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Jenkins says he didn’t smoke marijuana at North Alabama
Posted by Mike Florio on April 18, 2012, 4:03 PM EDT
Last week, Albert Breer of NFL Network reported, citing unnamed sources with three different teams, that former Florida cornerback Janoris Jenkins admitted during pre-draft interviews that he continued to smoke marijuana after getting dumped by the Gators for three marijuana-related arrests and landing at North Alabama.
Nearly a week later, Jenkins denies the claim.
“I wasn’t smoking marijuana at North Alabama,” Jenkins told Aaron Wilson of Scout.com. “If anybody wants to know, they can give my coaches a call. I wasn’t partying. They’ve been saying a lot of things about me that aren’t true without getting my side of the story. It’s been a humbling experience.”
Jenkins thereafter seemed to contradict himself. “Why didn’t it come out after the [Scouting] Combine when I was straightforward with the scouts?” Jenkins said of the admitted marijuana use at North Alabama. “The timing is very interesting to me.”
But if he didn’t smoke marijuana at North Alabama there’s nothing that would have “come out” after he was “straightforward” with the scouts at the Scouting Combine. And so his denial now of something he may have admitted in February could create for some teams a red flag regarding his honest and judgment, especially if he admitted to those teams smoking marijuana at North Alabama.
That isn’t stopping him from trying to make a strong closing argument as the draft approaches. “Certain teams told me they thought I would be a thuggish kid with baggy jeans or one of those wild guys,” Jenkins said. “When they meet me, they see I’m not a bad kid. Just made some mistakes and everybody makes mistakes. The NFL is going to get a good person who will give back and reach out to kids and talk about the things I’ve done in my past and talk to them about not making the same mistakes I made.”
If he truly has been humbled, that will make Jenkins better prepared to stay out of trouble at the NFL level. The real question is whether he means what he says, or whether he’s simply saying what he thinks he needs to say in order to salvage his shot at getting picked in the first round.
Posted by Mike Florio on April 18, 2012, 4:03 PM EDT
Last week, Albert Breer of NFL Network reported, citing unnamed sources with three different teams, that former Florida cornerback Janoris Jenkins admitted during pre-draft interviews that he continued to smoke marijuana after getting dumped by the Gators for three marijuana-related arrests and landing at North Alabama.
Nearly a week later, Jenkins denies the claim.
“I wasn’t smoking marijuana at North Alabama,” Jenkins told Aaron Wilson of Scout.com. “If anybody wants to know, they can give my coaches a call. I wasn’t partying. They’ve been saying a lot of things about me that aren’t true without getting my side of the story. It’s been a humbling experience.”
Jenkins thereafter seemed to contradict himself. “Why didn’t it come out after the [Scouting] Combine when I was straightforward with the scouts?” Jenkins said of the admitted marijuana use at North Alabama. “The timing is very interesting to me.”
But if he didn’t smoke marijuana at North Alabama there’s nothing that would have “come out” after he was “straightforward” with the scouts at the Scouting Combine. And so his denial now of something he may have admitted in February could create for some teams a red flag regarding his honest and judgment, especially if he admitted to those teams smoking marijuana at North Alabama.
That isn’t stopping him from trying to make a strong closing argument as the draft approaches. “Certain teams told me they thought I would be a thuggish kid with baggy jeans or one of those wild guys,” Jenkins said. “When they meet me, they see I’m not a bad kid. Just made some mistakes and everybody makes mistakes. The NFL is going to get a good person who will give back and reach out to kids and talk about the things I’ve done in my past and talk to them about not making the same mistakes I made.”
If he truly has been humbled, that will make Jenkins better prepared to stay out of trouble at the NFL level. The real question is whether he means what he says, or whether he’s simply saying what he thinks he needs to say in order to salvage his shot at getting picked in the first round.