HOLTON – Some athletes specialize in one sport and earn their honors that way.

Others are just gamers who love to play a lot of different sports. They aren’t always the very best at one particular thing, but they are quite good at a lot of stuff, and make a lot of different coaches happy.

That describes Holton’s Rice Robins, who has had a lot of success in three different sports so far in his senior season.

In the fall, Robins was one of the top receivers for the Holton football team, led by strong-armed quarterback Austin Fowler. He ended up catching 27 passes for 332 yards and seven touchdowns, helping the Holton offense pile up 322 points in nine games, which was the most for the Red Devils since the 2007 season.

His most memorable performance came in the second game of the season, when he caught a 47-yard touchdown pass, then had a victory-sealing pick-six on defense in the final minutes, allowing Holton to seal up its first win, 21-14 over Coleman.

“It was probably the top moment of my high school coaching career,” said Alex Smith, who was the Red Devils’ head football coach last season. “It was just that feeling of having your back against the wall, not knowing what was going to happen, then a kid who is so passionate about the game and the team makes a play like that. I will remember it for a long, long time.”

Robins became extremely busy when winter arrived, as a member of both the varsity basketball and wrestling teams.

He plays a key role off the bench for the Red Devils’ basketball squad, which won the CSAA Silver Division championship last season, and is a strong contender to repeat this winter.

His best statistical game came in a win over rival Hesperia, when he snagged 10 rebounds, but his true value comes in providing quality depth for a team that’s been winning a lot with only eight players.

“He’s an excellent rebounder, he picks things up really quickly, he knows exactly where he’s supposed to be, and has a great knowledge of the game,” said Holton basketball coach Keith Swanson. “He brings a lot of things to the court for us.”

At the same time, Robins’ final wrestling season has gone extremely well, and he has high hopes of finishing stronger than he ever has before.

In January Robins beat Ravenna’s Zeke Thompson in the 160-pound finals of the Greater Muskegon Athletic Association City Wrestling Tournament, to claim the first city championship of his four-year career. That outcome surprised a lot of people, because Robins was not the top seed in the 160-pound weight class.

“That was huge,” said Holton head coach Jacob Moreen about seeing Robins win the title. “I personally think that the 160 class was one of the deepest weights in the tournament. He was looking for the one seed and didn’t get it. I think he had that in the back of his mind and used it as motivation.”

Wrestling might be Robins’ best sport, and he has high hopes of wrapping up a great career with a strong showing in the individual state tournament, which begins on Saturday with districts at Carson City Crystal High School.

Robins did well in the tournament last year, and qualified for the state finals, but he’s never won a championship at the district, regional or state level. He’s hoping that will change within the next few weeks.

The way things have been going for him and his teams since the fall, it just might happen.

“It would mean a lot,” said Robins, who currently has a 23-2 record with 12 pins, and reached the 100 career victory mark this season. “But it’s also just one stepping-stone to get to the next level. Then I want to win a regional title and place at state, which is my main goal.”

Robins posted a 1-2 record in the state wrestling finals last season, which included a loss to eventual state champion Spencer Konz of Clinton.

“I was one win away from placing,” Robins said about last year’s state finals. “So I think about it all the time and what I could’ve done differently. I don’t want to make the same mistakes.

“Placing at state would be so nice. It’s been my dream since I was little. I want my name up on the wall, and that’s been my main goal since I’ve been six or seven. I’m getting closer and closer to it.”

What’s really amazing is that Robins is doing so well despite breaking his hand near the beginning of the wrestling season.

The injury kept Robins sidelined for five or six weeks, but he didn’t miss as many matches as feared because the Holton wrestling team had to cancel several due to a COVID outbreak. He currently has a 23-2 record with 12 pins this season.

“It kind of sucked,” said Robins about sitting out. “I wanted to wrestle, but a couple of the weeks went by fast because our team had COVID and couldn’t wrestle anyway. But it’s really tough to just sit and watch.”

While sitting out, Robins gained a greater appreciation for his career and his health.

“I don’t take it for granted now,” he said. “’m just out there wrestling, and I know that anything can happen really quick. I’m just trying to wrestle like it could be my last time.”

It’s also pretty amazing that Robins can do so well in wrestling while also playing basketball. He says wrestling comes first, and balancing the two is as simple as keeping track of game and practice schedules and finding rides when necessary.

“Every day I go to wrestling practice right after school,” he said. “Then after wrestling practice, I go right to basketball practice or ride with a family member or family friend to the basketball game. If there is ever a basketball game and a wrestling meet on the same day, wrestling takes priority over basketball. Or if wrestling practice runs late, I’ll just be late to basketball.”

Wrestling is both an individual and team sport, and while Robins is focused on doing as well as he can, he also does his best to help his teammates so they can reach their potential, as well.

For a kid who plays so many different sports with so many other teammates, that part just comes naturally,

“I’m just trying to push everyone in practice every day,” he said. “I want to be a good partner and help other kids and the team get better. It’s important to me that the younger guys get better for the program.”