Georgia Football: Trash Talk Strategy Lifts Jenkins to Bednarik Weekly Award
By Steve Carter
Georgia football picked up another award as Jordan Jenkins trash talk strategy pays dividends.
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The University of Georgia announced that Georgia senior linebacker Jordan Jenkins is the Chuck Bednarik Award National Player of the Week following the Bulldogs’ 31-14 win at Vanderbilt.
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Jenkins credited trash talking Commodore fans for hyping him in Nashville Saturday. But there is a bit more to the story. “I started it,” Jenkins told Seth Emerson of Dawgnation.com.
“This is my house! This is our house!”
“That got them fired up and they kept talking trash at me the whole game,” Jenkins continued. “I was getting excited, getting fueled off that, getting hyped with the music they were playing. I was locked in that game.”
A native of Hamilton, Ga., Jenkins was also honored as the Southeastern Conference Defensive Lineman of the Week for the first time after the victory over the Commodores.
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Jenkins takes a purposeful approach to his mental attitude during games. “In my head, I was sitting there saying, `You can’t block me. You can’t block me,’” the senior told Mark Weiszer of onlineathens.com. “’I’m about to mess you up.’ I’ve just got to carry that mentality the rest of the season.”
Jenkins recorded a career-high and game-high 11 tackles, including two sacks (minus-15 yards) and 5.5 tackles for loss (minus-22 yards). He is the SEC active leader with 18 sacks (tied for third in the NCAA FBS) and 35.5 tackles for loss in his career. Jenkins also moved to No. 5 on Georgia’s all-time list for tackles for loss.
You can’t block me.
Four of Jenkins’ stops came on third down situations and he forced fourth downs on all of them. Jenkins was the anchor of a Bulldog defense that held the Commodores to just a single touchdown.
Former Bulldog All-American and current ESPN College GameDay analyst David Pollack won the 2004 Bednarik Award.
No. 7/8 Georgia (2-0, 1-0 SEC) returns to Sanford Stadium to face South Carolina (1-1, 0-1) on Saturday. ESPN will televise the matchup at 6 p.m.