Jenkins, Gratz leave Central 'Woozy'

WILHELMINA BIRD knew exactly what she was doing when she nicknamed her grandson "Woozy."

In fact, Shawn Jenkins, a 6-1, 225-pound middle linebacker for Simon Gratz, earned the moniker before he even took his first breath.

Perhaps the clairvoyant Bird knew her grand little bundle would one day punish opponents on the gridiron.

"My grandmom, she knew I was going to be a football star, so when I was born, I came out with the nickname 'Woozy,' " Jenkins said yesterday after the Bulldogs dominated Central, 33-0, at the Marcus Foster Supersite.

"That was my nickname when I was born, and, when I got on the field, I was really hitting people and making them woozy. Now, I'm stuck with that name."

Truthfully, the handle stemmed from the morning sickness his mother, Benita Bird, had during pregnancy.

However, when he was 4, Jenksins said he officially earned the sobriquet as a member of a football team that was started specifically for him.

"I just told my dad I wanted to play football and he started the organization for me," Jenkins said of the Nicetown Titans, a Pop Warner squad that plays on 16th and Courtland streets in Nicetown.

Jenkins said his father, Shawn Jenkins (different middle names), started the organization with Bird and a friend, Shawn Hagans. Although Jenkins stopped playing around 14, his father still runs the show.

Last night, Jenkins and Co. ran both sides of the ball. And, with Bartram (5-3, 3-2) losing to Southern on Thursday, the Bulldogs (7-1, 5-0) are in first place in the Public League's AAAA Liberty division.

The Lancers (1-7, 1-5), who have been ravaged by injuries this season, mustered only five first downs all game, and two of those came via penalties.

Jenkins started the scoring from fullback when he punched in a 1-yarder for the game's first points. Then, Luke White, a junior running back and defensive back, tossed a 38-yard score to senior Shawn "Megatron" Williams off a halfback-option pass. Williams rushed for the conversion, and Gratz never looked back.

Senior quarterback Musa Al-Sulaimani finished 6-for-11 for 103 yards and a score. White added 54 rushing yards on six carries, and junior running back Javon Whitfield supplied 45 more on three totes (he also broke several tackles on a slippery 24-yard score). Junior wideout C.J. Hall tallied after a 31-yard pass, while senior Nick Brown blocked a punt.

To the Lancers' credit, senior Jones Mensah and sophomore Blake Schwartz were defensively disruptive all night. Mensah even blocked two extra points.

However, junior defensive ends Raquan Thomas (6-4, 305 pounds) and Cameron Brown (6-2, 265) wreaked havoc throughout.

With a defensive unit loaded with talent, who better to lead than Jenkins, who's been a middle linebacker since he was 4 and has started for Gratz since freshman year?

"I would say I'm the voice, because I'd rather take all of the fault on myself," Jenkins said. "If anything happens with this team, I just blame it on me. Even if I'm not out there on the field, I'm still blaming it on me because I'm the leader."

The Nicetown resident (16th and Bristol) is anything but on the field. He said a big hit against now-closed Germantown cinched his starting spot freshman year.

"I hit the guy on the sideline and everyone went crazy, and from there, I got the job and maintained the job," he said.

A knee injury curtailed the last seven games of his sophomore year, but he rehabbed hard in the offseason.

Now, he's back on the field, making his grandmother proud and living up to her prophetic nickname.

And, one guess what Woozy's favorite part of football is: "That I get to hit people," he said. "I love to hit people. That's just me. I just love to hit people, take all my anger out. Take it all out on the field and leave it there."