2025 WR Carl Jenkins Jr. Has 'Awesome' Visit to Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - So far, the month of June has been huge for the Louisville football program out on the recruiting front. Not only have the hosted 24 Class of 2025 prospects for official visits over the last two weekend, four of the have committed over the last week after taking their visit.

Carl Jenkins Jr. is one such visitor, taking his official this past weekend. The wide receiver from St. Augustine (Fla.) HS made a return trip after taking an unofficial visit back in March, and got to check out the program's facilities and their dorms, as well as nearby Churchill Downs and tour the rest of the city.

By the end of his visit, Louisville had left a great impression on Jenkins.

"Honestly, it's been very awesome," Jenkins told Louisville Report. "It's been what I expected it to be. I expected it would be really great, really awesome."

Louisville was one of Jenkins' first power conference offers, with the Cardinals extending him a scholarship offer last August. Since then, his relationship with the coaching staff has "really picked up."

"Its developed really well," Jenkins said when asked how the relationship with Louisville's coaching staff has developed over the course of his recruitment. "I got to have a lot more conversations with them, the relationships have built up more, we've all started talking more often. We got more locked in, and it just really picked up more."

Being a wideout, Louisville wide receivers coach Garrick McGee has served as Jenkins' primary recruiter, and has been recruiting him "really hard since the day he offered me." Jenkins has high praises for McGee, who says that in the conversations they have had, he has history that he can back up.

Jenkins also had the same to say about Louisville head coach Jeff Brohm and his history of success.

"Every time I've talked to him, he just tells me how much the program wants me," Jenkins said about Brohm. "Honestly, he's a great guy, great coach, and his history backs it up. Every program he been with, he's had success with. It's been really great. Every time I talk to him, he's really good. He's just a true coach."

In fact, the history of success with Brohm and the Louisville football program as a whole is Jenkins' favorite aspect about the Cardinals. After Brohm went 10-4 in his first year as the head coach with his alma mater and guided Purdue to the Big Ten Championship the year before, Jenkins loves Brohm and Co's commitment to achieving high level success.

"The coaches, they could just sit here and brag about how bad they want me, and they could just be like, 'Oh yeah, we're a really good program,' but their record really backs it up," he said. "So honestly, my favorite thing is just their success, and how serious they are about the program, and how they want the national championship there, and how they were really close the first year in a new program. That says a lot. My favorite thing is just the success, and how locked in the coaches are with what they're trying to do in this program."

There's a reason why Louisville's is recruiting Jenkins as hard as they are. The 6-foot-2, 177-pound receiver ranks as the No. 72 prospect in the talent-rich state of Florida, and the No. 538 overall recruit in the 2025 cycle. Last season as a junior for St. Augustine, Jenkins had 60 receptions for 1,172 yards and 15 touchdowns in 14 games tracked by MaxPreps.

While Jenkins plays strictly outside receiver for St. Augustine, Louisville wants to utilize him outside the numbers and in the slot in their "Z" receiver position. It's the same role that Jamari Thrash had for the Cardinals this past season.

The Louisville coaching staff haven't been the only people trying to recruit Jenkins to come to the Cardinals. During his visit, four prospects who had already committed to UofL also made the trip, and two of them - Oxford (Ala.) HS quarterback Mason Mims and Westerville (Oh.) HS Jake Cook - have been actively trying to get him to pull the trigger. Jenkins even got to develop relationships with host players, wide receiver Ja'Corey Brooks and quarterback Pierce Clarkson, during his visit. Hammond (Ind.) Morton Senior LeBron Hill, who committed to Louisville last week, is also good friends with Jenkins.

"I've been really gaining a relationship with my boy Mason, that's my guy," Jenkins said. "He their quarterback commit, and he's been telling me that he wants to throw the ball to me. My boy Jake (Cook), the o-line commit, he's been on me since we met back in March. We've been building this relationship, and he's telling me how much he wants me too.

"Then my hosts, my guy Pierce, he was telling me his backstory and how he chose Louisville and stuff like that. We got locked in, and so did Ja'Corey. He told me his story and how he ended up at Louisville. Then the other commits, my boy LeBron (Hill) that just committed, that's my guy. Me and him got a good relationship. I got a lot of great relationships with a lot of guys."

While Louisville has certainly made a major impact on Jenkins, and he says them and UCF and recruiting him the hardest, his recruitment is far from over. He took an official visit to the Knights prior to his visit to the Cardinals, and has OV's to Kansas, Illinois and USF also lined up over the next few weeks.

Jenkins says he plans to decide on his future school soon after his final summer visit.

"After my last OV, I'm gonna give it a week, then I'm gonna commit on June 29," he said.

(Photo of Carl Jenkins Jr.: Bob Self - Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY)

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