Adrian Baker
and you’re right, that one hurt.
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Sounds like Seth Romero.
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Courtel Jenkins first met Mark D’Onofrio when he was a freshman at St. Anthony High School. The bond between Jenkins, a defensive tackle and Jersey City native, and D’Onofrio, a North Bergen legend turned college football assistant coach, has only grown over the years.
Seven years later, Jenkins and D’Onofrio are together as player and coach once again after Jenkins committed to the University of Houston after transferring from the University of Miami. Per NCAA transfer rules, Jenkins will have to sit out the entire 2017 season, before suiting up in 2018 for his senior campaign.
For Jenkins, reuniting with D’Onofrio, his former defensive coordinator at Miami and the current defensive coordinator at Houston, was a big factor in the decision.
“He’s been recruiting me ever since my freshman year of high school and basically I trusted him,” said Jenkins, who grew up in the Greenville section of Jersey City and played three years at St. Anthony before finishing his high school career at DePaul. "I knew him already, I knew his defense that he runs. I was just comfortable playing that defense.
“He’s a great guy, a great person, very trust-worthy, very honest and up-front. He’s proven his loyalty to me ever since I went to Miami. Since he left, I trusted him and opened up to him and was confident in him to go to Houston.”
Jenkins played two seasons under D’Onofrio at Miami, recording 29 tackles and 1 1/2 sacks in 12 games (seven starts) as a sophomore in 2015. D’Onofrio was fired after the 2015 season and Jenkins endured an up-and-down junior year, notching 22 tackles in 10 games.
In February, Miami dismissed Jenkins from the team due to “a violation of unspecified team rules.” It is a claim Jenkins disputes, saying that he requested to transfer from Miami before the program’s announcement.
Over the next four months, Jenkins received offers and interest from UConn, Illinois, Iowa and Arkansas State.
“It’s a great weight off of my shoulders. Going through the whole transfer process was stressful,” Jenkins said. “This is a hard process to go through again because you open yourself up to recruitment and at some point in the process you have to question yourself about if you’ll play football again at the D1 level or any level at all.”
In his case, it doesn’t seem like he has off the field issues that would hurt the squad. In other cases, players that have off the field issues are a big risk whether sitting out a year or not. This is the reason why the NCAA has many transfers sit out a year. He gets focus on his academics first while also getting a chance to show Applewhite he is willing to improve his work ethic.
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That sucks. Wonder why.
I guess he didn’t pass the year long vetting process.
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Maybe there’s still interest from the other programs but the tough transfer process may put him back home. The grad transfers seem less risky but also you only get them for one year.