This time three years ago, Isiah Jenkins, then a freshman, told head coach Ronnie Millen that he would rather play JV football over varsity football. That was understandable—high school football is quite rough and fast paced. Many freshmen find that they aren’t quite ready for the competition.

The following year, as a running back on the varsity team, he rushed for nearly 800 yards and scored 10 touchdowns; the year after that he rushed for almost 1,000 yards and scored 15 touchdowns. The obvious progression would suggest that Jenkins rush for more yards and more touchdowns this year, but the coaching staff for Grady had a different plan: Jenkins would move to quarterback.

“Coach Millen kind of put it in my head that you’re going to play whatever I want you to,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins noticed the difference between JV and Varsity football very quickly.

“Even in practice it was so much faster when I finally got in my first varsity game, I could tell that the feel of the game was a lot different,” Jenkins said.

The 2013 graduating class saw the exit of starting quarterback Kivon Taylor, leaving the team without a quarteback. The coaching staff figured Jenkins was the man for the job.

“He was a pretty heady guy,” Millen said. “He has a pretty good knowledge of the game, so he was the obvious choice.”

Both Millen and quarterback coach Carl Laurence agree that getting Jenkins to practice in the spring and summer as a quarterback was a no-brainer due to his superior athleticism, quick thinking and leadership abilities.

“Isiah’s transformation from running back to quarterback shows how much of a team player he is,” senior running back Hakeem Todd said. “He is a great leader so the position fits him well.”

Although he has primarily played running back throughout his career, he has had prior experience at quarterback. In practice, he played quarterback on the scout team—a practice team formed to mimic actual opponents for the starters in practice—and played quarterback in a scrimmage against Mays High School last year. He was also the third-string quarterback for Grady last year.

Jenkins is a running quarterback. Drawing on his running back experience, he runs the ball as much as he throws it. He still runs between 15 and 20 times per game, but he also is responsible for calling plays, handing the ball off to the running backs and throwing the ball 10 to 20 times per game. His pass completion rate is about 50 percent, but he hopes to raise that percentage.

Coaches and players on the team know that Jenkins is vital to the team’s success.

“If Isiah goes, we go,” Laurence said. “If he’s focused and he’s really determined and wants to sort of just take control, we go as far as he goes.”

Jenkins attributes the start of his football career to his mother and brother. Currently, he sees Monique Jackson, his aunt, as his biggest motivator for football.

“Football gave Isiah an opportunity to take part in something that’s enjoyable yet challenging,” Jackson said. “[Football] increases his self-esteem and sense of self-worth and his ability to work as a team.”

Jenkins took after his brother and started his football career as a 3-year-old playing on an under-6 team called the John F. Kennedy Rattlers. After his 10th birthday, he went to play for the Adamsville Vikings, one of 10 youth teams in the Georgia Division 1 League now known as the Atlanta Vikings.

Jenkins came to Grady after attending BEST Academy, where his team won a middle school championship. He received an MVP award for the season.

Though he has received no scholarship offers yet, Jenkins hopes to be recruited by a Division 1 school.

Currently, Middle Tennessee State, Furman University and The University of Tennessee Chattanooga are recruiting Jenkins. Jackson would like Jenkins to receive a full scholarship to a university where he can earn a degree.

Jenkins ultimately hopes to make it to the National Football League, but if that doesn’t work out, he plans on becoming a journalist.