Vegan Athlete of the Day: Malcolm Jenkins

​Jenkins plays in the NFL and is a safety for the Philadelphia Eagles.  He played college football at Ohio State, earning consensus All-American honors, and winning the Jim Thorpe Award as a senior. He was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft and continues to thrive and get better every year which he credits to being a vegan.  On becoming a vegan Jenkins has said "I wanted to see how I was going to feel," "I set it up to fail, quite frankly, because I’m going to do it during training camp, I’m going to go cold turkey -- no meat, no dairy. I was like, ‘There was no way I’m going to have enough energy or protein to keep up.' In all actuality, I felt great, lost a few pounds, speeds were great, my strength was up, my recovery was really good. So I said, if that’s the case, I’ve got to stick with it."  He has stuck with it and seen his career take off during periods of time other players decline and he has become one of the best safeties in the league today.  Jenkins decided to go vegan after watching What the Health and some of his accomplishments can be found below…

• 2× Super Bowl champion (XLIV, LII)
• 3× Pro Bowl (2015, 2017, 2018)
• Second-team All-Pro (2010)
• Jim Thorpe Award (2008)
• Consensus All-American (2008)
• Second-team All-American (2007)
• 3× First-team All-Big Ten (2006–2008)