As if Bengals rookie defensive tackle Landon Robinson, make that Marine second lieutenant Landon Robinson after Friday's commissioning ceremony, needed another sign he was meant to be drafted by the Bengals last month, he just had to look at last Friday's edition of the U.S. Naval Academy's hometown newspaper.

First, Robinson's father Lance grew up a Bengals fan in Franklin, Ohio. Second, his trainer getting him ready for the draft process was former Bengals weight room assistant Clif Marshall. Thirdly, Bengals defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery had him in the East-West Shrine Game. And fourthly, but certainly not lastly, the Bengals selected him at No. 226, reverently known in the service as The Pat Tillman Pick that bears the name of the NFL safety who left the league to join the Army and was killed in action.

Now, bannered across the national news slice of The Capital Gazette, appears a photo of Robinson in full stride reaching out to shake hands with one of his instructors, USNA teacher Lt. Sarah Reilly.

Reilly, niece of Dr. Kevin Reilly, one of the Bengals' orthopedic surgeons, is a Cincinnati native, lifelong Bengals fan, and avid supporter of her team's seventh-round pick. When Kevin Reilly gave Robinson his pre-draft physical during his visit to Cincinnati (another sign since it was Robinson's lone top 30 visit), they made the connection that his niece taught him thermodynamics the previous semester.

"A lot of signs," Robinson said Tuesday after he reported back to Paycor Stadium for voluntary field work. "When I got picked, she was one of the first people to email me, just letting me know if I needed anything there, she was there to help with whatever I needed.

"She's one of the best teachers I ever had. A lot of energy, and cares about her students. It was a special moment."

That pretty much describes Robinson's entire day at Annapolis. In the photo, he's hatless because tradition mandates he must throw his officer's hat into the air upon graduation. It's OK. They give each grad two so they can keep one. Robinson, who received a rare waiver to play in the league, won't be wearing it anytime soon since he figures to have a good shot to make the team as one of their seven draft picks.

"I'll be in the reserves still," Robinson said. "In the offseason, there's some type of recruiting, some type of drill work for my reserve duty, along with playing football.

"After (football), I'll probably go back to active duty if I want to," Robinson said. "We'll play it by ear whenever the time comes."

He says there's no question that the academy prepared him for the league. And he counts it as a five-year journey because he went to the Navy prep school. The day's pomp and circumstance, a day when General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, delivered the commencement address, reminded him why he wanted to go to Annapolis.

"I like being different. You're not guaranteed coming to the NFL (out of Navy). You're not supposed to make that happen," Robinson said. "So being able to still do that and continue to get better every single day, I think that's what the Naval Academy helped me do. It was a challenge and I wanted to take it full steam ahead, and every single day has been awesome.

"It's a hard game. Hard on the body. Hard on the mental. But when you go through something like the Naval Academy, I learned to stay focused, stay disciplined through the hard times until they get better. I think that helps a ton in football."

It also helped hearing Cain, realizing he chose to speak to the grads even as the ceasefire with Iran hung in the balance.

"Being able to hear from them … Those guys are making really big decisions for our country. So for them to take the time to come speak to us means a lot to everyone," Robinson said. "Great speech. He pretty much told us to stay cool under pressure. That was pretty much his main phrase. Just stay frosty. He kept saying that. It was cool to be able to hear all the wisdom he gave us."

Cain's advice can also go a long way in an NFL platoon. With that and his degree in cyber operations, Robinson should be able to learn all the signs.

"You can call me whatever you want," Robinson. "It's just super cool being a commissioned officer with the rank of second lieutenant and to be in the reserves."

Make that Lt. Robinson.

Slants and Screens

Shemar Stewart, last year's first-round pick of the Bengals, says he feels so much different and much more comfortable on the edge these days compared to a year ago, when he wasn't on the field while working through contract negotiations.

"Knowing my job and knowing what to do eliminates 75% of my problems," Stewart said Tuesday. "As of right now, the playbook is a who-o-o-le lot easier. I don't know why. I've been hearing the same terms for a year. It's just been a lot easier from year one to year two. The playbook kind of had my brain cloudy, and I came back and the playbook hasn't really been that crazy."

Stewart has always been present at meetings and had a rep at Texas A&M for grinding tape, so he's had no problem obtaining the info. He says the key thing has been processing specific assignments.

"The easiest part now is understanding my assignment on different jobs," Stewart said. "In the league, you have to have diversity when it comes to your job. If you're not diverse at what you do, people can pick up on what you're doing. Knowing the playbook and knowing all the jobs I have to a tee benefits me way in the long run than ever before." …

Stewart's not-so-old Texas A&M teammate Cashius Howell, this year's top draft pick who stayed in Cincinnati this past holiday weekend and perused the playbook, sees the work leading up to the start of next week's OTAs as "mostly getting acclimated to the installs trying to understand my 1/11th of the defense … chilling, studying, just getting that figured out."

Veteran defensive tackles Dexter Lawrence II and B.J. Hill have taken Howell under their wings, he says, as has edge Boye Mafe, like Howell, a speedy pass rusher.

"He's giving me inklings on the field. Things I can look at to help me play faster," Howell said. "We definitely have a lot of traits in common." ….