KNOXVILLE – Every time Jauan Jennings catches a football, he runs with the fierceness of a player who believes he may never touch the ball again.
Because there was one point in the Tennessee senior receiver’s career when that was a big question.
Twenty-three months after being dismissed from the program after a profanity-laced rant he posted on Instagram aimed at Tennessee’s former coaching staff, Jennings is now four days removed from perhaps the best – and most impactful – game of his career. He caught seven passes for 174 yards and two scores in the Volunteers’ 41-21 win over South Carolina and was a Southeastern Conference co-offensive player of the week.
Jennings was removed from the program by then-interim head coach Brady Hoke and then-athletic director John Currie in December 2017. The hirings of Phillip Fulmer and Jeremy Pruitt to replace Currie and Hoke led to a second chance for Jennings.
He said Tuesday that instead of being consumed with wondering whether he would be allowed to return, he chose to “let the situation play out.” Pruitt, who has shown to be all about second chances, reinstated Jennings prior to the 2018 season.
“Well, it’s interesting. I didn’t know anything about Jauan Jennings,” Pruitt said Monday of his initial thoughts about the situaion. “I knew him as an opposing player on another team. 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, so then we gave him an opportunity, we set out some things there that we required him to do, and he’s done everything that we’ve asked him to do.
“It goes to show you that when you get second chances, sometimes people make the most of them, and Jauan Jennings has made the most of his chances here this second time around. I said it after the game, he’s going to graduate in December, so good for him. He’s had a great senior year, I know he wants to finish it on a positive note, and he’s going to leave his mark at the University of Tennessee, not only as a football player, but as a person, a person with character who’s a leader and has given his all for the University of Tennessee.”
“It’s obvious how much pride Jauan has in this program,” Bituli said. “You want guys like Jauan on this team because we see it on the field. He’s a great player, but also a great leader. He’s one of those guys that’ll encourage you each and every day. You know what attitude Jauan is going to bring in the locker room each and every day, and having that consistent attitude each and every day is great for the team and motivates a lot of guys behind him.”
Jennings has 42 catches for 652 yards and seven scores this season.
Pruitt called Jennings “a leader and an ambassador” for Tennessee. Jennings said Tuesday that it’s not just the university that he’s given his all for – it’s the entire state.
“I always love Tennessee,” the Murfreesboro resident said. “I’m from Tennessee. My family is Tennessee fans. Growing up, Tennessee has always been instilled in the person I am today, and I kind of take that with me when I go out and play football on the field.
“It just means everything to me, and hopefully one day we’ll see Tennessee on top.”
He enters Saturday’s game against Alabama-Birmingham ranked sixth in Vols history in career catches (129), having passed Tim McGee (1982-85), Thomas Woods (1986-89), Robert Meachem (2004-06) and Jayson Swain (2003-06) all in last week’s win. He’s 10th all-time in yards with 1,836 and tied with Meachem for eighth all-time in touchdown receptions with 17.
He’s been known for great catches throughout his career – the touchdown catch in the Vols’ 2016 win over Florida, the Hail Mary reception to beat Georgia that same year – but it’s been the passion he’s run with that probably sticks out most.
“I wouldn’t be where I am if I didn’t have the opportunity that Coach Fulmer and Coach Pruitt gave to me,” Jennings said. “Coach Pruitt believed in me as a coach, and I’m just happy to be in this position I’m in today, and that’s why I’ll continue to give my all for this state and this program.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.