Hot Take Tuesday: Oklahoma State OL Teven Jenkins is a top ten player

Oklahoma State Cowboy's offensive lineman Teven Jenkins has some rave reviews from our scouts.

There are about 15-20 first-round caliber prospects every year. These are the blue-chip talents that project as future Pro Bowl or All-Pro players. Thirty-two players end up being selected on day one but those who go home as winners are the ones that get the elite prospects in the draft.

This year is no different, with players such as Trevor Lawrence, Kyle Pitts and DeVonta Smith at the top. Due to the pandemic wiping out games and players opting out before the season, it has been harder to narrow in on those top ten players. In particular, one guy who isn’t getting top ten love but needs to be in that conversation is Teven Jenkins from Oklahoma State.

Going into the season, few knew of the 6-foot-6 mauler, who had played high school football in Kansas. At Oklahoma, he was overshadowed by the likes of Chuba Hubbard, Tylan Wallace and Spencer Sanders. The Oklahoma State offense had been a well-oiled machine in 2019 when their stars were healthy and it begged the question, what made them so good?

A big part of their success was number 73. Jenkins played both right and left tackle during his junior season, in which he pummeled defenders on a consistent basis. It was hard not to focus on Jenkins when watching the Cowboys’ offensive weapons. He was that dominant.

Yes, Jenkins was the best run blocker on film but he was also outstanding in pass protection, giving up a total of seven hurries in 12 games. He never gave up more than one pressure in any game. This means that a defensive end was lucky to get near the quarterback one time in a game in which they were lined up against Jenkins. That is tough sledding for anyone. It brings up another question; if he was so impactful, why didn’t Jenkins receive the first-round hype that other offensive tackles were getting?

It is mostly because Jenkins just puts his head down and works. He is an animal in the weight room, which is easy to see on the field. His coach Mike Gundy had this to say to Sports Illustrated about Jenkins before the season, “He’s uncharacteristically strong. I watched him in a weight room this summer. I think he hit 225 like 35 times and they weren’t even counting. I mean he was just doing it. He has tremendous feet. He’s got good leverage, he’s highly intelligent and his work ethic is getting better this year.”

Gundy was right about Jenkins. He took that next step, with big-time performances against Oklahoma State’s top competition this season, including an excellent performance against another top prospect Joseph Ossai. Jenkins put on a clinic against Ossai, including a rep, where he drove him all the way into benches.

this two-play sequence by Oklahoma State RT Teven Jenkins (#73) made me sit up in my chair. This is against Texas edge Joseph Ossai, who might be a 1st rounder pic.twitter.com/CZgbNA8lNH

— Danny Kelly (@DannyBKelly) January 9, 2021

Those all put him on the map as a top 50 prospect and Jenkins has slowly moved towards a first-round projection. He has versatility at both tackle spots and can also be an elite guard if asked to do that. His play strength on the field this year has been second to none. It is hard to find a more consistent player on film than Jenkins. It may be a very good tackle class but Jenkins is a player that teams can pencil in as a day one starter for the next decade. That is so crucial when the supply of offensive tackle talent doesn’t come close to the demand.

It may not always look pretty with Jenkins but he creates gaping running lanes, never gives up pressures and has that dog mentality needed to have a high level of success at the next level. He may not get drafted as high as he should, however, 31 teams will end up regretting that they didn’t either draft or trade-up for Jenkins.