Jenkins Wins the Thorpe Award

by abender20 on Feb 10, 2009 8:36 AM PST in Seahawks News & Rumors

Ohio State's Malcolm Jenkins went home with the Thorpe Award, handed out to the best* defensive back in the nation. This is a typical ESPN "Press release plus", doling out just a splash of biography to go with the news:

"He's put so much work into this, so much heart into it," said Taver Johnson, Jenkins' cornerbacks coach. "He would say first and foremost that he wouldn't be here without his teammates. We're truly going to miss him."

"No one was really around. It was the offseason, and he was in there watching film," Johnson said. "That showed me right there the type of ambition and the type of young man that this guy is."

Johnson, who was hired at Ohio State in March of 2007, said he knew immediately that he had a special player in Jenkins.

That, in a nutshell, is a Tim Ruskell player. Leaving the #4 pick argument alone, the evidence points to Malcolm Jenkins as a talent, a team guy, and a hard worker. Whether or not the Hawks draft him is another story entirely, but the list of former Thorpe winners is quite a group.

*In the opinion of a bunch of old people

Year	Player	School
1986	Thomas Everett	Baylor
1987 (tie)	Bennie Blades	Miami
1987 (tie)	Rickey Dixon	Oklahoma
1988	Deion Sanders	Florida State
1989	Mark Carrier	USC
1990	Darryll Lewis	Arizona
1991	Terrell Buckley	Florida State
1992	Deon Figures	Colorado
1993	Antonio Langham	Alabama
1994	Chris Hudson	Colorado
1995	Greg Myers	Colorado State
1996	Lawrence Wright	Florida
1997	Charles Woodson	Michigan
1998	Antoine Winfield	Ohio State
1999	Tyrone Carter	Minnesota
2000	Jamar Fletcher	Wisconsin
2001	Roy Williams	Oklahoma
2002	Terence Newman	Kansas State
2003	Derrick Strait	Oklahoma
2004	Carlos Rogers	Auburn
2005	Michael Huff	Texas
2006	Aaron Ross	Texas
2007	Antoine Cason	Arizona
2008	Malcolm Jenkins	Ohio State

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Comments

I wouldn't be upset if we drafted him

Sure, there are better avenues the Hawks can take. But assuming he doesn’t bust, I think he’d be a high impact player right from the start considering 2008’s CB woes.

by Nick Andron on Feb 10, 2009 9:11 AM PST reply actions

If he can answer

questions about his speed, he might be worthy of the #4. I think a top-5 corner needs to have elite speed to warrant that high of a selection. I don’t know if Jenkins has that. As far as the group goes, there are plenty of busts to go with the good ones, but the ratio isn’t terrible. They’re not just corners, but also Safeties, which could become Jenkins’ position if he does, in fact, lack the speed needed to play corner in the NFL. Maybe the speed and ‘closing speed’ questions are being overblown by the media and scouts, but some have said he could follow the path of Antrel Rolle…

by Misfit74 on Feb 10, 2009 9:22 AM PST reply actions

It would be interesting to see

all the 40 speeds of recent NFL shutdown corners. We know that WRs can dominate in the NFL without blazing speed. I wonder if CBs can.

by VBJohnson on Feb 10, 2009 11:12 AM PST up reply actions

In a cover 2...

Sure. In man coverage, a CB would have to cover say(for example) Larry Fitzgerald and Steve Breaston and Anquan Boldin at different times. The next game Torry Holt, Drew Bennett, and Donnie Avery. So a true shutdown CB that plays a lot of man coverage would be able to go up for the ball, run with at least the very fast(most of the true track star types are slot WRs without great hands, but there are some that play more regularly) and everything in between.

That’s why it really is that hard to find a true shutdown CB, and speed concerns would limit him to more of a zone scheme or susceptible to being gameplanned against by throwing speedsters at him.

Trufant has no speed concerns and some amazing swivel hips and he was still beat over the top by Greg Jennings and a perfect pass from Rodgers.

by cashless on Feb 10, 2009 12:03 PM PST up reply actions

I would really hate to be paying a safety a #4 pick contract if he's a "semi-bust"

by djafrot on Feb 10, 2009 1:04 PM PST up reply actions

I find it annoying that our CB position is still a question.

Why couldn’t Ruskell pick a sure starter out of two first-picks on CBs?

"Part, fools!
Put up your swords. You know not what you do."

by Fearless Frog on Feb 10, 2009 12:51 PM PST reply actions

Also, I thought this post had something to do with Thorpe of the Craphonso variety. O_o

"Part, fools!
Put up your swords. You know not what you do."

by Fearless Frog on Feb 10, 2009 12:55 PM PST up reply actions

There is no award handed out for naming your child Craphonso.

This reasoning also explains why there is no Ferguson Award either.

I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE!!! I DRINK IT UP!!

by abender20 on Feb 10, 2009 12:59 PM PST up reply actions

I love that we have options

Jenkins is one, whether at CB or FS. Crabtree, Everett Brown, Raji, Monroe. For the first time in years, I feel like we can’t go wrong with the first pick, albeit an expensive one.

by diehard82 on Feb 10, 2009 1:41 PM PST reply actions

I'm hopeful

We need a good draft this year. We don’t have many young players around which the franchise could build a team. Hopefully this year we get at least one.

by Nick Andron on Feb 10, 2009 3:06 PM PST reply actions

With the exception of Deion Sanders, that list is pretty sad.

I’d hate to see this pick happen. I think that with at least mediocre safety play, our corners are fine. We already have a mint invested in Trufant. Why dump so much cash into the other corner and still not protect them over the top?

"It's just one big guy against another big guy, both teams know what's at stake. The one of them comes out on top and it feels good."
-Chris Collinsworth, Madden 09

by Wayward Llama on Feb 10, 2009 3:42 PM PST reply actions

The last several, with the exception of Derrick Strait, have all become quality DBs.

I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE!!! I DRINK IT UP!!

by abender20 on Feb 10, 2009 6:45 PM PST up reply actions

Bennie Blades was also a beast.

Shame his career was wasted in DET. He was a shell of himself the one year he was here … it was more or less a “hey, brothers on the same team” PR stunt.

by jteckmann on Feb 10, 2009 7:35 PM PST up reply actions