FIU quarterback on similar trajectory as another former South Florida standout

Keyone Jenkins and Ryan Stanley have a lot in common.

Both either are/were quarterbacks from South Florida. Jenkins played at Miami Central, passing for 24 touchdowns and just four interceptions as a senior. Stanley, now retired from football, played at Pembroke Pines Flanagan High, throwing 40 TD passes and just six interceptions as a senior.

In college, Stanley started his first two non-redshirt seasons at Florida A&M before Willie Simmons was hired in time for his junior year.

In college, Jenkins was FIU’s starter his first two years before Simmons was hired in time for this his junior year.

FAMU went 7-15 in Stanley’s first two years as quarterback.

FIU went 8-16 in Jenkins’ first two years as quarterback.

So, what does the future hold for Jenkins?

Well, if his career continues to mirror Stanley’s, Jenkins is headed for two straight winning seasons. FAMU, under Stanley and Simmons, went 6-5 in 2018 and 9-2 in 2019.

That 2019 team went 7-1 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, which was the best record in the league. However, the Rattlers were ineligible for postseason play due to academic infractions that happened before Simmons arrived on campus.

Stanley, in a phone interview with the Miami Herald, said he wasn’t sure what to expect when Simmons arrived as FAMU’s coach.

“But after that first meeting, we were ready to run through a wall for him,” Stanley said. “He is a natural-born leader.

“He has some sayings that stuck with me. For example: ‘How you do anything is how you do everything.’ And: ‘You get what you deserve.’”

Once Simmons won over Stanley, Stanley had to win over Simmons.

“He didn’t recruit me,” Stanley said. “I didn’t even know at first if he liked me. I had to prove I was the leader of that team. I had to earn the trust of all our coaches.”

Stanley said Simmons is a “great father and a great coach. He breeds a championship mind-set.”

Simmons also made sure his players at FAMU knew the history of the football program and knew the school song as well.

Stanley learned about FAMU legends such as three-time Super Bowl champ Nate Newton; and Pro Football Hall of Famers Ken Riley and Bob Hayes.

“We learned that it’s bigger than just you,” Stanley said. “We are standing on the shoulders of giants, and you have to take care pride in wearing your school’s colors.”

Stanley said Simmons demands respect from his players.

During Simmons’ first week at FAMU, he discovered that there were a bunch of players “who were slacking off during study hall,” according to Stanley.

The next morning, Simmons gathered the entire team in the school’s gym at 5 a.m.

Simmons then called each player who had been slacking off to the center of the court. Each player had to say his name and how many hours of study hall he had missed.

The missed hours were added up, and, for each one, the entire team had to do what is known as on “up-down.”

“We did more than 300 up-downs,” Stanley said. “Some of the ‘bad apples’ had to be weeded out. But the other part of that was for the group of leaders on that team to know who we had to push to catch up with the rest of us.”

As for Jenkins, Stanley said he has some simple advice for FIU’s standout quarterback. Essentially, Stanley said Jenkins should follow FIU offensive coordinator/quarterback coach Nick Coleman’s every word.

“[Coleman] should be his No. 1 contact on his phone,” Stanley said. “From spring all the way through the season, stay glued to his hip.”

In a recent interview, Jenkins indicated that is already happening, joking that he spends as much time with Coleman as some young men would with their girlfriends.

If that’s true, perhaps this Stanley/Jenkins upward-trajectory trend will continue in 2025.

This story was originally published August 18, 2025 at 9:00 AM.