Now He’s Calling the Shots

Two years later, people still talk about the flip. Sportscasters still drag out the highlight film of Ortege Jenkins launching himself into the air, head over heels, over a tackler and into the end zone.

The only one who doesn’t seem impressed by this touchdown feat is the man who performed it.

“If you ask me,” Jenkins says, “it was a lucky play.”

The flashy run doesn’t mean much to him because this fall is all about substance over style. After two seasons of splitting time at quarterback for Arizona, Jenkins has the spot to himself and must prove he has the complete package.

The toughness and savvy, the leadership and, most of all, the consistency.

He would like nothing more than to display all of these unspectacular qualities when the Wildcats play USC Saturday in the Coliseum.

“I’m playing against a school that recruited me as an athlete, not as a quarterback,” he says. “Now I get to come back and show them.”

The Trojans have seen enough already. They have watched videotape of Jenkins leading his team to a 3-1 record that includes a 27-3 triumph at Stanford, a victory on the road in a conference where home-field advantage is usually as good as gold.

Arizona has won the old-fashioned way, with a defense that limits opponents to nine points a game--best in the Pacific 10--and an offense that takes care of the football and dominates the line of scrimmage.

The Wildcats might be tempted to turn Jenkins loose on a USC secondary that has been tested deep--and often failed--in the last two games. But big plays have not been the story of Jenkins’ season so far.

The senior from Long Beach has taken a slightly different approach to the game.

The two previous seasons, he was part of a one-two punch, alternating with Keith Smith. The co-starters got along famously, but there was an underlying pressure to their arrangement.

“When we were rotating we had to be smart,” Jenkins says. “But we also had to do things quickly because the other guy was coming back.”

Smith was the efficient passer, Jenkins the big-play guy.

Sometimes he was spectacular--scoring on a 65-yard run against Oregon, passing for three touchdowns against Stanford, somersaulting over the goal line to beat Washington with four seconds left.

Other times he disappeared. Last season against USC, for instance, he attempted only one pass and lined up a few plays at receiver.

Fairly or not, questions arose about his consistency. A year younger than Smith, Jenkins insists he never thought ahead to the day when he would get a chance to prove himself.

However, he adds, “I knew that day would come.”

This season, with Smith gone, the coaches have asked Jenkins to lead a steady attack and avoid turnovers. Such restraint was tough to handle in the opener against Utah.

“He was really nervous,” Coach Dick Tomey said. “He wanted to come out and be perfect.”

Jenkins completed three of 15 passes for 11 yards. “I was thinking when I should have just played,” he says. But, as Tomey points out, he had no turnovers and the Wildcats won, 17-3.

The next game against Ohio State, a 27-17 loss, was only slightly better. There was a 60-yard touchdown pass. There was also an interception.

But the game served as a turning point because Jenkins, who was sacked and otherwise hit two dozen times, never flinched.

Teammates noticed. So did the coaches.

“His game against Ohio State was the one that proved a lot,” Tomey said. “He showed tremendous toughness and a willingness to be the right kind of guy when things were going wrong.”

Substance over style.

In the two games since then, Jenkins has completed 61% of his passes for 200 yards a game. He has shown the patience to let the action come to him. He has shown the poise of a veteran.

“You can see that O.J. is the senior leader over there,” USC cornerback Kris Richard said. “That’s why they are 3-1.”

Now big plays aren’t as important as little things, details ranging from footwork to fakes to the message he sends his teammates. This week, Jenkins talked about USC and its upset loss at Oregon State.

“Those types of losses hurt,” he says. “The coaches are going to push harder, the players are going to push each other. That team is really going to be up for us, so we have to be ready.”

The other stuff--the highlight-reel plays, the heady comparisons to a new breed of athletic quarterbacks such as Michael Vick--none of that will help him win over doubters.

“It’s an honor to be considered one of those guys who can run and throw and make things happen,” he says. “But quarterbacks are rated on two things--one, if you have leadership qualities and two, if you win.”

Substance over style.

Jenkins figures there is only one way to prove that he is a well-rounded quarterback.

“Win games,” he says. “When you win, everything else falls into place.”