Last season, Keith Jenkins Jr. made his name with Morgan State football mostly as a kick returner. He returned 23 kicks for 533 yards and a touchdown, averaging 23.2 yards per return and earning second-team All-MEAC honors as a return specialist.
The 6-foot-1, 185-pound playmaker also had 31 carries for 73 yards and caught five passes for 53 yards, but Jenkins now wants to make a greater impact on Morgan’s offense. He entered the offseason with that goal in mind, according to third-year Bears head coach Damon Wilson.
“A lot of times you have those individual conversations with guys. They may talk about putting more work in and doing more but don’t follow up with it, but Keith has done just that,” Wilson said on Glenn Clark Radio Aug. 30. “He’s a guy that has really gotten after it in the weight room in this offseason. He’s done a much better job of digesting the playbook and understanding the defenses and that sort of thing. So he’s a guy that offensively I’ve been proud of and excited to see on Saturday.”
Morgan designed the offense this offseason to get Jenkins and others the ball in space, according to Wilson. The Bears also return running backs J.J. Davis and Myles Miree and receivers Anthony James Jr., Demier Shipley and Joseph Owumi. Davis ran for 584 yards and two scores a year ago, making him Morgan’s most productive returner among skill position players.
Wilson is hopeful Jenkins will become a big part of the mix this year.
“We want to do anything and everything we can possibly do to get him the football, and then if teams try to take him away I think we have a few other guys that can cause the same type of problems,” Wilson said. “But he is the guy that we want to move around a little bit and let him show off his skill set. I feel good about that. He had a very good camp, digesting the role and understanding what’s expected of him.”
Sophomore quarterback Tahj Smith will be at the controls after starting the final four games of the season a year ago. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound signal-caller out of Fredericksburg, Va., completed 21 of 45 throws for 228 yards and ran 39 times for 159 yards and two scores in five games in 2023.
Now, Smith gets a shot at the full-time job. Morgan is looking for its offense to take a big step forward this year. The Bears finished last in the six-team MEAC in scoring offense (16.1 points per game) and total offense (250.8 yards) in 2023 as they shuffled through quarterbacks.
“We played three quarterbacks before we got to [Smith] last season,” Wilson said. “When we put him in the game, he acted like he had been there before, so that gave us a little calm feeling, if you will, a little sense of relief that he was prepared mentally to play the game. I think he took full advantage of his opportunities that he had during last season, so I feel good just having a guy that has a reference point of playing college football and had some success.”
Morgan went 4-6 a year ago in Wilson’s second year at the helm, winning three of its final four games. The Bears’ strength was their defense. Morgan finished first in the MEAC in scoring defense (21.4 points) and total defense (308.5 yards) behind veterans like defensive lineman Elijah Williams, linebackers Erick Hunter and Lawrence Richardson and defensive backs Jae’Veyon Morton and Jordan Toles.
Williams and Hunter are back for more. Williams posted 50 tackles and 7.0 sacks a year ago, while Hunter had 75 tackles and 3.0 sacks.
“It’s a great feeling just to have guys that have kind of been through the trenches a little bit, guys that understand what we’re all about, guys that believe in team first, guys that are selfless, these guys that get after it every day in the offseason as well as during the season and push people,” Wilson said. “It’s great to have those guys because they’re going to be some of the best guys at the FCS level, for sure.”
For Wilson, there’s no better time than now to get this program rolling in the right direction. The Bears have made some strides under Wilson the past two years, but now it’s time for more. It all kicks off at Hampton on Aug. 31 at 6 p.m.
“You’re looking at a program that’s been down for years, that hasn’t had sustained success since the ’70s,” Wilson said. “These guys weren’t born when Morgan State was successful on a consistent basis. That in and of itself is a challenge to get them to understand that, ‘Hey, you’ve just got to continue to play each minute, each quarter, play hard, good things can happen.’ Why not Morgan? Why not be talking about Morgan State football in December?”
For more from Wilson, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Christopher Thompkins