Royce Jenkins-Stone Answers Your Questions

Jenkins-Stone at FB at Cass Tech HS, registering 309 yards and
5 touchdowns his senior year.  Image via the Detroit News.

Freshman linebacker Royce Jenkins-Stone has plenty of swagger - which extends from the football field all the way into the kitchen.  "I can throw down - everybody loves my cookin'," Royce said.  "I can barbecue, and I can cook just about anything."  But Royce's confidence on the field and in the kitchen hasn't come without a lot of hard work and ambitious goal setting.  He's been doing "explosiveness training drills" and intense workouts in the hopes of making it to the NFL.  Royce has also been spending hours in the kitchen and around the grill in the hopes of eventually becoming a chef.

As a naturally outgoing and social guy, Royce was recently kind enough to take some time out of his evening to talk about football, cooking, the West Side Cubs and a variety of other topics.  In doing so, he answered several questions posed by TTB readers.

Strengths, weaknesses, technique:  "I'm good at tackling; I'm good at rushing the quarterback.  I'm good with using my hands, but I still want to learn because there's always room for improvement with everything.  That technique is what's going to get me through.  It's what gets everybody through - great technique and great footwork.  So those are the things I know I'm going to need to work on. . . . My athleticism is what got me all my big offers - that and being bigger than everyone else.  But everyone's as big as me or bigger than me in college, so that's why I've got to learn good technique and footwork - to get past those big O-linemen.

Height, weight, workout:  "I'm 6'2'' and 215 lbs. . . . No, the coaches haven't talked to me about that yet [target weight], but I'm pretty sure I need to go up some more.  I know I'll put on weight my freshman year.  Everybody does.  So I'm just working out with my trainer and trying to keep my speed up.  I do crossfit training, and that's a pretty intense workout.  It's like ring drills and stuff like that.

Position:  "The coaches - well, they really haven't told me yet - but I'm pretty sure I'm going to start off at outside linebacker because I think I'd fit best there right now. . . . So I think I'll start off at that outside linebacker spot because you got Kenny Demens in front of me.  Either that or we're sharing time.  And I wouldn't mind doing that.  I'm just trying to do the best I can as a freshman and get my name out there, and fill in where I can, as quickly as I can. . . . I feel that I should start off at the outside linebacker spot because I'm so athletic and I'm good at rushing the quarterback, and once I get a feel of the defense I'll move to the middle linebacker spot when the coaches feel that I'm ready. . . . They recruited me as a middle linebacker, so hopefully I'll make my way to that spot soon. . . . Greg Mattison told me I look like another Ray Lewis.  He thinks he got his Ray Lewis for college.

West Side Cubs:  "They've always been a winning program, and everybody wants to be a Cub.  Growing up, you either didn't like the Cubs because they were winning all the time or you did.  They taught us all that you never give up.  You want to always be a winner in life and in football.  They instilled in us 'God, books and ball.'  They always preached that.

Nickname:  "I haven't got a nickname yet. . . . I haven't heard any nicknames yet.  I don't know where that one [the Law Firm] came from."

Roommate, major:  "I'm rooming with Amara Darboh.  He seems like a pretty cool guy.  I talked to him on the phone a couple of times, but we were both breaking up. . . . I've signed up for Kinesiology and Personal Training for right now."