Wall All-State Lineman Jenschke Commits to Play Rugby for Navy

WALL, TX — Attending a service academy has been a dream for Wall’s Baine Jenschke since he was in junior high.

Playing rugby, on the other hand, had never even crossed his mind.

Yet the two have converged to become Jenschke’s future after he announced his decision Sunday evening to commit to play rugby for the U.S. Naval Academy.

It seems like an unlikely decision for a 6-foot-3, 290-pound all-state offensive lineman who was picking up numerous offers to play college football, but Jenschke said football was never the ultimate goal.

“Not a lot of people know this about me, but I’ve always kind of wanted to go to a service academy since eighth grade,” Jenschke said. “That’s been the frontrunner for where I wanted to go even before I started gaining traction in football.”

Jenschke looked like a dream prospect for college football coaches after helping Wall win its first-ever state title in football last fall.

Remarkably, he didn’t allow a single sack over 785 passing attempts the last two seasons. 

He was named to the Dave Campbell's Texas Football All-State Championship Team, and he played in the Blue-Grey All-American Bowl at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

He was eventually offered by nine colleges, including Angelo State. But all the while, he was waiting to hear what Navy had to say.

However, Navy plays football at the highest level in NCAA Division I. The Midshipmen went 11-2 last year and won a bowl game, so earning an offer is extremely difficult.

“I didn’t really fit their criteria for an offer guy,” Jenschke said. “But they sent my film to the rugby staff, and they absolutely fell in love with me. … The rugby coach said it’s tougher to find guys my size, so I was a great fit for them.”

The only problem, of course, is Jenschke has never played rugby.

“I have zero experience whatsoever, which is really crazy to me,” Jenschke said. “I got a call from the rugby coach and said, ‘You guys do realize I don’t play rugby, right? I’m a football guy.’ And the coach said, ‘Look, man, I was the same way.’”

Jenschke said he was told it’s fairly easy for offensive linemen to pick up the prop position he’ll be playing in rugby, where he essentially serves as a blocker in the front row.

Though he’s dropping a sport he excels in to learn a new sport, Jenschke said he believes it’s the right move for his next step in life.

“From the outside looking in, I understand how it seems like it’d be tough,” Jenschke said. “But because my plan has always been to try and go to a service academy, especially the Naval Academy, the positives outweigh the negatives. Even though I’m leaving a sport I love behind and the talent I’ve worked so hard to gain, because the Naval Academy has been such a big dream of mine, it doesn’t faze me too much. I’m at peace with my decision.”

Jenschke said he has a family history in the military as his father, grandfather and great-grandfather all served in the Army.

“It’s always been important to me to serve my country, and I’m pretty patriotic myself,” Jenschke said.

He attended a summer seminar last year to get a crash course on what life at the Naval Academy is all about.

“It’s tough and rigorous, and I fell in love with it,” he said.

Jenschke said there’s only a 7% acceptance rate, so his dream of attending the Naval Academy forced him to better himself if he wanted to make it a reality.

“It was a challenge for me early on, because I needed to build my resume, keep my grades up, be athletic, have mental toughness, stuff like that,” Jenschke said. “In the Navy, they develop people mentally, morally and physically. It’s not like an Ivy League school where you just have to be really smart. You have to be well rounded. And so the journey to meet that challenge has brought me here, and it’s been amazing. It’s transformed me into a great leader and someone who enjoys that, and it ultimately contributed to my success and our team success this year in football.”