In a phone interview this morning, A.J. Jenkins’ agent said he heard a “ton” of pre-draft buzz about his client and knew the 49ers “fell in love” with the Illinois wide receiver.

Still, he remained cautiously optimistic. He even advised Jenkins to not obsess about watching the first round of the draft Thursday night from his family’s home in Jacksonville, Fla.

“You can’t always believe everything you hear, especially in this business,” Jonathan Perzley said. “But we knew he wasn’t going out of the top 40. It wasn’t possible. Not with the teams that need good, solid receivers. And with the character of this guy, and his production, and all his measurables, you can’t let a guy like that slide.”

As it turns out, obviously, some of that pre-draft chatter was legitimate.

The 49ers clearly fell head over heels for Jenkins, who they selected 30th overall, and they apparently weren’t alone.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, citing league sources, reported the Rams coveted Jenkins and had given him a similar grade to Oklahoma State wideout Justin Blackmon, who went fifth overall to Jacksonville. Sports Illustrated’s Peter King reported one “club official” said his team had Jenkins rated ahead of Notre Dame wideout Michael Floyd, who was selected with the No. 13 pick by Arizona.

“He didn’t have a good quarterback to get him the ball, and he’s raw,” King’s source said. “But he’s fast. We liked him a lot.’”

The other interest surrounding Jenkins helps explain why the 49ers passed on a potential trade with the Vikings to move back five spots from No. 30 to No. 35. The Rams, after all, have pick No. 33, the first in today’s second round.

“I think if you follow this story a little longer and over the course of the next few days, you’re going to find that there were a lot more people that liked A.J. than just the San Francisco 49ers,” 49ers general manager Trent Baalke said Thursday night. “He would have gone a lot sooner tomorrow than a lot of people may think. I’ll let you dig and find that information, but we’re very confident in the pick and very glad to have A.J. on board.”

It looks like Baalke was right.

Time will tell if he (and others) was right about Jenkins.