Goalie Kade Jenkins injured his right leg and missed the second half of the soccer season as a senior at North Pike, but he is close to healed and will continue his career as a freshman at Southwest Mississippi Community College in the upcoming season.
Jenkins suffered a season-ending injury in a game at Florence in January, had PCL reconstruction surgery in March and was cleared to play in June. He signed with the Bears in June and still wears a brace on his right leg.
“I’m not going to say I’m at 100 percent now, but I’m definitely gaining, and I’m making progress toward 100 percent,” he said. “I expect to be fully recovered, and I expect to be 100 percent and better than last year.”
He was injured on a one-on-one challenge when a striker from the Eagles went into his leg.
“My knee just kind of drove into the ground with him on top of it,” Jenkins said. “The doctor said it just tore a ligament in half. I don’t really remember much. I kind of blacked out after that.”
While the Jaguars lost the game, Jenkins did stop the goal from scoring on that play.
“I hit the ball with my hands in mid-slide, but it was raining, so we slid further than I anticipated,” he said. “When I knocked the ball out, he just slid straight into my legs and took me out after that. The ball just went out of bounds.”
Jenkins was in physical therapy three times a week working with Kelly Martin in McComb. After he was out of the wheelchair and off of crutches, he said he rebuilt his strength on the treadmill.
The Bears goalie said he was considering playing for SMCC long before his injury and had only positive things to say about head coach Zach Mills.
“I just love Southwest,” Jenkins said. “It’s here close to my house. I’ve always been fond of Southwest. I like the classes here. I like Coach Zach. I just like everything about it. That’s what really made me want to come here.”
SMCC has two goalies on the roster for the upcoming season — Jenkins and Jake Adams from Florence — and Mills plans to utilize both of them. The plan is for Jenkins to be at goalie most of the time, while Adams plays as a defender.
Former Bears goalie Bryant Boyington set school records with playing 1,581 minutes in a season and 3,066 minutes in a career, five shutouts in a season, eight shutouts in a career, two consecutive shutouts, 240 saves in a career, allowing 1.31 goals per game in a season and allowing 1.7 goals per game in a career.
“Obviously, he (Jenkins) has some big shoes to fill, but he’s excited to try to break those records,” Mills said. “I think we have a better back line than we had in the past. Hopefully, he will have that confidence in our back line and they can have that confidence in him now that he’s getting ready and almost back to where he was and even better than where he was.”
Jenkins was ranked No. 4 in the state with 120 saves and 18 goals allowed when he went down with an injury.
He was a third baseman on the Jaguars baseball team as a freshman and a kicker on the football team as a junior, but he preferred soccer to football.
“I love playing soccer more,” he said. “I like the fact that I’m not out on the field for two seconds and then run off. Then I like just stopping shots on goal. It’s awesome when you have a striker coming, and he’s trying his best to score, and then you just take it away.”
Jenkins is a biology major and might continue his career after SMCC at a Division I school. He is considering attending the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Kipp Jenkins from McComb.
