Could Chargers Be Targeting Michigan's Chris Jenkins in the Draft?

Jenkins has been lighting up the draft boards.

When your Los Angeles Chargers hired former University of Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, it was presumed that they could look to target some of his former college players in the upcoming NFL draft. Michigan just won the National Championship with a loaded roster, so there would be plenty of talented players to choose from.

Harbaugh ran a tight ship while at Michigan, and coached his players up extremely well. He was responsible for some of the better units over the last few seasons, and who better to know the character of a guy than the person who coached them in college for years?

One name that has been lighting up draft boards is defensive tackle Kris Jenkins. Matt "Money" Smith spoke with former Bolts fullback Lorenzo Neal on Bleav in Chargers about the possibility of the team selecting Jenkins in the draft.

"It's someone who very well could end up in a Chargers uniform because Jim Harbaugh told him this guy was the "mutant of mutants" and it was Kris Jenkins."

Jenkins would surely help solidify the Bolts' defensive line, adding more of a presence along the front. He is a big body, who uses that to his advantage to create pressure against the offensive lineman. 

Additionally, the Chargers' hiring of Ben Herbert could signal they want to target Jenkins in this draft.

"He's got the pedigree and the genetics. They said, when he showed up at Michigan, he was 245 pounds, 245 and Bruce got very deep into the Ben Herbert, who has been hired by Jim and brought from Michigan and what Ben Herbert was able to do with that team and now we've got Kris Jenkins over 300 pounds. Yet, he's still going to crush the athletic drills, all the agility stuff, the explosiveness, the vert, the broad, the 40 and he said he's gonna get underneath 225 pounds and throw it up at numbers you can't quite comprehend. That's the story of character, story of development, that's the story of a love for football."

Jenkins will help whichever team drafts him, and he played a big role in Michigan winning the title last season. Hopefully, for the Chargers' sake, he lands with them, and Harbaugh knows better than anyone the level of production he can create for a team.