[1] Jenkins first joined Don Faurot's Missouri Tigers as a fullback, spending most of his time on the bench.
[2] By mid way through his junior year, Jenkins had taken over as the starting center and went on to earn All Big Six Conference honors that season.
[2][3] In 1941, as a senior, Jenkins captained Missouri to a Big Six Conference Championship and an appearance in the Sugar Bowl against the Fordham Rams.
[3] Flying his 27th mission, he was shot down and spent 17 months in a Nazi Germany POW camp.
[3] Upon his discharge from the military, Jenkins went to law school, becoming a practicing attorney in 1952, eventually working for the Missouri State Highway Commission.