A talented quarterback prospect from the Lone Star State for Clemson fans to look out for in the future is Roy Thomas Jenkins from Monsignor Kelly Catholic High School in Beaumont, Texas.
The 6-foot-3, 180-pound freshman already has an offer from Houston and started on his high school varsity team this past season, completing 62 percent of his passes for 2,216 yards and totaling 30 touchdowns in only 10 games.
Clemson is among other schools showing early interest in Jenkins, a class of 2025 recruit who traveled to Tiger Town in November to take in the Wake Forest game at Death Valley as an unofficial visitor.
The Clemson Insider recently caught up with Jenkins, who liked hearing that quarterbacks coach Brandon Streeter was promoted to offensive coordinator following Tony Elliott’s departure to Virginia to be its next head coach.
“That’s really good,” Jenkins said of Streeter’s promotion. “I feel like a quarterbacks coach that knows the quarterbacks very well, I think it can revolve around a good passing offense. Passing offense, that’s what I like. You’ve still got to run the ball, but I’m more of a passing offense guy. I think that’s a plus for throwing quarterbacks because you have a quarterbacks coach going to offensive coordinator, he knows a lot about throwing the ball.”
While on campus for the Wake Forest game, Jenkins had the chance to speak some with Streeter and spent a lot of time with senior offensive assistant J.P. Losman, who gave Jenkins a tour of the campus and facilities.
“Coach Streeter, I talked to him a little bit. He’s a really nice guy,” Jenkins said. “And Coach Losman, when he had me on the visit, really nice guy.”
This offseason, Jenkins is putting in work with his quarterback coach, Joe Dickinson, who is also New England Patriots rookie Mac Jones’ personal QB coach.
Dickinson, who most notably served as the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Northern Illinois from 1991-95 and offensive coordinator at Oklahoma in 1998, was the running backs coach at Tulane in 2000 when Losman was a freshman quarterback there.
“I’m really working on technique and my throwing mechanics with my quarterback coach,” Jenkins said of Dickinson. “He’s from Rosedale, Oklahoma. He trains Mac Jones for the Patriots, and he knows Coach Losman and kind of got me in touch with him. We’re just working on my throwing mechanics and getting everything shortened and tightened up, and I need to really work on learning how to read defenses. I want to focus on that, and putting on a little weight.”
Jenkins plans to participate in the Dabo Swinney Camp this summer and looks forward to learning from Losman, a former NFL quarterback and first-round draft pick of the Buffalo Bills in 2004.
“I’m pretty excited,” Jenkins said. “I’m ready to work with Coach Losman and just learn a thing or two from him.”
Along with Clemson, Jenkins visited Houston and Georgia during the season, and he is looking to make a bunch of trips this offseason.
“I’m going to try to go to Clemson, Georgia, Mississippi State, try to go to Arkansas, Duke, and then the Texas schools I’ll try to go to are A&M, Texas and TCU,” he said.
Jenkins knows Clemson doesn’t offer scholarships to prospects his age, but he is really hoping to receive one from the Tigers down the road.
“It would definitely be one of my top choices, for sure,” he said.
“I really, really, really like the Carolinas – North and South Carolina. I love the weather up there, and I just love the Clemson program. I feel like they prepare you for your life after football mainly, and I just feel like that’d be a great university. And I’m a really big fan of Dabo Swinney. All those factors go into it.”
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