Jenkins is Exhibit A into a Meyer program
AS Urban Meyer’s legacy as a college head coach is scrutinized during his paid leave of absence at Ohio State, so is his career at the University of Florida. Reports on the investigation into whether Meyer was aware of alleged domestic abuse involving now-former wide receivers coach Zach Smith in 2015 come with reminders that 25 players were arrested 31 times during Meyer’s six years as the head football coach at Florida. Giants cornerback Janoris “Jackrabbit” Jenkins is part of that Gators legacy. According to reports, Jenkins was charged in the summer of 2009 with resisting arrest after a fight. The charges were dropped and the matter was “handled internally.” Furthermore, Jenkins was part of Meyer’s 2008 national championship team and played for the Gators for three seasons before getting kicked off the team by new coach Will Muschamp in April 2011 after Jenkins was charged with possession of marijuana. It was his second drug-related arrest in three months. In some ways, Jenkins could be a poster child for the kind of program Meyer ran at Florida, unless you would prefer Aaron Hernandez. But compared to Hernandez, the former Gator and Patriot who committed suicide in prison while serving a life sentence for murder, Jenkins is a success story.
He would play his final collegiate year at North Alabama before being selected in the second round of the 2012 NFL draft by the Rams, with whom he spent four seasons before signing a five-year $62.5 million free-agent contract with the Giants in 2016. Jenkins, 29, is entering his seventh season in the NFL with a chance to re-establish himself as one of the best cornerbacks in the league.
“I’m just focused on football,” he said last week, repeating his theme for the 2018 season. “I’ve been doing that throughout and I’m going to continue to do it.”
His focus has been tested: First there was the death of a close friend at his New Jersey home in June and subsequent arrest of Jen- kins’ older brother, William, on manslaughter charges. The case is still pending.
Now there’s the controversy surrounding Meyer and the condemnation of how he ran his programs at Ohio State and Florida. Ask Jenkins about Meyer, and he has nothing but good things to say.
“When I played under him, he was a great guy,” he said. “That’s all that matters to me. I really don’t know anything [about Ohio State]. All I know he was a good coach to me and I like him.”
Meyer has his own battle to fight. What the Giants need from Jenkins in 2018 is to be better than he was in 2017, when he was suspended for violating team rules and left a game before its conclusion. He would miss the final month of the season after undergoing ankle surgery. Jenkins played just nine games. An- other disappointing year and the Giants might regret signing him.
New head coach Pat Shurmur has given every player a clean slate, offering Jenkins a chance to show he can be the experienced, reliable corner they expect him to be. The same can be said for Eli Apple, who is currently starting at the opposite corner. With Landon Collins and Darian Thompson playing at the safeties, the Giants hope to recreate the kind of year they had in 2016, when they dubbed themselves “NYPD” as in New York Pass Defense.
“We’re all coming along,” Jenkins said. “There are corrections that we’re going to have to make here and there. It’s good that we’re doing those things at camp so when the season comes everything will take care of itself.”
A native of Pahokee, Fla., in the heart of what is known as Muck City, Jenkins is among the more than 60 NFL players produced from the area. He is a success story. Or at least he should be.