Well-traveled David Jenkins Jr., brings veteran presence, scoring to Purdue basketball

WEST LAFAYETTE – David Jenkins, Jr., departed Tacoma, Wash., for Brookings, South Dakota in the summer of 2016 and maneuvered his way to West Lafayette.

And there’s been plenty of stops between the start and finish of Jenkins’ college basketball career.

South Dakota State. UNLV. Utah. And now Purdue.

That’s 4,890 miles from the time Jenkins graduated from Wilson Senior High School and joined the Boilermakers as a key graduate transfer for the program last month.

“I’ve lived in places from Brookings, South Dakota all the way to Las Vegas, Nevada to Salt Lake,” Jenkins said. “If you think about it, going from Brookings to Las Vegas is the complete opposite as you can get.

“Now I’m in West Lafayette, which is completely different than Las Vegas and now I live in Vegas.”

No question, Jenkins is a veteran at dealing with so many things.

He’s also 24 years old – seven years older than the youngest Boilermaker - and has adapted and adjusted at every stop. He’ll blend in with new teammates for the fourth time. This will be his fifth season of playing after sitting out the 2019-20 season at UNLV.

“It’s like having an uncle on the team pretty much for a lot of us,” junior Ethan Morton said, referring to Jenkins’ age.

At least Jenkins is familiar with one member of Purdue’s program. Jason Kabo, who served as the director of strength and conditioning at UNLV, now holds the same title for the Boilermakers.

It certainly didn’t hurt coach Matt Painter having that connection once recruiting Jenkins moved through the process.

“It all lined up for me,” Jenkins said. “This is far away from home for me, and I felt like it was essential to get away from my comfort zone to be successful.”

The 6-foot-1 Jenkins believes he’s better when uncomfortable, but the Boilermakers will need the stout and strong guard to find a level of comfort on the perimeter, whether that’s at point guard or another spot.

Painter was seeking a true point guard through the transfer portal following the end of last season but didn’t find one for a variety of reasons.

Just because Jenkins doesn’t fit the initial criteria doesn’t mean he can’t be an effective player on next year’s team, which welcomes back plenty of experience but lacks a veteran presence on the perimeter. Jenkins hasn’t spent a lot of time yet with his new teammates but is leaving an impression.

“He can put the ball in the basket, he can really shoot the ball, got to get him in shape and then I’d like to answer your questions,” Painter joked when discussing Jenkins.

“For a guy that’s played as much as he’s played, you know what he can bring to the table in terms of his scoring. He’s going to need to do some point-guard specific things even though he’s not a quintessential point guard. He can do some different things, whether he’s attacking a zone, attacking a press.”

From a numbers standpoint, Jenkins is a career 41.3% shooter from 3-point range and has averaged 14.9 points in four seasons. He averaged 17.8 points in 67 games at South Dakota State and 14.8 during 27 games at UNLV. He's totaled 1,857 career points.

Here’s a quick scouting report on Jenkins from his new teammates:

▶ Mason Gillis: “He moves the ball, passes the ball, doesn’t seem like a ball hog; seems like he knows how to play the right way. With Paint’s system, I think he’ll fit in perfectly.”

▶ Brandon Newman: “He’s tough. He can guard, he can shoot a little bit. He’s a leader. He’s doing a good job of coming into a new program and learning things on the fly and being a sponge and taking help from myself and other guys and the coaches. We want him to be successful. We want him to play well, do well and I think he’s done a good job of taking everything in stride.”

▶ Morton: “It’s really good to have a veteran presence. It never hurts to have a guy that's scored 2,000 points in college and you can never have enough guys that can score. He’s only going to get more comfortable. It takes some time to figure out how we play, especially coming from the Pac-12 to here. It’s a different style.”

Jenkins’ previous transfers were centered around a coach leaving the program and following him to a new destination. This was a different set of circumstances that led him into the portal in March and finally exited when he committed to Purdue.

“It came a little bit late, but it felt like everything aligned as far as how good this program is and how consistent it is and how transparent coach Painter is and how decorated he is as a coach,” Jenkins said.

As Jenkins looked at where to finish his career, Purdue became an attractive candidate because of its history in the Big Ten and the NCAA tournament. The Boilermakers also offer a nearly ready-made roster with an assortment of big men and up-and-coming talent on the perimeter.

How much Jenkins runs the point remains to be seen, but he’ll likely share those duties with Morton and freshman Braden Smith, who is expected to be cleared after offseason foot surgery before the start of fall classes.

Jenkins played point guard throughout high school, was a combo guard at South Dakota State and held down the off-guard position at his last two stops.

“I’ve always found it a little more natural for me to score and pass from the point guard spot,” he said. “Last year, a lot of teams were able to deny me off the ball because I wasn’t having the ball and bringing it up the court.

“But me getting the ball from the point guard spot and kick it up to my teammates and creating plays for them and me being able to have the ball in my hands is a little easier to score from that standpoint.”

While his teammates are still in the process of learning about their newcomer, Jenkins has already completed a quick evaluation of Purdue’s locker room and the talent assembled by Painter.

“I walked in the locker room and everybody was from Indiana,” Jenkins said. “This is a hooper state right here. 'You guys know how to play.' It’s cool being with guys who are from the same area and it’s a lot of stability and consistency in this program and that’s what I like about it.”

Mike Carmin covers Purdue sports for the Journal & Courier. Email mcarmin@gannett.com and follow on Twitter and Instagram @carmin_jc

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue basketball: Transfer David Jenkins Jr., brings veteran presence, scoring to Boilermakers