Standing Tall: Even at 6-foot-7, WR E.J. Jenkins has always felt like he’s flown under the radar. At Georgia Tech, the sixth-year senior has found the stage – and success – he’s been searching for.
By Andy Demetra (The Voice of the Yellow Jackets) | Inside The Chart
E.J. Jenkins hadn’t yet been cleared to join summer workouts, but that didn’t stop his new Georgia Tech teammates from sizing him up.
“I was sitting on the sidelines just watching,” Jenkins said of those first few days on campus. Some run-of-the-mill paperwork delays prevented the grad transfer from officially joining the team, so he could only observe those workout sessions from afar.
Across the way, Tech’s defensive backs took note of Jenkins – 6-foot-7, 243 pounds, with cabled arms, long dreadlocks and hands that look like they could crush large fruit – and gave him their own inimitable welcome.
“Every time they made a play, they’d come at me and point at me and say, “You’re next,’” Jenkins laughed.
“I was like, ‘Okay. I’m going to rise up to the challenge.’”
Opposing defenses have now learned what Georgia Tech’s defensive backs have discovered over the past few months: no matter how much they seek it out, defending Jenkins can be a thankless task.
He proved it again last Saturday in Tallahassee, catching three passes for 66 yards and a touchdown in the Yellow Jackets’ game against Florida State. His 32-yard touchdown catch, in which he hauled in a deep cross, shook off a tackle attempt along the sideline and galloped in for the score, gave him a team-leading three receiving touchdowns this season.
E.J. Jenkins (left) celebrates with Nate McCollum following Jenkins’ third touchdown catch of the season last Saturday at Florida State (photo: Stephen Jensen)
“He’s a rare specimen,” said wide receiver Malachi Carter. “The dude is 6-7. You don’t get many guys like that around the league. He brings that veteran mindset and that’s the way he carries himself. He meshes well with our offense and he’s hungry to make plays.”
And those defensive teammates? They became believers a long time ago.
“He’s so tall and rangy,” said linebacker Charlie Thomas. “It’s kind of scary when the ball goes in the air.”
The Fredericksburg, Va., native will have his next opportunity to inspire fright this Saturday when Georgia Tech faces Virginia Tech at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Va. (12:30 p.m. ET, Georgia Tech Sports Network from Legends Sports). He’ll also do it on native soil – until Wednesday, Jenkins, the second-oldest of eight kids, didn’t realize he had never played a college football game in his home state.
“It gets me a little emotional now that I think about it, coming from a small city in Fredericksburg,” Jenkins said. His hometown, 50 miles from Washington, D.C., is a roughly four-hour drive from Blacksburg.
It continues a season of validation for Jenkins, one of five sixth-year seniors on the Georgia Tech roster, who opted to use his extra year of eligibility due to Covid-19 to suit up for the Jackets.
“Just being able to go out there and showcase what I got, and keep being slept on, there’s no better place to be,” he said.
Yes, slept on. His Georgia Tech teammates may have noticed him right away, but if a 6-foot-7 wide receiver can feel hidden in plain sight, Jenkins believes he could make a case for it.
Despite setting a Chancellor High School record with more than 4,000 career receiving yards, his mammoth size didn’t translate to a major recruiting profile. He began his career at FCS St. Francis University in Loretto, Pa., a decision based in large part on wanting to play with close friend Jason Brown, his quarterback in both middle school and high school.
Jenkins and Brown made for a prolific combination at St. Francis – Brown set a school record for passing yards in a season in 2019, while Jenkins set a school record with 13 touchdown receptions. Jenkins earned preseason All-Northeast Conference honors heading into the 2020 season.
When the NEC moved its fall schedule to the spring of 2021 due to Covid-19, both players explored their options in the transfer portal, hoping to put their talents on a bigger stage. That led to them reuniting at South Carolina, where Jenkins caught eight passes for 117 yards and a touchdown in 12 games in 2021.
Jenkins appreciated his time in Columbia, but in his first taste of power-conference football, he never felt like he showed his full potential.
“I didn’t feel like I really had the opportunity to actually place what I have on the field, especially during game day,” he said.
Interdisciplinary studies degree in hand, Jenkins sought one last place to prove himself. He found the offense – and more importantly, the vibe – he was looking for at Georgia Tech.
“People here were really straight-up. I came here with a demeanor of straight business. They felt it, I felt it. Everybody in the building, the atmosphere as well. I know that Georgia Tech wants to win, and that’s all I want to do too, and I wanted to help that process,” he said.
VIDEO: E.J. Jenkins makes an outstanding one-hand grab at Pitt
The irony is, since arriving at Tech, Jenkins has worked hard on making himself smaller. Wide receivers coach Del Alexander has drilled him relentlessly on getting lower when making his cuts, which allows him to explode more powerfully out of his breaks. Do that more consistently, he says, and smaller defensive backs will have a harder time keeping up.
“They’re lower to the ground, so they can make quicker cuts. If you can do both, use size and speed to get out of everything, it can make you that much harder to guard,” Jenkins explained.
Interim head coach Brent Key views Jenkins’ improvement through a different lens.
“That’s the easy thing to say, that he’s a big target with great range. But he’s really starting to understand the offense and what his role in the offense is. The more he’s learned it, the more comfortable he’s become, and you see that with how he plays. He’s playing faster and playing with a lot more confidence,” Key said.
That cresting confidence heads into his home state on Saturday, where Jenkins will spot a familiar face on the sidelines. His old friend Jason Brown, his quarterback in middle school, then high school, then St. Francis, then South Carolina? He entered the transfer portal this past offseason as well. He landed at Virginia Tech, where he’s listed as the Hokies’ backup quarterback. Remarkably, this year marks the first time that Jenkins and Brown haven’t been a quarterback-wide receiver tandem in 13 years. For comparison, Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison only played 11 seasons together on the Indianapolis Colts.
“It’s going to be pretty weird seeing him in an opposite jersey as me. But he knows it’s love,” said Jenkins (though he notes he and Brown are still teammates on Xbox Live).
Back in his native Virginia, the final games of his college career dawning, E.J. Jenkins will look to stand tall once again.
