KNOXVILLE - In Kevin Beard's first interactions with Jauan Jennings, Tennessee's new wide receivers coach has omitted one minor detail about himself when talking to the player.
Where he worked last season.
After two seasons at Miami - his alma mater, where he worked alongside new Volunteers offensive coordinator Larry Scott - Beard spent last season as a quality control coach at Georgia. That means he was on the other side of the Hail Mary that Jennings hauled in among a crowd to give Tennessee a last-second win in Athens.
"In my mind, it was funny, I was like, when I see him I'm going to punch him, and then I'm going to dap him up," Beard joked Tuesday. "That was a great play he made."
Now Beard, who played with future NFL standout receivers Andre Johnson, Santana Moss, Roscoe Parrish and Reggie Wayne with the Hurricanes, is charged with harnessing the mega personality and burgeoning talent of Jennings, who is coming off a breakout sophomore season and is Tennessee's top returning wide receiver
The converted quarterback caught 40 passes for 580 yards and seven touchdowns to supplement Josh Malone's spike in production in 2016, and he did so despite undergoing knee surgery after spring practice.
Beyond his heroic play at Georgia, the 6-foot-3, 205-pound Jennings memorably caught the go-ahead touchdown in the second-half rally past Florida, jump-started Tennessee's offense with a jump-ball touchdown catch against Virginia Tech and hauled in a pair of scores in the high-scoring win against Missouri.
"I heard somebody say Jauan Jennings just played on talent last year, and I just started laughing," former Tennessee receivers coach Zach Azzanni said in an interview with Sports Radio WNML in Knoxville last month after leaving for the same position with the NFL's Chicago Bears.
"The kid never played receiver a day in his life. You don't just roll the ball out and change positions. He had to put a lot of work into that. He was a great player - we all know that - coming out of high school, but he wasn't a receiver. He could easily play (defensive back), but we needed him in the receiver room. The year he started (2015), we didn't throw the ball much. We were a really good running team. I think we were 90th in America in attempted passes, so the stats, they weren't gaudy, because we weren't calling pass plays. He kind of got to develop a little bit, and this year he kind of came on. He'll only get better."
Azzanni was tasked with turning Jennings into something resembling a polished wide receiver. Beard's task with the uber-competitive, trash-talking, penalty-inducing player is entirely different with Tennessee expected to have eight first- or second-year receivers in 2017.
"I'm trying to get him to understand that we're going to do big things," Beard said. "I'm excited to work with him and just working on him being a leader and working on being the leader that we need him to be. He is a championship football player, and he can help bring the whole team to that level just by walking and talking. Then when he gets out there to play, it takes care of itself.
"I'm just trying to get him to understand that this team is going to go as far as he's going to take us."
Jennings didn't start the offseason in great fashion when he was cited for drug possession in January, though the misdemeanor charge was later dismissed. Such an incident suggests Jennings might not be mature enough for a leadership role, but Beard believes otherwise.
"I think he can, and I think he will," Beard said. "I'm excited in the process that's going to lead to that being manifested. I think a lot of times people expect guys to be leaders just because of their talent, just because of their vocal power. But I think a lot of times some leaders need to be taught and shown how to be a leader.
"My whole objective is to physically show him how to be a leader by leading him, and then he sees how it's (done). Now you coach him up on it and you explain it to him and you talk him through it - not just say, 'Go be a leader,' and push him out there. You show him how to do it. Then slowly but surely it starts to come and he starts to see the results of it and he starts to enjoy it and he starts to feel like, 'Man, I can do this,' and I think that's the process that it's going to take."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.