David Jenkins Jr., Transfers From UNLV, Commits to Utah
Caption The University of Utah plays against Stanford during an NCAA Basketball game at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020. (Photo by Kiffer Creveling | The Daily Utah Chronicle)
April 11, 2021
The University of Utah men’s basketball team landed a big commitment on Sunday afternoon to add to new head coach Craig Smith’s roster for 2021-22. David Jenkins Jr., a guard from UNLV, announced that he will be transferring to Utah.
Jenkins is a 6-foot-2 guard who averaged 14.6 points a game last year for the UNLV Rebels. He initially spent two years at South Dakota State before transferring for his third season of college basketball. His numbers were down last year in a decreased role with UNLV, but he still showed good efficiency and shooting touch, hitting 40.9% from three on 6.7 attempts per game.
His best collegiate season came in 2018-19 with South Dakota State, when he started all 32 games he played in, scoring 19.7 points per game on 45.3% from behind the arc. Jenkins is a talented scorer, and Utah will certainly need his punch on the offensive side of the ball.
Timmy Allen and Alfonso Plummer are both in the transfer portal, and while either or both could potentially return for the Utes, everything is still up in the air. Last season, Allen was the leading scorer and Plummer was the floor spacer for Utah. Jenkins could potentially make up a lot of what those two are leaving on the table for the Utes.
A key part of Jenkins choosing Utah was likely the new assistant coach, DeMarlo Slocum. Slocum was recently hired onto Smith’s staff for this season, marking his second stint with Utah, returning after he coached there from 2011 to 2019. He had spent the past two years as an assistant coach at UNLV, coaching Jenkins there last season. Jenkins follows his coach to Salt Lake City, and the two provide each other some familiarity on what is likely to be a brand new roster.
Jenkins, originally from Tacoma, Washington, enters his fourth collegiate season with a great opportunity to have a breakout year. He will certainly have a lot of opportunities to do his thing, assuming that Plummer and Allen are indeed not returning for next year. This is a needed role for the Utes, and Jenkins is well equipped to fill it.
Utah is still a ways away from finalizing their roster for next season, but this is a big win for Smith and his staff. They will continue to fill out the roster in the coming weeks, but with Jenkins joining Gabe Madsen, along with the other returning players from last year, the new coaching staff is off to a good start to the recruiting season.
