Branden Jenkins now knows Louisiana to be a little “slower” than Chicago.
Wednesday, during LSU’s annual in-house media day, Jenkins touted the differences between Chicago, his former home, and Baton Rouge’s quirks as the food, environment and southern hospitality.
Jenkins remains sidelined for a portion of his first season donning purple and gold, rehabbing a torn meniscus which required surgery a little more than a month ago, he confirmed Wednesday.
The 6-foot-4, 180-pound point guard said this is the first injury he’s had to his left knee, yet he doesn’t want to rush the rehabilitation process for the injury he acquired during his days at Lee College in Baytown, Texas.
“It’s an everyday process,” he said. “But I don’t want to rush it. The quicker I can get back, the quicker I can come back and help the guys.
“I can stand on it, doing weight stuff to get the range in motion back. I’m doing stuff to get the swelling down and build my quad back up.”
Like Jenkins, Elbert Robinson, Jalyn Patterson and Brian Bridgewater are recovering from respective injuries and say they’re nearly at full force for the Nov. 12 season opener against Wofford.
Robinson, a 7-foot-1 reserve center, added 10 pounds of muscle while getting back to in-season shape.
“This summer, it was a process trying to stay healthy,” he said. “Getting back healthy, I was limited to some things, now I’m full go.”
Robinson said he’s bumped up from 285 pounds to 295 to improve his quickness and agility and allow him to practice faster.
With the muscle, Robinson’s role on LSU’s team remains the same: Be a bully.
“I can be more of a bully in the paint,” he quipped. “Being built takes you a long way. The physical punishment throughout the season, you need that extra muscle.”
Patterson and Bridgewater struggled with lower-body injuries last season, but Patterson says his knee has fully recovered.
Patterson, who played point guard throughout his four years in high school, hasn’t played the position at the collegiate level but expects to have a larger role as the lead ball handler this season beside freshman Skylar Mays.
“I’m back 100 percent,” he said. “I hurt my knee in the middle of the year last year, it bothered me a little bit. Now, it’s back, full and strong and there’s nothing I can’t do so I’m feeling good.”
Bridgewater, though, said he expects to join LSU’s practice within the next two weeks as he recuperates from a lingering achilles injury, forcing him to miss LSU’s first handful of practices.
“I’m almost there now,” he said. “Hopefully by the end of the week or next week, I’ll be back on the court.”

Follow Christian Boutwell on Twitter, @CBoutwell_