About as soon as T.C. Williams boys basketball coach Julian King knew it was official that his team leader for the past season, Edward Jenkins, really was moving on to play in college you could say he was going through the coachs version of sellers remorse.

Oh yeah, Id take him back in a heartbeat, King said, pointing at Jenkins. Im going to miss this one.

Jenkins, the player who often single-handedly provided the spark for the 27-3 Titans this past season, has indeed settled to move on, accepting a scholarship from Division II Mount Olive College in Mount Olive, N.C.

Enrolling this fall, Jenkins will bring that spark and his impressive resume of All-Region, All-Met and All-State honors from the Titans to a college squad that went 18-10 last season under head coach Joey Higginbotham.

Its something new for me, so Ill have to get adjusted to it, Jenkins said of heading off to the roughly 4,500-student school. But its a nice campus and theres great people all around.

With a couple of other schools in the mix, Jenkins said the relationship he built with Coach H. ultimately sealed the deal as he made up his mind several weeks ago.

In the time since, he said priority number one has been schoolwork he hadnt played basketball in the last three weeks, save for one relapse. Doing laundry one day, the itch came back, he had to get on the court.

I told my mom, Mom, I have to play basketball, I just have that feeling, Jenkins said. I put my clothes in the washing machine and I left. When I came back, they were done.
Losing the last game of his high school career (one of few losses) in the state tournament has weighed heavily on Jenkins mind, resulting in late-night calls to teammates, but with graduation and college looming, he said he shouldnt have any problem moving on.

Im not taking [the loss] to college, he said. Once I leave here, its here. Im ready to start a clean sheet at Mt. Olive.