Bid Now On A Mike Jenkins Signed Dallas Cowboys Helmet

TAMPA -- Former USF football star Mike Jenkins signed his initial NFL contract with the Dallas Cowboys yesterday.  The storied NFL franchise drafted him in the first round of the 2008 Draft.

The Fort Worth Star Telegram published a lengthy profile on the Bradenton native on Sunday:  GoUSFBulls.com has an excerpt and a link to the complete article on the FWST website:

Courtesty Forth Worth Star-Telegram

OXNARD, Calif. ? With the stroke of a pen, 17-year-old Mike Jenkins could have been on a plane flying to Lincoln, Neb. ? or wherever ? to go to school, play football and be away from the tough realities of his youth.

He grew up with a mother who was fighting diabetes and high blood pressure, and a father who was in and out of jail. Jenkins easily could have left to pursue a more conventional college experience.

On the table were scholarship offers from Nebraska, Iowa and a handful of other attractive schools far away from his home in Bradenton, Fla.

"It's your life and you need to make the decision that is best for you," his mother told him. "I'll back you 100 percent."

The morning of National Signing Day he told his mother he had made up his mind.

"What's it going to be?" she asked.

He wouldn't say. Later that morning during a ceremony at his high school he was flanked by his mother ... who still didn't know her son's choice.

This is typical Mike Jenkins. When he's ready to tell you, he will. But only when he's ready.

"I'm going to South Florida," Jenkins said to the audience.

"I almost passed out," said his mother, Kathy Gray.

Six years later, Kathy, 45, literally fainted when the Dallas Cowboys selected her son in the first round of the 2008 NFL Draft. Jenkins arrived in Oxnard on Saturday after agreeing to a contract Friday and immediately will be plugged into the Cowboys' secondary.

His teammates will soon learn that despite his quiet demeanor, Jenkins is ready for the transition. Blessed with NFL talent, he's also blessed with maturity and a sense of responsibility that make him an ideal fit among the high-profile Cowboys.
 
Read the complete article at Star-Telegram.com...