Jauan Jennings: Passion & Perseverance Personified

by Brendan Paschal 

It feels like an eternity since Jauan Jennings started at the University of Tennessee back in 2015. Maybe that’s because the amount of drama in Knoxville was enough to last an eternity these past five seasons. During the entire process – from Butch Jones to the hiring fiasco to Jeremy Pruitt – Jennings has played a significant role. He has been the face of Tennessee football during the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows. There is nobody in college athletics that has had a career remotely close to Jennings.

Jauan Jennings Makes a Name in Knoxville

As a four-star recruit, Jennings was one of the best quarterbacks in the state of Tennessee. After enrolling early, Jennings quickly converted to the wide receiver position. The true freshman appeared in 11 games with six starts and had a nice campaign in 2015. However, it wasn’t until his sophomore year when Jauan Jennings became a household name. The breakout season included his first 100-yard game against Florida to keep the Vols undefeated in week four, which was quickly over-shadowed with his Hail Mary touchdown reception to beat Georgia.

(Every time I hear/read/think of the name Jauan Jennings I feel the need to repeat it out loud in Vern Lundquist’s voice. But I digress.)

Tennessee would proceed to get beaten by Texas A&M the next weekend, Alabama the next, and lose in a heart-breaker to South Carolina after that. Furthermore, Butch Jones started to lose control of the locker room. Former back, Jalen Hurd, decided he no longer wanted to be part of a program that didn’t listen to him (right or wrong) and transferred halfway through the season. Yet, throughout the entire season Jennings was a rock for the Vols.

2017

Fast forward to 2017. The first game against Georgia Tech Jennings leaves with a season ending wrist injury. He receives a medical redshirt and leaves the spotlight, which was a good thing as a Tennessee Vol in 2017. The more Tennessee lost, the more fans would call for Jones’s head, and the more polarizing he would become. Jones lost all credibility as a coach to both his players and fans alike. The sooner he left the better. Of course, Tennessee wasn’t going to find their head coach halfway through a season, so an internal and temporary promotion was needed.

Brady Hoke was hired earlier that season as a defensive line coach. Prior to joining Tennessee, Hoke had an interesting history, which included a 2011 Big Ten Coach of the Year while at Michigan – the same school he was fired after four seasons. If you want to look at a rollercoaster of a career look a his. Hoke has had a lot of success and a lot of firings. If things go well for him they go really well, but the second things start to go south, everyone cuts ties.

Brady Hoke vs. Jauan Jennings

This is significant because on November 12, 2017 Jones is fired and Hoke takes over for the last two games. Jennings had been out of commission with his wrist injury since early September. He received a medical redshirt. However, it became a possibility that Jennings could return for the final game of the season against Vanderbilt. Any athlete who has suffered an injury during the season knows how hard it is to see your teammates on the field while you stand on the sideline in sweat pants and a t-shirt.

The possibility to return, even for just one game, is almost too good to pass up. Furthermore, Jennings is from Blackman, TN, which is right outside Murfreesboro and about thirty minutes away from Nashville. Growing up a Vols fan in Vanderbilt’s backyard is not uncommon, but significant. Jennings seemed ready to burn his medical redshirt in order to play against Vanderbilt. That is, of course, before his conversation with Hoke.

After talking his options over with Hoke, things started to go awry between Jennings and Hoke. Immediately following that meeting, Jennings went Live on Instagram calling Hoke and the coaching staff almost every name in the book. Trying to regain control of the locker room, Hoke felt no other choice but to kick him off the team. Whether you think Hoke’s actions were right or wrong, it’s hard to blame Jennings for the emotional outburst. Should he have jumped on social media to badmouth the coaching staff? No. Was his lack of trust in any of these coaches justifiable? Absolutely.

Jauan Jennings Gives it All

Luckily, Jeremy Pruitt didn’t jump to conclusions and looked at the entire scenario. This past Monday, when asked about how Jennings made it back onto the team Pruitt responded, “when I got the job, there were some details about what all happened here, and I asked a lot of people in the building what they thought, and most of them that said they wouldn’t let him come back, they don’t work here anymore. The people that said to let him come back; they all work here.

When you start talking to the players that played on the team, the Trey Smiths, the Daniel Bitulis, and they say, ‘Coach, we want this guy on our team.’ So, I knew enough about those guys in recruiting to know that they knew what was right and what was wrong.”

Ever since Jennings rejoined the team he has been nothing but a leader. Under Pruitt there has not been a single issue off the field. His 2019 season has been nothing short of remarkable, which includes a phenomenal showing against South Carolina (seven catches, 174 yards, and two touchdowns.)

Maybe one day when I am a father I will get to show my son the journey of Jauan Jennings. There are many valuable lessons on how to handle different types adversity, some you can control and others you can’t. But most importantly, I want to show my son what it means to give it your all. Jauan Jennings has certainly given his all for the University of Tennessee.