Dorehawk

Hello all,

Long time Vandy fan and new Hawks fan here. I am here to lend some insights on Mr. Jenkins for you. First, though, I am THRILLED to have him join the Hawks because it is such a short drive from Nashville for me and my fellow Commodores. I brought my son to a Hawks game this season and had a great time. Was there for a few Webb, Wilkins games as a kid, too. So I now am very proud to be a full-fledged Hawks fan!! Anyway, here’s my take on what you guys have in Mr. Jenkins:

- Scored almost 43 per game his senior year in High School (led the nation), while averaging 60% from the floor and 50% from three. This was all while seeing not only box and one defense, but also many triangles and two. The amazing thing is that (I am almost positive about this), despite all the double teams and trick defenses, he never shot less than 50% in any single game that year.

- His high school coach challenged the team one day that if any player could make 40 free throws in a row, he’d buy them all pizzas. Nobody did it until Jenkins stepped up and drained 142 in a row. The coach was stunned. He then put up the rebounding rim (a smaller rim inserted into the regular one designed to make you miss for rebounding practice.) Jenkins drained 42 of those.

- NOT a volume shooter. He was one of the more efficient scorers in the country while a Commodore. At Ole Miss he scored an incredible 26 points on FIVE shots. The next game at Georgia, he scored 28 on 11 shots.

- He’s a deadly, cold-blooded assassin! Nothing rattles him. If he ever misses a shot, he moves on and pulls the same trigger in the same spot without regret or emotion.

- WAY better defensively and athletically than given credit for. He looked clueless about team defense his first two years at Vandy. But this past season he really turned it into strength. He was the guy we put on the fastest point guards we played. And while he guarded them, they struggled to get by him. Until this year, we had been forced to use Taylor in that role. But thanks to John cranking it up on D, we could let Taylor play off the ball. . He proved to be a spectacularly conditioned player as evidenced by fighting through screens non-stop offensively and still guarding all the fastest guards we played (Teague, Holloway, Walker, Ellington, etc.) It was a stigma he couldn’t shake. But it is now both unfair and untrue. Ironically, his deadly shooting burned a prototype into everyone’s minds that they couldn’t let go, IMHO.

- He buried the Wildcats as a sophomore at home with 32 points. During that game, we all witnessed the most powerful force in nature…a Jenkins pump fake. He had Wildcats breaking ankles clumsily. And that has remained an incredible asset ever since.

- Finally, throwing out all the efficiency stats and scoring averages, just watching that shot will make your jaw drop time and time again (and we’ve had lots of great shooters in our program.) There’s just something about it that’s difficult to describe. It’s a combination of speed, power, precision, and perfect mechanics every time. He always looked to be shooting it too quickly, making you think he rushed it and just cast it up frantically to beat the contesting defender. But each time it would just nestle comfortably into that net. It became shocking to not only see him miss one, but also to EVER see have an open look. No matter how he created space, the shot remained exactly the same. He must have had 10 moves to get one off with a defender on him, including pump fakes, cross-over-pullbacks, step backs, and spin moves. It was incredible. Since a jumper is a layup for him, he became very, very good at “creating shots.” He just needs a fake, a dribble or two and a few millimeters of space to score. NOBODY left his shirt if at all humanly possible. He demanded all the attention of the opponent’s game plan at all times.

I feel confident that you will be very pleased with John Jenkins. He isn’t “just another shooter.” He is truly elite. But with all his success, he remains perfectly humble, low maintenance, and desperate to do one thing at all times…get into a gym and shoot. Go Hawks!!!!