UAPB's little linebacker embracing expectations

Arkansas-Pine Bluff linebacker Antonio Jenkins is built more like a safety at 6-2, 210 pounds, but the junior, who played safety in high school, was second on the team in tackles in 2013.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff linebacker Antonio Jenkins is built more like a safety at 6-2, 210 pounds, but the junior, who played safety in high school, was second on the team in tackles in 2013.

PINE BLUFF -- An Arkansas-Pine Bluff linebacker has been named All-Southwestern Athletic Conference every year since 2006, a streak of individual success that Coach Monte Coleman wasn't aware of until informed of it earlier this week.

"Huh," UAPB's seventh-year coach replied when told of the streak. "I didn't know that."

Tonight’s game

ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF AT ALABAMA STATE

WHEN 6:30 p.m. Central

WHERE New ASU Stadium, Montgomery, Ala.

RECORDS UAPB 1-1, Alabama State 2-1

COACHES UAPB: Monte Coleman (32-37 in seventh season at UAPB and overall); Alabama State: Reggie Barlow (44-38 in seventh season at Alabama State and overall)

TV ESPNU

INTERNET uapblionsroar.com

RADIO KUAP-FM, 89.7, in Pine Bluff

Continued success

• Antonio Jenkins was named a preseason All-SWAC linebacker for Arkansas-Pine Bluff. If the junior from Pine Bluff, who made 94 tackles as a junior last year, earns the honor after the season, he’ll be the sixth UAPB linebacker in nine consecutive years to earn the honor.

YEAR;PLAYER;TEAM;TOTAL TACKLES

2006;Justin Bass;second team;87

2007;Tim Turner;first team;122

2008;Tim Turner;second team;101

2009;Freddie Fairchild;first team;75

2010;Jer-Ryan Harris;first team;129^

2011;Bill Ross;second team;107

2012;Jer-Ryan Harris;second team;98

2012;Bill Ross;first team;127^

2013;Jer-Ryan Harris;first team;107

*Named SWAC Defensive Player of the Year

^Led SWAC in tackles

Nevertheless, Coleman is well aware of the player who is most likely to keep the streak going . He also knows he's nothing like Justin Bass, Tim Turner, Freddie Fairchild, Jer-Ryan Harris or Bill Ross.

Antonio Jenkins, 6-2, 210 pounds, is built more like a safety, the position he played when Coleman recruited him out of Watson Chapel.

It's also the position Jenkins paid attention to from the stands at Golden Lion Stadium on fall Saturdays while he was still in high school. Instead of watching Turner, a first-team pick in 2007 and a second-team selection in 2008, or Fairchild, a first-team selection in 2009 who now serves as a student assistant, Jenkins watched All-SWAC defensive backs Kevin Thornton and James Harrell.

But Coleman couldn't help but notice Jenkins' speed and intensity while watching him play for Watson Chapel.

" I said, 'That's a young man I want on my team because he plays with a lot of tenacity,' " Coleman said. "He lacks size, but he makes up for it in speed and tenacity. He's a tough cookie."

Moved to linebacker in 2012 to address depth concerns, Jenkins made 94 tackles last season from the weakside linebacker spot in his first year as a starter. That was second most on the team and in the SWAC, trailing only Harris, a three-time All-SWAC selection who was named the league's defensive player of the year last year.

It was Harris and Ross, a two-time All-SWAC selection, tat Jenkins models his play after. Although Harris played strongside linebacker and Ross played in the middle, Jenkins watched both rack up tackles and postseason honors since he started his career as a redshirt in 2011.

Jenkins was named to the preseason All-SWAC team in August, but earning postseason honors drives Jenkins more than anything else.

"I want that so bad," he said. "I wake up and that's all I think about."

Coleman said if Jenkins compares to any of his former linebackers, it's one who never earned All-SWAC honors but who Coleman has always counted as one of his best since he joined Lee Hardman's staff in 2003. John Keith finished his career in 2008 as a converted defensive back who overcame his size deficiencies with intelligence. He signed as a free agent with the CFL's Toronto Argonauts.

Jenkins does it with quickness and a few tips he picked up from Harris and Ross on how to keep blockers away from his thin frame, a technique that involves hand placement.

"That just helps me out tremendously," he said. "Me coming down to play linebacker, I'm way smaller. I'm quicker. That's the only thing helping me out down there."

Coleman said he never hesitated building his defense around his undersized linebacker..

"I need 11 Antonios," Coleman said. "He can be the benchmark that you set your defense around. We've got to get more guys like this running to the football."

Sports on 09/18/2014

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