4 Days To Purdue Football: Kydran Jenkins

There’s only 4 days left until the opening kick, and I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas. I know it’s going to eventually happen, but why can’t it happen now? In order to kill off a few more minutes, let’s check out the next player in the rapidly dwindling countdown.

Kydran Jenkins - Senior

Jefferson County High School, Louisville (pronounced Lewisville), Georgia

6’1”, 260 pounds

Outside Linebacker

2023 Projection: Starter

Jenkins has been a fixture in the Purdue starting lineup since his sophomore season in 2021. He started 11 out of 13 games, and tied George Karlaftis for the team lead in sacks, putting the quarterback on the 5 times. In addition to the sacks, he also contributed 35 tackles, and 8 tackles for loss. That’s a solid college football debut.

Under Jeff Brohm, if someone was going to get into the backfield and make a play, it was probably going to be the former All-State soccer and All-Region basketball and football star out of Louisville, Georgia. As a junior in 2022, he recorded 32 tackles, 8 tackles for loss and 4 sacks, while starting all 14 games. He was named honorable mention All-Big 10.

This season, he’ll be in a new role that should further highlight his ability to get after the quarterback and running back in the backfield. In fact, that’ll be his job from the outside linebacker position. He’ll be lined up on a tackle, and he’ll be asked to beat the tackle. There will be some stunts and twists, but most of the time it’ll be “see ball, get ball” for Purdue’s defensive play maker. He’ll have Nic Scourton terrorizing the tackle on the other side, giving Ryan Walters and Kevin Kane two premier books ends for their 5 man line.