Malcolm Jenkins
From NCAA College Football Information & Resource
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Malcolm Jenkins (born December 20, 1987 in Piscataway Township, New Jersey) is a cornerback for the Ohio State University Buckeyes in the NCAA college football tournament. Despite not one of the highly-rated players out of high school, Jenkins proved to be the "steal" of his class as he managed to become one of the leaders in OSU's defense after just a season of learning the ropes from his more experienced teammates. An emotional and vocal leader for the Buckeyes, Jenkins helped OSU reach the national championship in two successive seasons en route to becoming one of the highly decorated cornerbacks in both the Big Ten and in the nation as well.
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Personal Life
Malcolm is one of W. Lee and Gwendolyn Jenkins's three sons, along with two younger brothers named Martin and Myles. Malcolm's grandfather Willie Jenkins was a Korean War veteran. Apart from football, Malcolm also enjoys writing poetry and watching movies. His hometown is about 500 miles from Ohio State, although he has an aunt, Tammy Hardwick, who lives about 20 minutes away from school. Malcolm is a member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated.
High School
Jenkins attended Piscataway Township High School in his hometown of Piscataway, New Jersey and played on both ends of the field for the Chiefs (as a wide receiver on offense and as defensive back on defense). During his sophomore season, Jenkins helped Piscataway Township go undefeated in 12 games and win the state championship. The following year, he recorded 26 solo tackles and eight interceptions, helping the Chiefs go 9-3 in the regular season before defeating the first seed, the second seed and the fourth seed to win the title. His senior year, Jenkins broke a long punt return in the opening quarter of the shut-out win over Linden in the semifinal round of the NJSIAA/Coca-Cola North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 playoffs then chipped in 4 receptions for 43 yards against Phillipsburg in the championship to help the Chiefs win their third consecutive state title. His exceptional performance garnered him an all-state selection as a receiver in 2004. As a three-year starter, Jenkins has a record of 33-3. He was also included in the New York - New Jersey All Star game where he pick off a pass and had some knockdowns.
In terms of his track career, Jenkins started out as a freshman when he competed in the 4x400 relay and helped his team break the school record. As a junior, he won the state title in the 400-meter dash while placing third on the 200-meters, before claiming third place in the hurdles as a senior at the state meet.
College
Jenkins was recruited by OSU assistant coach Darrell Hazell who sent the New Jersey native letters and Ohio State brochures. In mid 2004, the relatively unknown Jenkins attended the Ohio State camp and was given the opportunity to earn a scholarship. He was quite impressive in that camp that it didn't take defensive backs coach Mel Tucker and the rest of the Buckeye coaches long to give him a scholarship offer. By August, his list boiled down to three, Ohio State, Rutgers, and Virginia Tech, but in the end Ohio State prevailed, thus making Jenkins the Buckeyes' ninth commitment for their recruiting class of 2005. He also had written offers from Syracuse, Boston College and Indiana.
2005
In his true freshman year, Jenkins was quite impressive during camp that he immediately secured a spot in the roster as a back-up to starting corner back Tyler Everett. He made his first collegiate appearance in the season opener against Miami (Ohio) when Everett came out early in the game temporarily due to problems with his contacts. He finished the game with three tackles while also making his first kickoff return attempt for a 34-yard gain. He also contributed two assisted tackles in the loss to No.2 ranked Texas before making his first career start against San Diego State (when OSU opened with five defensive backs) and finished that game with three stops. After making a total of eight stops in the next three games against Iowa, Penn State, and Michigan State, Jenkins was back on the starting line-up at boundary corner in lieu of the injured Everett starting at the Indiana game where he had three tackles. Against Minnesota, Jenkins compiled seven stops then had two more against Illinois before being sidelined for the last two games of the regular season with a sprained knee.
He managed to recover in time for his postseason debut at the Fiesta Bowl against Notre Dame, posting a career-high nine tackles in the 34-20 win. Jenkins concluded his initial OSU campaign with 37 tackles (9th-highest total on the team) with two pass break-ups in 10 games and was named as the team's most outstanding defensive player.
2006
During the annual spring game, Jenkins recorded seven tackles and was credited with a forced fumble for the losing Gray squad. He returned for his sophomore season as one of the more experienced cornerbacks and by default was considered the leader on the defensive backfield. He began the season with a three-tackle performance in the 23-point blowout of Northern Illinois. At Texas, Jenkins came up with a huge defensive play when he deflected a Colt McCoy pass which practically killed the Longhorns chances of a comeback, ending the game with 5 stops, including one for a loss, with 1 QB hurry. Against Cincinnati, Jenkins recorded his first career interception and had four stops in the 37-7 win, then had a nearly identical output in the victory over Penn State, only his interception against the Nittany Lions was returned for a 61-yard score. He was limited to two solo stops in the three-TD win at Iowa but came back and matched his season high of 9 tackles (team best) in another blowout against Bowling Green. Jenkins was limited to a season low 1 tackle at Michigan State and only had two against Indiana, but tallied his third interception of the season versus the Hoosiers.
Jenkins also picked off a pass against Minnesota, making it the second time through the season that he was able to tally an interception in back-to-back games. In addition, Jenkins had a pair of punt returns against the Golden Gophers but gained only a combined 7 yards. In wins at Illinois and at Northwestern, Jenkins had five and eight stops, respectively, including 1.5 TFLs and a pass break up against the Illini, and his first forced fumble against the Wildcats. He concluded the regular season against Michigan, finishing the game with 7 solo stops while limiting receiver Mario Manninggam to only 29 yards on 3 catches. The Buckeyes went unbeaten the entire year, only to be foiled by Florida in the BCS national championship game. Jenkins only had four stops in that game, two of which were for losses. He finished his sophomore campaign with 55 tackles (4th on team), four interceptions and a team high 99 return yards in 13 appearances to receive Consensus first-team All-Big Ten honors.
2007
After the football team's spring practices, Jenkins along with teammates Chimdi Chekwa, and Dan Potokar joined All-Big Ten sprinter Anthony Cole in the 4x100-meter relay at the Drake Relays where the team set a season-best in the event at 41.57. At the 2007 Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Penn State, the team finished with a third-place time of 41.01. Football-wise, Jenkins was tabbed as a preseason All-America first team and Big Ten Conference All-Defensive first team selection, and was listed into the Jim Thorpe Award Watch List.
In the season-opener against Youngstown State, Jenkins had two tackles, one on a draw play and the other on a screen pass while returning 1 punt for 21 yards in the 38-6 win. He only had an assist and a pass break-up the following week against Akron but was tied for the team lead in tackles at Washington (8) with 1 TFL, a pass break up, and his first interception of the season. In the 51-point win over Northwestern, Jenkins was named as the second defensive captain and finished the game with 1 PBU. In road wins at Minnesota and Purdue, Jenkins had five and a season high nine tackles, respectively, with an interception against the Golden Gophers and a TFL against the Boilermakers (a game where the Buckeyes nearly shut-out the high-scoring Purdue). He added five more stops in the 45-point victory over Kent State then was named as the team's defensive player of the week after chipping in eight stops including two for losses in the seven-point triumph over MSU. At Penn State, Jenkins only had a tackle but returned an interception for a 24-yard touchdown as the Buckeyes took down the Nittany Lions, 37-17.
In early November, Jenkins was named as a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award. He was however limited to only a tackle each in the win over Wisconsin and in the Buckeyes first loss at the hands of Illinois which nearly erased OSU from the national title contention. Jenkins ended the regular season with a three tackle effort in the win over UM which secured the Buckeyes' Big Ten championship. In his second straight national title appearance, Jenkins had three stops and an interception which he returned for 23 yards, although his efforts were not enough as LSU came up with a 2-TD win. Nevertheless, Jenkins still received All- Big Ten First Team and Walter Camp & AP Second Team All-American honors for his remarkable play althroughout the season. He was 6th on the team with 47 tackles, eighth in TFLs (5.0), and first in interceptions (4).
2008
In January, Jenkins decided to stay for his final year at Ohio State to complete his degree and his football career. He and teammate James Laurinaitis were named into the 2008 Lott Trophy Watch List while Marcus Freeman joined them in the Bronko Nagurski Award Watch List.
He opened the season with a 2-PBU performance against Youngstown State to earn the Jack Tatum Big Hit of the week award.
Career Stats
| Punt Returns | Interception | Tackle | Tackle for Loss | Misc | |||||||||||||||||
| Year | Ret. | Yds | Avg. | TD | Ret./G | Yds./G | Int | Yds | TD | Int./G | Solo | Asst | Ttl | TPG | TFL | TFLYds | TFL/G | PBU | QBH | FF | K/P Blk |
| 2005 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 23 | 14 | 37 | 3.7 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2006 | 2 | 7 | 3.5 | 0 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 4 | 99 | 1 | 0.31 | 40 | 15 | 55 | 4.23 | 4.5 | 11 | 0.35 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2007 | 3 | 16 | 5.33 | 0 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 4 | 53 | 1 | 0.31 | 27 | 20 | 47 | 3.62 | 5.0 | 13 | 0.39 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Highlights
| Malcolm Jenkins Highlight Reel. |
Achievements
2008
- Athlon Sports Preseason First-Team All-Big Ten
- Athlon Sports Preseason Second-Team All-America
- Bednarik Award Watch List
- Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch List
- Lott Trophy Watch List
- Phil Steele Preseason All-American First Team
- Phil Steele Preseason All-Big Ten First Team
- Sporting News' #1 DB in the Big Ten
2007
- All-Big Ten 1st-Team (Coaches/Media)
- AP All-America Second Team
- CollegeFootballNews.com All-Big Ten Team
- CollegeFootballNews.com Preseason All-American Honorable Mention
- CollegeFootballNews.com Preseason All-Big Ten First Team
- CollegeFootballNews.com's #3 DB in the Big Ten
- CollegeFootballNews.com's #29 Player in the Big Ten
- CollegeFootballNews.com's #6 Preseason Cornerback in the Nation
- CollegeFootballNews.com's #6 Preseason Player in the Big Ten
- Jim Thorpe Award Watch List/Semifinalist
- Ohio State's Arnie Chonko Award (defensive back)
- Ohio State's Defensive Player of the Week (vs. Michigan State)
- Phil Steele All-American Third Team
- Phil Steele All-Big Ten First Team
- Rivals.com 1st-Team All-Big Ten
- Walter Camp All-American Second Team
2006
- CollegeFootballNews.com All-Big Ten Team
- CollegeFootballNews.com's #2 DB in the Big Ten
- CollegeFootballNews.com's #27 Player in the Big Ten
- Consensus first-team All-Big Ten
- Ohio State's SAE Homecoming Award
2005
- Ohio State's Most Outstanding Defensive Player
References
- Bucknuts Magazine Excerpts: "Always the Hunter"
- Malcolm Jenkins CfbStats.com
- Malcolm Jenkins Ohio State Profile
- Malcolm Jenkins Scout.com Profile
- Malcolm Jenkins Wikipedia
