Magic City Classic: Former ASU head coach now on the sidelines for Alabama A&M

Brian Jenkins is wearing maroon and white for this year's Magic City Classic. The former Alabama State head coach is now coaching running backs and special teams for Alabama A&M. (Solomon Crenshaw Jr./Alabama NewsCenter)
Take a look in Brian Jenkins’ closet and you’ll find a couple of black and gold outfits, reminders of his days at Alabama State University.
“Everywhere I coach, I always keep one or two pieces to frame so that when I retire from coaching, I can put it up in my home as memories,” he said.
Jenkins’ time on the campus just off Interstate 85 in Montgomery was brief. His 2½-year tenure ended halfway through the 2017 campaign.

Brian Jenkins coaches the Alabama State Hornets during his 2½-year tenure as the team’s head coach. (contributed)
Jenkins stood on the sideline of Legion Field for two seasons as the head coach of the Alabama State football team at the Magic City Classic. His Hornets outscored Alabama A&M 35-20 in 2015 and narrowly lost 42-41 in 2016.
He didn’t get a chance to rise above .500 in this rivalry of historically black universities in Alabama. Jenkins, who’d been hired away from Bethune-Cookman, was fired after Alabama State started the 2017 season 0-5.
Assistant coach Donald Hill-Eley took the helm and led the Hornets to a 5-1 mark, including a 21-16 upset win over A&M in the Classic. ASU dropped the interim from Hill-Eley’s title and he’s in his first full season as the man in charge.
Conversely, Jenkins is a coach of a different color when it comes to his attire Saturday. He’ll be sporting maroon and white as the A&M running backs and special teams coach.
Jenkins said he is not at all conflicted as the 77th edition of the Magic City Classic draws near.
“My emotions are normal,” he said, “because my main thing is I want to win for Alabama A&M. My concerns as it relates to State don’t exist. My main thing is just making sure I do the best job I can do to help Alabama A&M win.”
That said, the former Hornets head man said he has thought about coaching against players he coached. He admits that some emotions could emerge.
“I don’t know how I’m going to feel before game time,” he said. “Some of the players at State I recruited and I care about them. I want the best for them and I want the best for that program. Even though it didn’t work with me as the head coach, I still wish it the best.
“Come Magic City Classic time, it’s going to all be about us going out to win that ballgame, and that’s it,” the assistant Bulldog coach said. “It’s not about me. It’s about our players, it’s about our program and it’s about us trying to win as a program.”
Jenkins is joined on the A&M sideline by his son, freshman Brian Jenkins Jr.
The younger Jenkins is the Bulldogs’ leading receiver with 32 catches for 362 yards and two touchdowns. His breakout effort came in a 21-16 win over Jackson State, in which he tallied 10 catches for 112 yards.
The 5-foot-6, 165-pound receiver from Daytona Beach, Florida, was recently added to the watchlist for the STATS FCS Jerry Rice Award. Jenkins is one of 15 players to make the list.
“Back home at my high school, they call me Juice,” Jenkins Jr. said. “I guess that’s from how I play – Brian ‘Juice’ Jenkins. I guess I’m very fluid. I kind of feel like my game’s like poetry. I think Juice just comes from how passionate I am about the game and how emotionally I play. I give everything I’ve got and I leave it out on the field.”
The younger Jenkins has joined his father in football position meetings since he was 3, working out with the programs where dad has been.
That started at Louisiana Lafayette and then Rutgers, working out with the team and doing drills with receivers.
“As he became a head coach at Bethune-Cookman, I sat in every special teams meeting, every position meeting, every team meeting,” the son said. “I just loved to be around the game.”

Freshman Brian Jenkins Jr. is having a special year as Alabama A&M’s leading receiver. Not only is his father one of his coaches, but he’s on the watchlist for the Jerry Rice Award. (Solomon Crenshaw Jr./Alabama NewsCenter)
Jenkins Jr. couldn’t tag along with his father at Alabama State. “Our schedules didn’t match up,” he said. “Usually when they would have a game, I played on Fridays and I wouldn’t be able to travel. On my bye weeks my junior and senior years, I did go up there.”
The slot receiver called Alabama State “a nice community,” but he didn’t get to see the Hornets as much as teams on his father’s earlier stops.
“It probably wasn’t one of my favorite places that he’s been,” he admitted. “The way it ended was harsh, but I just don’t think that community fit him very well. I don’t think he had enough time to really turn the program around. He went through a lot of things personally, being away from me and things like that, that affected him. I really just didn’t like the school as a whole.”
Now he’s playing at Alabama A&M as a receiver and return specialist. His special teams coach is his father.
“It’s a blessing and a curse,” Jenkins Jr. said. “I know a lot more is expected of me. I have a lot more weight on my shoulders. Sometimes that can get tough.
“With him being my special teams coach and both of us having the personalities that we have, we sometimes butt heads,” he said. “But I think it’s a blessing to have him on the staff because there are not too many people who get to have the experience I get to live every day.”
The elder Jenkins said he never wanted to coach his son, “but it just worked out that way. I tell you what, it’s been a very enjoyable situation thus far.
“He’s earned every bit of playing time that he’s receiving,” the father said. “He knows if he doesn’t perform, he’s not going to be back there.”
Father and son like to have dinner together on Tuesday or Thursday nights. But they probably will skip that date this week.
“I take that game kind of personal,” the freshman said. “I don’t know how he takes it, but I take it pretty personal. I’ll be pretty focused that week.
“We can bond the week after, because I take that week pretty personal.”
Also switching sides: Read about assistant coach Travis Pearson’s return to his alma mater, Alabama State, after two seasons at arch rival Alabama A&M.