BEAUMONT, Texas — Many athletes will tell you there is nothing like your first varsity start. Pure excitement thrown in with a ton of nervous energy.
In week one, freshman quarterback Roy Thomas Jenkins went above and beyond in Kelly's 49-6 win over Evadale.
"I put in a lot of work over this summer and I've been dreaming of this moment since I was younger, wanting to play on varsity as a freshman. I've been working hard so I feel like it's finally paying off on the field."
The freshman signal caller completed 14 of 17 passes for 271 yards and five touchdowns in his varsity debut.
"I wanted to throw a couple of touchdowns. You know come out on top. But I didn't think I was going to throw five, so it was kind of unexpected."
Coach Jason Smith has been impressed with what he's seen so far.
"He's got some work to do, but as far as being a freshman, he's much further along than any freshman we've had. That I've ever coached to be honest as far as being a freshman in high school. He did some really good things. He's got a lot of talent and he's only going to get better. He's getting better weekly. He's making mistakes, but he's learning from them. And he say it a lot, he says I'm not going to make that mistake again. So if he does something wrong he learns from it, corrects it and he's moving on. It's fun watching hime imrove week to week."
Despite Jenkins being only a freshman, he's already received one division one offer from the University of Houston. And while that's a great start, his focus is on winning.
"You know, you just have to kind of balance everything out of keeping your mind away from some, there might be some big schools talking to you, but you have to keep your team first and not get distracted with that kind of stuff. You just have to put your team first and practice hard. Not be too big for anyone. Treat everyone with respect."