Georgia OLB Jordan Jenkins ready to find out which NFL team he’ll play for

Jordan Jenkins will be a rookie on an NFL roster soon. Even so, he knows not to get ahead of himself with the NFL draft on the horizon.

Like the other hopefuls out there, Jenkins is anxiously waiting to hear his name called during the three-day draft, which beginsat 8 p.m. on Thursday. And Jenkins has heard many potential scenarios throughout the process.

One has been relayed that could potentially have him go in the late first round. Then again, the possibility of falling out of the third round and into Saturday afternoon exists, as well.

Anything can happen when it comes to the draft. Jenkins, a four-year letterman and standout at outside linebacker with Georgia, is doing his part to stay grounded and let the process play itself out.

“I’m always wary,” Jenkins said. “I’m not believing anything until I get that call.”

After his pro day in March, Jenkins kept stayed near campus and worked out at Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall at 10 each morning. He returned to his native Harris County a couple of weeks ago and will watch the draft with a small gathering of family members during the next few days.

Being back in his hometown, a place his family moved to before his seventh-grade year, is something special to Jenkins. While he’s about to embark on a professional football career, he said he wants to remember the place where it all began while bringing the community along for the ride.

“It means everything to me. I’m not the type of guy who is going to forget the people who got me to where I am today,” Jenkins said. “I’m looking forward to the community to embrace me.”

He’s continued working out in the Harris County High School weight room, which is where he’d lift during college spring breaks.

Former Harris County head coach Dwight Jones, who took the head coaching job at Russell County in Alabama in February, said he’d have his players take cues from Jenkins when he’d drop by the school.

“Jordan would come back while we were doing spring practice,” Jones said. “I would make our kids stop what they were doing and watch him because of his tremendous work ethic. It was good for them to watch him because he was working out with a goal in mind, which is to get to the NFL.”

While he didn’t take any visits, Jenkins took part in private workouts with the New York Jets, Indianapolis Colts, Oakland Raiders and New Orleans Saints.

Every NFL team had at least one scout at Georgia’s pro day, with the Atlanta Falcons bringing 11 representatives to watch Jenkins and other prospects work out. Falcons head coach Dan Quinn was the defensive coordinator at Florida when Jenkins was at Harris County and rolled out the red carpet to try and land him out of high school.

While Quinn and the Gators were unsuccessful, he said Jenkins certainly became a quality player during his time at Georgia.

“I remember how strong he was as a high school junior or senior — the explosiveness he had,” Quinn said at the Senior Bowl in February. “I was not surprised to see him play so well at Georgia.”

Jenkins is keeping an eye on the third round when it comes to his selection. NFL.com tabs Jenkins as a second- or third-round pick, and CBSSports.com projects him in the third round.

ESPN NFL draft analyst Mel Kiper has maintained Jenkins as a third- or fourth-round prospect.

“He’s a really good athlete, but will he be able to finish at the pro level and get those sacks?” Kiper said in a recent conference call. “He’s not Justin Houston, who was a third-round steal. He’s not as explosive as Houston. So I think he still goes third or fourth round. A solid-round stopper, he’ll get you some hurries. He’ll be disruptive but how many sacks he’ll get will be debatable.”

During his four-year career at Georgia, Jenkins totaled 19 sacks and finished 2015 with 4, after notching 5 apiece in each of his first three seasons. Impressively, Jenkins totaled 204 career tackles with 39 of those going for loss.

Jenkins said he started feeling a little anxious toward the end of the 2015 season knowing the draft process would soon begin. What surprised him was how calm he became once it arrived.

Soon enough, Jenkins will know who his post-college employer is. That, and the ability to play football again, has Jenkins ready for the draft process to end.

“I’m really excited to get that point,” Jenkins said. “It’s been a long process. The last four or five months have been crazy. It feels like yesterday, going to positional meeting, going against Georgia Tech and Penn State. It’s crazy how time has flown the past couple of months. But it feels like an eternity has passed since the season ended.”

This story was originally published April 27, 2016 at 4:00 PM with the headline "Georgia OLB Jordan Jenkins ready to find out which NFL team he’ll play for."