Alfred Alonzo "A. J." Jenkins Jr. (born September 30, 1989) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

wide receiver. He was drafted by the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

in the first round of the

2012 NFL Draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...

, and also played for the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The t ...

and

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

. He played college football at

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

Early years

Jenkins attended

Terry Parker High School Terry Parker High School is a public high school in the Duval County Public School district, located in Jacksonville, Florida. The school celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2005. The school has been named a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence.http: ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

, where he played on the football team. He finished his junior year with 32 catches for 500 yards, and also rushed for another 251 yards on 40 carries in 2007. As a senior, he hauled in 41 passes for 515 yards, scoring four

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Americ ...

. He was named to

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's Florida Top-50 team. He was ranked the 59th-best recruit in the state of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

and the No. 53 wide receiver nationally by

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heck ...

. He was also named to the

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

's Super Southern 100 as the 10th-best wide receiver. He was also a standout sprinter on the

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the short ...

team. In 2006, he posted a personal-best time of 10.75 seconds in the

100-meter dash The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contest ...

at the District Meet.

College career

In his first three seasons (2008–2010), he totaled 1,849 all-purpose yards, including 1,156 receiving yards and 694 return yards. On October 1, 2011, he had a career-best performance against Northwestern, with 12 catches for 268 yards and three touchdowns. His performance against Northwestern broke the Illinois single-game receiving record, ranks fourth in

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conferen ...

history, and earned him Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week after the Northwestern game. Through the first 11 games of his senior season, Jenkins had 1,166 receiving yards and seven touchdown receptions. As of November 20, 2011, Jenkins's 1,166 receiving yards during the 2011 season ranked second in the

and 11th among

NCAA Division I FBS The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

players. At the conclusion of the 2011 season, Jenkins was named First-team All-Big Ten by both the coaches and media.

Professional career

San Francisco 49ers

The

selected Jenkins in the first round (30th overall) of the

on April 26, 2012. News of his draft was referenced in that same night's live episode of the NBC sitcom ''

30 Rock ''30 Rock'' is an American satirical sitcom television series created by Tina Fey that originally aired on NBC from October 11, 2006, to January 31, 2013. The series, based on Fey's experiences as head writer for ''Saturday Night Live'', ta ...

'' - cast member

Cheyenne Jackson Cheyenne David Jackson (born July 12, 1975) is an American actor and singer. His credits include leading roles in Broadway musicals and other stage roles, as well as film and television roles, concert singing, and music recordings. After beginn ...

performed the show's opening theme song and referenced Jenkins having just been drafted to prove the show was airing live on the west coast. On June 20, 2012, the San Francisco 49ers signed Jenkins to a four-year, $6.94 million contract. Although healthy all season, Jenkins was active for only three of the 49ers 16 regular season games. In his rookie regular season he played in only 37 offensive snaps and was targeted with a pass just once, which he dropped. At the end of the 2012 season, Jenkins and the 49ers appeared in

Super Bowl XLVII Super Bowl XLVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Baltimore Ravens and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champio ...

. He appeared in the game but recorded no meaningful statistics as the 49ers fell to the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays it ...

by a score of 34–31.

Kansas City Chiefs

On August 19, 2013, Jenkins was traded to the

for wide receiver

Jon Baldwin Jonathan Dupree Baldwin (born August 10, 1989) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft. He played college football at Pittsburgh. Baldwin also played for the ...

. During a ''

Thursday Night Football ''Thursday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''TNF'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that broadcast primarily on Thursday nights. Most of the games kick off at 8:15 Eastern Time (8:20 prior to 20 ...

'' game on September 19, 2013, against the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

, Jenkins recorded his first career reception, thrown by former 49ers teammate

Alex Smith Alexander Douglas Smith (born May 7, 1984) is an American former quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons. He played college football at Utah, where he received first-team All-American honors and won the 20 ...

. The reception was good for 6 yards. His first reception came 511 days after he was drafted. On February 17, 2015, Jenkins was released by the Chiefs.

Dallas Cowboys

On May 26, 2015, Jenkins was signed by the

, but was released prior to the start of the regular season on September 5, 2015.

References

External links

*
Illinois profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, A. J. 1989 births Living people Terry Parker High School alumni Players of American football from Jacksonville, Florida American football wide receivers Illinois Fighting Illini football players San Francisco 49ers players Kansas City Chiefs players Dallas Cowboys players