It didn’t take Jelani Jenkins long to figure out that college football is a whole lot different than anything he was used to at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Wheaton, Maryland. The difference in speed and intensity gave him his first clue. Then came his first out of body experience.
Just one big hit from a prominent member of Florida’s offensive line let him know that nobody at this level particularly cares if you were a high school All-American.
“I got slammed by Carl Johnson one time,” Jenkins said, grinning and shaking his head at the same time after Wednesday morning’s practice. “He’s huge.”
Johnson is 6-6 and a few biscuits more than 340 pounds. Johnson is nearly 22 years old and a fourth year junior. Jenkins, who is 220 pounds, is a freshman linebacker who just turned 17 back in March.
By the time he’s 22 years old, all expectations are that Jelani Jenkins will have taken the next step in stardom and earned All-American honors at the University of Florida. Right now he’s still growing (about 15-17 pounds of muscle added since arriving in June) and still trying to figure things out while adjusting to the heat and humidity of football practice in Gainesville in mid-August.
The heat, the size of his teammates and the speed of the game have all required adjustments but Jenkins has always been a few steps ahead on the learning curve. He’s figuring things out quickly and moving up the depth charts on a Florida defense that is already stacked from top to bottom of the roster.
He’s gotten past that stage when the newness of everything puts his brain on overload and that has allowed him to start doing what he does best, which is to make plays.
“I’m trying to learn the plays and get more comfortable out there,” he said. “I’ve stopped thinking so much and I’m playing my game now.”
Although adjusting to the speed and intensity is a daily battle because it’s something he’s just not used to, he’s already picked up the defensive playbook. When he hits the practice field, he is no longer shocked or surprised by anything.
“It’s not really much of a shock; it’s everything I expected,” he said. “It’s a lot different from high school in terms of the speed and intensity of everything. It’s actually a lot easier in terms of the plays. The defense is really not that difficult. I thought it would be more difficult than it is. It’s pretty easy to learn and I’m getting comfortable with it.”
He gets on the field tutoring from seniors Brandon Spikes and Ryan Stamper, who never seem too busy that they can’t lend a helping hand to a rookie. Both Spikes and Stamper have commented in the past couple of weeks that they are very impressed with how quickly Jenkins picks things up.
Jenkins marvels at how Spikes and Stamper know everything that’s going on around them.
“In high school I was probably more comfortable with what the linebackers are doing,” Jenkins said. “I know what the linebackers are doing [here at Florida] but they know what the defensive linemen are doing, what the secondary is doing. Once I understand what everybody’s doing and be like they are I’ll probably be a lot better.”
Another adjustment has been the emphasis on special teams. That’s something he never worried about in high school. At Florida, special teams are Urban Meyer’s personal domain and the Florida special teams are perhaps the best in the entire nation.
Color Jenkins just a bit surprised when he saw how much work goes into special teams at every Florida practice.
“Special teams were never really a big deal in high school,” said Jenkins, who is already lining up on the kickoff, kickoff return and punt block teams. “It never has been a big deal anytime in my life. I knew Coach Meyer was a special teams coach and he treated it really seriously but I was shocked at how much really goes into special teams and how important it is in the grand scheme of things.”
Jelani Jenkins goes to practice every day with the attitude that he will work as hard as he can to improve and to soak up everything like a sponge. He comes from a high school program that won big in Maryland so he knows that winning takes dedication and hard work.
Meyer’s idea is to make practice harder and more intense than the games so every day in practice, the emphasis is going full speed on every single play. That tends to elevate the intensity and focus.
“Everybody is real intense trying to get ready for a game, get it right in practice so the game’s easy,” Jenkins said.
The games might prove to be easy and practice certainly is getting easier for Jelani Jenkins but one thing is never easy. There’s nothing that can prepare him for those moments when Carl Johnson and Mike Pouncey get out in front of a running back on a sweep and they’re picking up steam, drawing a bead on that 17-year-old freshman weakside linebacker.
“I just go full speed and hope that I can stop them so somebody else can help out,” Jenkins said. “They’re great players and it’s really good to have players like that on my team. It’s going to be easier in the games.”