Only a sophomore, Curtis Robinson emerging as a defensive force for Stanford

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Talk about being in love with the Farm. Curtis Robinson has a tattoo of three fir trees that covers the inside of his left arm. Ouch.

He says it represents “the accomplishment of getting into Stanford” and the fact that he spent the early years of his life in the shadow of the campus trees. He attended Bing Nursery School near the campus before his family moved to Southern California.

In his school’s sixth-grade yearbook, he said his dream was to come to Stanford.

He entered school last year as a prize recruit out of Mater Dei-Santa Ana. He was rated one of the nation’s top outside linebackers there and — after breaking in as freshman without a redshirt year — he’s making huge strides as a sophomore.

“Most guys play their best football in their third and fourth year,” head coach David Shaw said. “Curtis is only in his second year, and he’s just scratching the surface.”

Against Oregon on Saturday night, he had a team-high seven tackles (pushing his total to 21 this season), and had Stanford’s first blocked punt in four years. The Ducks had been averaging about 40 points a game, but they were held to just a touchdown.

“We knew if we hit it with enough speed we could penetrate through,” said Robinson, who added that it was the first blocked punt of his life. “It came down to lowering our heads and making something happen.”

Stanford Linebacker Curtis Robinson during a practice during a pre-season practice in Stanford, CA on August 6, 2017. Stanford Linebacker Curtis Robinson during a practice during a pre-season practice in Stanford, CA on August 6, 2017. Photo: David Bernal / David Bernal/isiphotos.com Photo: David Bernal / David Bernal/isiphotos.com Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close Only a sophomore, Curtis Robinson emerging as a defensive force for Stanford 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

Few players get to play as freshmen at Stanford. The vast majority spend the year pumping iron and bulking up. Robinson said not having that year to get bigger and stronger might have hurt him, but that negative was outweighed by getting to play in all 13 games.

It’s not that he’s a physical lightweight: He’s 6-foot-3 and 232 pounds, and, of course, he’s carrying a lot of ink on one arm.

He said he was grateful to the coaches for letting him play right away, even though the team was loaded with outside linebackers.

“I think it’s been good for me to play under these guys because I think you definitely need a lot of experience,” he said. “Especially with a complex playbook and the Pac-12 offenses you face, you’re not really going to come and make a huge impact on defense.”

The game experience “gave me a leg up, knowing what to expect in terms of game speed, schemes, things like that. It made it a lot less stressful going into spring ball and coming into (training) camp. I could really focus on my craft and not think about the playbook. It was second nature.”

Stanford’s defense this year is unusual in one sense: It is picking off passes at a pace the Cardinal haven’t seen in more than 20 years. In seven games, they have 11 interceptions, second in the Pac-12. They also have recovered four opponent fumbles, boosting their turnover margin to 1.14 per game, first in the conference and 13th in the nation.

“Our coaches and players put a huge emphasis on turnovers,” Robinson said. “We realized that those takeaways have a much bigger impact than most people think. We’re working on stripping (the ball), and every (defensive back) works on catching the ball, not batting it down.”

Tom FitzGerald is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tfitzgerald@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @tomgfitzgerald