Senior safety Montrel Jenkins was looking to make a statement his final year of high school football. Heading into Week 1 the North Cobb product was still not on many colleges’ radar, but after two pick sixes in their opener against Sprayberry, Jenkins has to be opening up some college coach’s eyes here soon.
We don’t say this much over here when selecting the top 10 each Sunday night, but we actually had a hard deciding between which pick six was going to be nominated into our weekly vote. The one we ended up selecting took the edge, in our opinion, and was his first of the game. Jenkins came blitzing off the edge and closed on the QB fast. He leaped up right when the QB passed the ball and deflected the pass straight up into the air. The quick-thinking defender jumped up, secured the ball, and then did a 180-degree-turn away from the QB. With nothing but green between Jenkins and the endzone, the senior zoomed the rest of the way down field for the score.
It was a chaotic play, but leading up to that moment, to last Friday night’s game against Sprayberry, there was pretty chaotic offseason.
“During the offseason I trained and worked out everyday before they lets us start practicing with the team. The offseason was difficult with covid limiting many thing, but it was something we had to overcome as a team and teach a greater goal,” Jenkins said.
If you go through the 2021 safety’s Twitter page, you will see that Jenkins was dedicated this offseason to improve. He went in with a plan, and was ready to adapt to whatever he needed to be a better football player.
“I think what separates me from others is my ability to adapt to many different situations. I’m very coachable. I’m able to process the whole field and know what play is coming. I study film by myself for almost 2 hours every week plus the time we watched as a team. I’m very explosive and quick. I’m also determined and I know whoever lines up in front of me is going to have a long night.”
Jenkins is a high IQ defender who gets good depth when in coverage and shows very good acceleration in the open field. He reports a 35″ vertical jump, and that explosiveness certainly translates to his latest film. The 2021 recruit showed a wide range of skills his junior year, playing both off the edge, at wide receiver and at safety while also having a prominent role on special teams too.
What stands out about Jenkins is his patience when reading the play. For that reason, he shows good versatility stopping both the run or defending the pass, where he is especially advanced in man coverage compared to other strong safety prospects in his recruiting class. No doubt, Jenkins is a smart football player, so who he models his game after is not a complete surprise.
“For me, I always liked watching Troy Polamalu play growing up. Making big plays when they needed and also being able to come down hill and make a tackle.”
North Cobb has a strong football team that is currently under the radar for a lot media outlets around the state, but they are loaded with college football talent across the board. We think they will make a deep push into the playoffs, and Jenkins seems to share those same lofty expectations.
“My goal for the rest of the season is to help the team go undefeated and win the state championship game.”
Well just last year Harrison and Marietta claimed two state titles here in the state, and maybe the Warriors could be next? One thing is for sure, they are loaded with talent, and players like Jenkins are some of the many 2021 recruits in this North Cobb class that is slept on.
Interested in recruiting Montrel Jenkins? Click HERE to visit his profile.
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