BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Jacksonville State junior quarterback
Eli Jenkins has been selected as the Ohio Valley Conference Male Athlete of the Year for 2015-16 in voting by the league's athletics directors and sports information directors.
Jenkins will receive his award at the League's annual Honors Brunch on June 3 in Nashville. The Female Athlete of the Year (Tennessee State track and field athlete Clairwin Dameus) was announced on Wednesday.
Jenkins was named a first-team All-American and the FCS ADA National Quarterback of the Year as he led Jacksonville State became the first OVC football team to reach the Division I Football National Championship Game since 1982. Along the way the quarterback guided the Gamecocks to its first ever No. 1 national ranking (becoming the first OVC team to reach that ranking since 1999) and the highest final poll finish (No. 2) in the program's Division I history.
The OVC Player of the Year was one of just three quarterback at the Division I level (FBS or FCS) to pass for 2,700 and rush for 1,000 yards this season (joining Greg Ward, Jr. of Houston and Deshaun Watson of Clemson). Jenkins finished the year with 2,788 passing and 1,161 rushing yards. Jenkins finished the year ranked second in OVC single-season history for total offense (3,949) while moving into seventh place in OVC career history in the same category (8,357).
During the regular season JSU won its games by an average margin of 21.2 points (meaning Jenkins at out large stretches of the second half including eight full quarters), he still ranked 11th nationally in rushing touchdowns (11), 16th nationally in passing yards (2,788), 17th in passing touchdowns (21) and 19th in each rushing yards (1,161 and points responsible for (14.4/game). In four FCS Playoff games he accounted for 1,124 yards of total offense and 10 touchdowns. He is now 26-0 all-time as a starter against non-FBS opponents during the regular season.
Jenkins is the first Jacksonville State student-athlete to be named OVC Male Athlete of the Year since the Gamecocks joined the League in 2003-04. Overall it marks the third time in the last four years that the OVC Male Athlete of the Year has been a football player.
Other male nominees for the award included Austin Peay senior center Chris Horton, Belmont junior forward Evan Bradds, Eastern Illinois senior defensive end Dino Fanti, Eastern Kentucky junior defensive end Noah Spence, Morehead State senior pitcher Matt Anderson, Murray State sophomore rifle athlete Ivan Roe, Southeast Missouri senior pitcher Joey Lucchesi, SIUE junior track and field athlete Julian Harvey, Tennessee State senior guard Keron DeShields, Tennessee Tech sophomore tennis athlete Eduardo Mena and UT Martin senior forward Twymond Howard.
The OVC first awarded a Male Athlete of the Year award in 1977.
