49ers Introduce AJ Jenkins to the Bay Area

The San Francisco 49ers introduced the team's first round pick in the NFL Draft to the world Friday.

And Alfred Alonzo Jenkins -- better known as A.J. Jenkins -- might be the first round pick most in need of a formal introduction.

Jenkins was in the Bay Area Friday, met with the media and posed for pictures with his new No. 17 jersey.

49ers' General Manager Trent Baalke and head coach Jim Harbaugh gushed about Jenkins big hands and long fingers.

The wide out joked that his nickname in college was E.T.

Still the story was how the 49ers got the man they wanted all along. Thursday Balke contended the team had Jenkins circled with the 30th overall pick and the move made San Francisco the surprise of the draft Thursday.

Few so-called experts projected that Jenkins would be taken in the first round but Baalke said he wrote the Illinois wide receiver's name down on a card the night before the draft and told his executive team that he would be the player they drafted Thursday.

Perhaps no one was more surprised that the 49ers took him than Jenkins himself.

"I didn't know if it was real or not, because during the middle of the draft my cousin had called my phone and was playing with me,'' Jenkins said on a conference call with the media on Thursday. "It was like a little joke. It's crazy. ... I was in the bathroom, and my sister started saying, `Your phone's ringing.' `Ah, you're kidding,' I'm saying, `you're playing a joke on me.'"

But the 6-foot, 192-pound receiver said he is happy to land in the Bay Area.

"I'm out of words right now,'' he said. "I thought it was the perfect fit to be honest. I didn't think the phone call was going to come so soon. I'm honored and I'm blessed. It's crazy."

Leave Comments