Jenkins helping to carry load for Cougars

Steve Guiremand

Thursday, Oct. 8, 1998 | 10:50 a.m.

When it comes to college football, BYU head coach LaVell Edwards is kind of like E.F. Hutton: When he talks, people listen.

And why not? Edwards, now in his 27th year as head coach of the Cougars, has won 236 games, 18 WAC titles and a national championship.

So when Edwards says Cougar sophomore tailback Ronney Jenkins "is as good as anybody we've had here," it carries a lot of credibility.

"He is so explosive," Edwards said. "He's very tough mentally as well as physically. He's one of those guys who has a real burst. He always falls forward. He rarely ever gets knocked back. He has such quick feet and acceleration. He can make a lateral move and then accelerate.

"Those are kinds of things that you either have it or you don't. And he catches the ball well, too."

And to think that the 5-11, 170-pound sophomore from Port Hueneme, Calif., called by some college football experts the top running back on the West Coast, visited UNLV out of high school.

"I liked it a lot," said Jenkins, who has rushed for 389 yards on 85 carries (4.6 avg.) and scored four touchdowns. "It was fun. It was the first time I had been to Vegas. They were third on my list."

BYU and Arizona State were nos. one and two. Jenkins, who set a national prep rushing record with 619 yards and seven touchdowns in one game his senior year at Hueneme High School, eventually landed in Provo.

"He wasn't as heavily recruited as you might have thought," Edwards said. "Frankly, when we recruited him, I thought he might be too small to be a running back. I thought he'd probably be a wide receiver or a defensive back or something."

Jenkins erased those doubts in 1996 when he gained 733 yards on 128 carries (5.7 avg.) and scored 11 touchdowns en route to WAC Freshman of the Year honors.

But Jenkins redshirted in 1997 after he was suspended for violating the school's strict Honor Code, which requires BYU students to live a "chaste and virtuous" lifestyle and abstain from drugs, alcohol, tobacco and sex outside of marriage, among other things.

Schools like USC, Washington and Arizona State would have been more than happy to let Jenkins transfer, but Jenkins decided to stay in Provo.

"I came close (to transferring)," Jenkins said. "But I had to do what was best for me and that was to stay."

That could be bad news for UNLV Saturday. The Rebels rank last in the WAC and 110th of 112 teams nationally in rush defense, yielding an average of 260.4 yards and three touchdowns per game.

"He's not a big guy, but he plays like a big guy," UNLV head coach Jeff Horton said. "He's hard to tackle. If you miss a tackle on him, he's a guy who has a chance to take it all the way. I think before all is said and done, he's got a chance to be an All-American. He's a special kind of kid."

Good news on the injury front. Safety Randy Black, who left practice Tuesday in severe pain after landing awkwardly on his elbow, was back at practice Wednesday. "Yesterday I thought I was done," Black said. "I thought I had dislocated it." ... Also practicing Wednesday was running back James Wofford (sprained toe). However, coach Jeff Horton said junior Dahrin Footman still will make his first start. ... Starting left guard Jerald Pierucci is to learn results of a CAT-scan on his swollen forehead today. "Right now I can't even put a baseball cap on," Pierucci said. "I'm waiting for the swelling to go down so I can put my helmet on again."