Clemson Football Camps: Casen Jenkins dreams of being the next Tee Higgins

It’s Dabo Swinney Camp season and there will be a lot of talented young men in-and-out of Clemson University this month who aspire to compete in Death Valley one day. 

There will be many star-rated athletes, three, four, five etc, in Clemson this month who already have the attention of head coach Dabo Swinney and others who will be trying to get his attention. The latter come to Clemson to compete against great competition and have fun while dreaming of wearing the orange pawed helmet one day.

Those kids are becoming the norm with Clemson football, and they are coming from many states. As we focus on the youth, one of those kids is Casen Jenkins,11, from Oak Ridge, Tennessee, who made his second consecutive appearance at Dabo Swinney’s camp this past weekend. Jenkins is always happy to visit Clemson because his friend and favorite athlete, sophomore receiver Tee Higgins is there.

I caught up with the young camper to ask him a few questions about camp.

Q: Did you get to see Tee?

Jenkins: Yes! I got to see him in the cafeteria at lunch.

Q: What position or positions did you play?

Jenkins: Wide receiver.

Q: What player/coach or players/coaches did you have during this camp?

Jenkins: I had different coaches on Day 1, but worked with Coach Scott on Day 2.

Q: Favorite part of camp?

Jenkins: Doing the one-on-one drills (wide receiver vs. defensive back) and being coached by coach Scott during these drills. The best part of the Dabo Swinney Football Camp was getting to work with coach Scott! He’s one of the best in college football! And Swinney Ball(7-on-7) is the best too.

Q: Besides Tee, what other players did you enjoy meeting?

Jenkins: Christian Wilkins and Isaiah Simmons.

Q: Favorite sports besides football?

Jenkins: Baseball and basketball.

Swinney and Scott are very good at evaluating talent and maybe, just maybe, they have a notepad with Casen “Tee Higgins’ No. 1 fan” Jenkins name on it. After all, Jenkins had several touchdowns during the Swinney Ball games.

If it’s up to him, he will be following in Higgins’ foot steps and head to Clemson to catch touchdowns on Saturdays, and he is driven and dedicated to make it happen.

Need some evidence? Jenkins is currently training with Dunstan Kendrick(Coach D), owner of D-Block Training and the former trainer of Higgins, in Knoxville.

Need more evidence? Here’s what Heather Jenkins, his mom, said when asked about her son’s dedication and drive to play football at Clemson. “He’s definitely a hard worker! He’s intense and makes me crazy some days but you gotta love him!”

Next: 5 Reasons Trevor Lawrence can win the Heisman

Jenkins recently graduated from Linden Elementary and is headed to Robertsville Middle School, Higgins’ former school, just another step on his journey to Clemson University.