Cowboys make Jenkins USF's first first-rounder

Former USF cornerback Mike Jenkins might have waited a little longer than he'd hoped, but the Dallas Cowboys used the 25th pick in Saturday's NFL Draft to select him, making him USF's first-ever first-round draft pick.

Jenkins, who liked Dallas enough this spring that he often wore a Cowboys shirt when visiting USF's practices, will join former USF corner Anthony Henry in Dallas. He was the fourth cornerback taken Saturday, and was chosen five picks after the hometown Bucs chose another corner in Kansas' Aqib Talib. The Cowboys, defending NFC East champions, could have had him at No. 22 but instead chose Arkansas running back Felix Jones; seeing him still available three picks later, Dallas traded up three spots from No. 28 to take Seattle's pick at No. 25 and select Jenkins. The Cowboys gave up fifth- and seventh-round picks to move up three spots.

As a first-round pick, Jenkins will soon find himself a multimillionaire. Last year's No. 25 pick, Panthers linebacker Jon Beason, signed a rookie contract that included more than $6-million in guaranteed money. He watched the draft from his family's home in Bradenton. Before his selection Saturday, the highest-drafted USF player had been linebacker Kawika Mitchell, who was taken by the Chiefs with the No. 47 overall pick in the 2003 draft.

Comments

[Joe]

I'm really glad for Mike, as he certainly put in the work to get this far. Just sucks that Tampa didn't pick him up instead as I would have been at Buccaneer Heaven demanding a Mike Jenkins jersey tomorrow!

Now I gotta root for TWO Cowboys players (Anthony Henry and Mike). Ugh!

[Ken]

Boo to the Bucs--not for not drafting him, but for saying that they would if he were available.

[Jess]

Allen needs to be fired! How could he not select Jenkins? Apparently he wasn't watching this guy play.

[Dave W]

It still sounds nice: Mike Jenkins, USF- first round.

The Bucs will regret this one for a long time. Talib isn't as bad as Pac Man, but he's not Ronde Barber, either.

[mike]

how about that center update greg??

[Norb]

Very cool... time to get myself a new Cowboys jersey!

[Talib Sucks]

Bad, bad move by the Bucs. I imagine taking Jenkins would've helped the popularity of the team a bit, and we all know that Talib has both more character issues than Jenkins, he also is not a better FB player either.

[Dave W]

So since Dan Connor hasn't even been drafted, what does that mean for the other ILBs? I think that Connor goes first to the Dolphins, but it seems like there isn't much demand so far. Hopefully there will be a run in round 4 and Ben will be in it.

They should have had the 3rd round today; tomorrow is going to be too long. I do like that they made it go faster than a dead snail, however.

i think the bucs will draft trae williams

["Don't Tease Me Bro..."]

Need a Teaser Update...Who is the center coming to USF?

Please don't be Goins.

[Mr. Ari Hinkelberger]

Pretty funny blurb from the Dallas Morning News about Jenkins Greg
-----

Jenkins had good reason to make media wait

by Tim MacMahon

Mike Jenkins' conference call with the Valley Ranch media had to be put on hold. But he had a heck of an excuse.

Jenkins' mother, Kathy Gray, fainted when she heard her son's name called.

One media member wisecracked that she must have been worried about sending her son to play with Pacman Jones, but Jenkins indicated that she was simply overcome with pride.

[The Truth]

Good news for Mike Jenkins. The Bucs barely sniffed the playoffs last season, and at the rate they are going, the only way they will see the Super Bowl is to get tickets as guests when the the game comes to Tampa.

The Glazers hoodwinked the Tampa area to finance that stadium, and the repay the area by counting their cash and taking a smelly dump on the area while the in-bread local rednecks support this team like they blindly support GW and his disaster in Iraq.

Like I said, this is good news for Mike Jenkins. He is going to a real team that has real plans to go to the Super Bowl.

The coaches on the Bucs staff are just collecting a paycheck and counting their cash. The Glazers are laughing all the way to the bank counting their cash while the local idiots give them their hard earned money as if watching a Bucs game in RJS will get them to heaven.

steal of the draft!

[Tad]

Amen to the Truth! How far has Miami and FSU falling if USF is putting players in the first round and those schools aren't?

[G.A.]

Miami sneaked into the first round with Kenny Phillips at No. 32. Having said that, Florida State went without a first- or second-rounder for the first time since 1996, and if a Seminole isn't among the first few players drafted, it'll be the longest FSU has gone without a draft pick since 1987.

"How far has Miami and FSU falling if USF is putting players in the first round and those schools aren't?"

Yes, clearly that indicates the long term prestige of USF. East Carolina had a first rounder too. Calm down, stereotypical overzealous Bull fan.

[Dave W]

Miami's latest recruiting class certainly has some first-round guys in it. While they are over-hyped and many may underachieve (relative to the absurdly high expectations already heaped on them), at least two of them will be first-rounders. Plus, Marve should be a top-flight QB if he has recovered from his accident (I sure hope he has). Miami-USF should be an awesome series with the connections between our players (I can't wait to see Quavon Taylor blow up some of those guys- he's going to be determined to show Shannon that he should have been included with all of his teammates. Missing Q. Taylor will be a huge mistake for UM).

However, FSU doesn't seem to have to same potential to rebound as UM does, despite the investment in Jimbo. They really needed Marve or Brantley, or even Garcia (although FSU would have kicked him out long ago). Manuel could be a great athlete, but I doubt he's ready to be the man (maybe he could do the Kodi Burns this year). My gut feeling is that FSU will be a mid-level program for several years.