Bristol City's summer coup of Kal Naismith means he has taken much of the spotlight in the opening handful of matches.
Zak Vyner has also grabbed the attention after his reemergence into the side so up until Sunday, Rob Atkinson has been happy to quietly go about his business on the left of City's back three.
Superb against Luton and then against Cardiff, Atkinson was rewarded for his fine performance when he latched onto Naismith's brilliant free-kick to give City breathing space in a crucial Severnside derby victory.
The 24-year-old, who was playing for Eastleigh just two years ago, has maintained the consistency he showed at the end of last season to continue building his reputation as a reliable and excellent Championship centre-back.
As is well documented, a serious illness and injury picked up midway through last season meant Atkinson struggled to build on his positive start in a Robins shirt and would find himself in and out of the team until making a comeback into the side in March.
Now making up for lost time and looking like a snip at the £1.6million City paid for him, he puts his form down to a brilliant pre-season that has seen him reach peak fitness. "(My form) has been good and that's credit to a tough pre-season.
"It's probably the best pre-season I've ever had in terms of how fit I feel. I've always felt I needed to get on top of that, especially after what happened last season and when you're fit you can make better decisions and do more on the pitch and that means you can perform better so that's what I put it down to."
Atkinson's meteoric rise through the leagues which has taken him from Basingstoke, Braintree, Eastleigh, Oxford and City in the space of six years is only testament to how quickly he is developing on the pitch.
In comparison to Naismith, who has made over 120 Championship appearances, Atkinson is still relatively inexperienced at this level. There's no doubt the ex-Luton man's arrival has benefitted him, even if he has been on the receiving end of a number of vocal pointers throughout matches, although he's certainly not the only one.
He added: "He's a loud character, he's commanding and he demands out of everyone around him. And that helps me. Zak (Vyner) too.
"He's a good addition to the club and it allows me to play a lot better. I can go higher because I can trust him on the ball. It's early days in the relationship but we're figuring each other out and it's going well so far.
"It's never personal but you've just got to take it and when he says something, it's only to help us and not ruin our confidence or berate us. When we're zoning out a bit or switching off, he gets us switched back on and on the same page."
Atkinson has also found a new role off the field. As one of two first-team members who can speak French after moving to Cannes at the age of five, he and Han-Noah Massengo have been helping summer signing Stefan Bajic settle at the club.
He said: "They're native Frenchman but I lived over there when I was little so I've got a good accent and it helps me keep on top of my French too.
"It's handy to have in the modern game, there are so many French lads in English football, every club you've got one or two so it's always nice. I've been helping him (Bajic) and Han has been helping him but it's hard for him, obviously he's been injured with his hand.
"You don't really get that integration with the squad when you're injured so it's been hard for him but he's settled in well."
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