Receiver or tight end? Doesn’t matter. EJ Jenkins ready to make impact for Gamecocks
Wide receiver or tight end? That’s a question South Carolina’s E.J. Jenkins gets asked a lot these days.
At 6-foot-7 and 243 pounds, Jenkins has a simple answer to the question.
“I’m an athlete. I do both. I play offense so I do whatever they need me to do,” Jenkins said last week at USC’s on-campus media day.
Jenkins played both receiver and tight end in the spring and summer since arriving to the Gamecock football program from St. Francis (Pennsylvania) in January along with teammate Jason Brown. Jenkins had 39 catches for 779 yards and a school-record 13 touchdowns in 2019 for St. Francis. The Red Flash didn’t have a fall 2020 or spring 2021 season because of COVID-19.
This spring, Jenkins said he rotated between receivers and tight ends and bounced back and forth between both positions’ meeting rooms. During the media viewing portion at two of USC’s fall practices, Jenkins was working strictly as a tight end with the second team. With offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield’s desire for more two tight-end sets, Jenkins could see plenty of time at that spot.
Brown still views his childhood friend as more of a receiver but acknowledges that he could play both. Jenkins said he hasn’t played a whole lot of tight end in live games except for a select handful of formations at St. Francis.
“I look at him more as a receiver because I have been with him for 10 or 11 years,” said Brown, who played with Jenkins at Chancellor High School in Virginia and at St. Francis.. “He is built for tight end, but he can play receiver. He can play anywhere. He can put his hand in the dirt and can block. He can run short intermediate routes or take the top off the coverage if he has to.
“He is a special athlete. They don’t breed them like that everywhere, that is for sure.”
Jenkins said putting his hand on the ground and lining up to block has been one of the biggest challenges he’s had, but USC coaches like the progress has made.
Tight ends coach Erik Kimrey called Jenkins a “freak,” a description that’s fine with the transfer.
Jenkins said he has added a variety of nicknames throughout his career, including “Groot,” the tree-like character from Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies.
“Groot was a name that one of my friends at St. Francis gave to me, so a lot of people call me Groot,” Jenkins said. “I think it was because people used to call me tree cause I’m one of the tallest on the team. It is nothing new for me.”
Jenkins has been the tallest and one of the most athletic players the teams he has been a part of in his career. He played basketball and was on the track team in high school and was named the Free Lance-Star Newspaper Male High School Athlete of the Decade.
ESPN’s Cole Cubelic this week included Jenkins among five breakout players on offense in the SEC for 2021. He listed Jenkins as a receiver.
Satterfield plans to take advantage of Jenkins’ versatility and get him involved in as many one-on-one matchups as possible whether at tight end or receiver.
“It is definitely going to be interesting to watch. I’m going to be pretty busy,” Jenkins said. “Everything has been coming along. I’m just really excited and wanting to make some plays no matter where I am playing.”
