Long before he committed to Alabama and long before emerging as one of the top-ranked players in the 2020 recruiting class, Quandarrius Robinson briefly stepped away from football.

It was late in 2016, at the end of Robinson’s freshman season at Jackson-Olin. Weighing just 175 pounds and not seeing much playing time as an outside linebacker, Robinson decided to quit the football team and instead focus on basketball.

That led to a conversation with Jackson-Olin head coach Tim Vakakes.

“I was disappointed, but I didn’t get mad at him,” Vakakes said. “I just told him, ‘Q, you’ve got a future in this game, man. You don’t realize it. You’re making a bad decision. Hopefully one day you realize what kind of potential you have.’”

Three years later, it’s recruiting analysts and Crimson Tide coaches who are most enthusiastic about that potential.

As recently as mid-February, Robinson was ranked as the 276th-best overall prospect in the 2020 recruiting class within the 247Sports Composite rankings. Less than six months later, he’s moved up 246 spots.

The 6-foot-5, 220-pound Robinson was up to 183rd in the rankings by the end of February, 128th by the end of April, 53rd by the end of June and is now on the verge of five-star status after impressing at The Opening finals in Texas earlier this month.

Robinson, who committed to Alabama in June, is now the top-ranked non-five-star recruit in the 247 Composite rankings. The one-time Auburn commit is rated as the third-best outside linebacker and 30th-best overall player in the 2020 class.

“I think seeing is believing with him,” 247Sports director of scouting Barton Simmons said. “What he’s really shown us is a ceiling that not many defenders in this class have. He’s got great length. He’s got a frame that has a ton of upside. So that is eye-opening in and of itself. But when you watch him move, when you see the way he tests, when you see the versatility he presents, being somebody that can play in space and has the spatial awareness in coverage that’s rare and also has this edge pass rush athleticism, there’s just a real kind of light bulb that turns on in terms of all the different ways that he can be a dominant player in the college game.”

At The Opening finals, Robinson posted a 4.63 40-yard dash time as well as a 37.8-inch vertical jump.

In addition, Robinson intercepted a pass from four-star Tennessee quarterback commit Harrison Bailey during a 7-on-7 period and ran it back 73 yards for a touchdown.

#Alabama LB commit Quandarrius Robinson picks this one off and heads the other way: https://t.co/IJbFzwauPU @HankSouth247 pic.twitter.com/P3zLIfucES — Steve Wiltfong (@SWiltfong247) July 3, 2019

“He was great (at The Opening),” Simmons said of Robinson, who played defensive back as a sophomore at Jackson-Olin before moving to defensive end last season. “For him to have the feel and the natural movement skills in coverage and in space at that length was, I think, very telling and just kind of further gave us confidence with what his trajectory looks like.”

Robinson is part of what’s shaping up to be a loaded outside linebacker class for Alabama.

The Tide has commitments from four outside linebackers who are ranked among the top 90 overall players in the 2020 class. That includes three who are rated among the top 30 — Chris Braswell, Drew Sanders and, as of this month, Robinson.

“I think if you’re ranking him based purely on his junior film, we wouldn’t have him as high as we do,” Simmons said of Robinson, who recorded 40 tackles and eight sacks as a junior at Jackson-Olin. “... I think we expect to see and we’re going to want to see an improved product on the film. So that’s going to be something to keep an eye on for his senior season. If the film is better, then I think he could go even higher. If the film is about what it looked like his junior year, then maybe we’ve got him a little bit too high. So that’s going to be some interesting tape to watch. I think we all believe he’s going to take a huge leap and take a big step forward based on what we’ve seen.”

Matt Zenitz is an Alabama and Auburn reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mzenitz.