Eddie Jenkins hears the same questions each time he reveals he’s a sprint football player at the University of Pennsylvania.
Did you say spring football player? “No, no ... sprint football,” Jenkins, a Mt. Lebanon High School grad, says.
Do you wear a helmet, shoulder pads? “Yes, the same as you see in high school, college and the NFL.”
Is the field 100 yards? ... Is there hitting? ... Are there 11 players per side? “Yes. Yes. Yes.”
The lone distinction between sprint and traditional football is that sprint participants weigh no more than 178 pounds. Weigh-ins occur two days before games.
Everything else is the same.
“Nine out of 10 people have no idea what it is,” said Jenkins, a quarterback who set the Mt. Lebanon career passing mark two seasons ago. “But once they understand, they say, ‘Wow, that’s cool. It’s neat that you play.”
Jenkins, 5-11, 175 pounds, does more than play sprint football. He plays it exceptionally well.
In his first season as Penn’s starting quarterback, the silky-smooth sophomore led the Ivy League school to the first-ever Collegiate Sprint Football League Championship game. A biting cold evening in West Point, N.Y, on Nov. 10 conspired against the Penn offense (which entered averaging 36.1 points per game) in a 10-0 loss to Army.
Jenkins passed for 214 yards and oversaw a unit that easily outdueled the Cadets in yardage, 291 to 132, and time of possession, 40:14 to 19.46. But two missed field goals and four failed trips inside the red zone by the Quakers (6-2) left the uber-competitive Jenkins full of “what-ifs?”
“Still tough to think about,” Jenkins sad. “We were right there. We had our chances. I wish I could have a couple plays back, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”
In guiding the CSFL’s top-ranked offense, Jenkins completed 56.2 of his passes for a league-best 203.4 yards per game. He also rushed for 265 yards and accounted for 17 touchdowns and four interceptions. His benchmark game came in a comeback win against perennial power Navy. With his team down 14-0, Jenkins produced three touchdowns (two passing, one running) in helping the Quakers to a 28-23 victory and a spot in the CSFL final.
“We had some crazy ones, like a two-minute drill score that sent the Cornell game to overtime,” said Jenkins, who threw for a season-high 335 yards with three touchdowns in that contest. “But to beat Navy in Annapolis, that was the best.”
Sprint football is played by nine colleges: Penn, Army, Navy, Cornell, Franklin Pierce, Post, Chestnut Hill, Mansfield and Caldwell. The sport was introduced pre-World War II to give smaller-sized athletes a chance to compete in their weight class. The service academies typically dominate, but Penn, which plays at historic Franklin Field in Philadelphia, has won two titles in the past eight years under coach Bill Wagner, who just completed his 48th season.
A backup on Penn’s 2016 undefeated CSFL championship team, Jenkins said it did not take long for him to learn what puts the “sprint” in sprint football. It happened in Week 1 against Caldwell.
Racing downfield on an apparent long gain, he was quickly tracked down from behind. By a defensive tackle.
“In ‘big’ football, those guys don’t catch you,” said Jenkins, a four-year starter in basketball and baseball at Mt. Lebanon. “In this league, it’s a common occurrence. Anyone on the field can chase you down at any point.”
While some refer to the Football Bowl Subdivision and the NFL as “real football,” Jenkins and his teammates eschew the term. They believe they also play “real football,” given they practice 3-4 hours a day, compete hard and play by the same rules.
“We have a lot of pride in our game,” he said. “Sprint football has a rich history and we try to hold that up as much as we can. We want to win, just as much as those guys.”
In “big football” it is rare to see a quarterback the same size as his left tackle ... unless that quarterback is Jared “The Pillsbury Throwboy” Lorenzen, formerly of the New York Giants. At Penn, Jenkins not only sees eye to eye with his left tackle, but goes pound for pound with him as well.
“But you have a lot of different body types out there,” he said. “Some guys are shorter, stockier, thicker. It all works out.”
On the Quakers’ roster, players range in size from 5-5 to 6-2, though most are under 6 feet. Weights are not listed. Local products junior offensive lineman George Avdellas of Beaver and sophomore kicker Theodoros Papazekos of Obama Academy also play. Papazekos converted one field goal this season.
“I’m trying to recruit a few more guys from back home,” Jenkins said. “They’re all interested once they hear about it.”
Not long ago, sprint football was nowhere on Jenkins’ radar. In fact, he had hoped to play on Penn’s “big” team, which competes in the Football Championship Subdivision. But he was informed no spots were available. That’s when he got talking to Wagner about sprint football, a sport a family friend once played at Penn.
Wagner liked Jenkins enough to provide him with a likely letter, which virtually guarantees admission into the prestigious school. This was a win-win. Jenkins’ academic and athletic wishes were fulfilled.
“I don’t know if I would have gotten in here if it wasn’t for coach Wagner,” said Jenkins, who aspires to work in the sports-business industry, perhaps as a front-office official, after graduation. “He really stepped up for me.”
There is no telling if playing sprint football is a harbinger of future success, but it should be noted that former president Jimmy Carter, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and NFL Hall-of-Fame coach George Allen played. Back then, it was known as lightweight football.
“The sport gives guys like me an opportunity to get into a top-tier school,” Jenkins said. “The time commitment isn’t bad, and you get to play the sport you love. You also get the life of a pretty normal college kid. If sprint football was more widely known, I think a lot more kids would want to come and play.”
First Published: November 22, 2017, 11:00 a.m.
