franklin, Reggie Howard and Dotson.
           
"We had eight defensive linemen that could come in at any time," he said. "We were just solid all across the board. It was probably the most fun I had as a player, because we were all just there to have fun and play hard and push each other. We didn't have the stats that some guys may have had that would play every series, but I think it kept us fresh and kept us hungry, because you knew that if you didn't play well, somebody could come in and take your spot."
           
Even with a similar rotation system in '91, Jones racked up a team-high seven sacks and 11 tackles for loss in earning All-SWC and third-team All-America honors as a senior. The Bears ended a four-year bowl drought that season with an 8-4 record that included a 16-14 win over defending national champion Colorado, snapping the Buffaloes' 18-game home-field winning streak.
           
Jeff Ireland's game-winning field goal was set up when Dotson blocked a field goal all the way back to other side of the field.
           
"My job was to hit the guard and make sure he couldn't close down behind the center," Jones said of the blocked field goal. "When that happens, that actually leaves a crease for Santana to slide through and block the kick. I didn't really see it, but I heard it. I knew I made good contact with that guard, and then all of a sudden I heard this explosion."
           
One of four Baylor defensive players taken in the 1992 NFL Draft, Jones was picked in the 11^th round by the Atlanta Falcons. He later found that his stock had dropped because of a failed physical at the NFL Combine, dating back to a knee injury during a shortened senior season in high school.
           
"That kind of put me behind the 8-ball, but I can't say I didn't get an opportunity," he said. "I just know that if you get drafted later because of a gimpy knee, that makes it that much harder. I was just grateful for the opportunity to play in college and have my college paid for. I did want to have a nice, long pro career, but I know God is in control. Who knows how my life would have come out if I had a pro career, I have no idea. I'm just grateful for what I was able to do."
           
Long after his Baylor playing days were over, Jones has remained loyal to the university and stayed connected through the "B" Association.
           
"I always had that responsibility to represent Baylor because people knew that that guy played at Baylor," he said. "You know how much I love Baylor University and I always want to be a great ambassador for the university. For Baylor to actually see me in the light of wanting to include me in the Hall of Fame is such a huge honor for me."
           
Robin and his wife, Brenda, have three children: Nadia, who graduated from Baylor in the spring; Peyton, a sophomore at the University of North Texas; and Myles, a freshman at Texas A&M-Commerce. He has worked at Fed Ex for the last 13 years and is now an account manager in Dallas.
           
The Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame banquet will be held at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22, in the Brazos Room at the Waco Convention Center. Tickets cost $50 per person, with table sponsorships also available for $600 (green) and $800 (gold), and can be purchased by contacting the "B" Association at 254-710-3045 or by email at Tammy_Hardin@baylor.edu.
           
Jones and Dotson will also be reunited for a "Lunch with a Legend" on Thursday, Oct. 17, at the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. Tickets are $15 per person, with table sponsorships available for $200.