How Jauan Jennings' move from QB to WR went down at Tennessee, paved road to Super Bowl 58
Bennie Jennings can pinpoint the moment he knew his son would be an NFL player.
It came well before Jauan Jennings made that miraculous catch on the Hail Mary pass that allowed Tennessee to beat Georgia in 2016.
No, Bennie's epiphany that his son would one day be a professional football player came the morning after Jennings led Blackman High to its lone TSSAA basketball state championship in 2014.
"I'm up at 4:30 or 5 o'clock in the morning every day," said Bennie, a Tennessee state trooper. "That's just how I work. That Sunday morning, I got up to clean my motorcycle up to go for a ride."
Bennie walked by Jauan's room around 5 a.m. He wanted to make sure his son had come home after celebrating the state championship with his friends. But Jauan wasn't there.
"I tried to call him and got no answer," Bennie said. "And then my phone rang and it was one of my best friends, a retired trooper now.
"He said, 'Did Jauan come home last night?' I said, 'You know that's funny. What do you know?' He goes, 'I know this kid is going to be a heck of a player. He's over here on the boulevard running — getting ready for football.' "
Jennings, a heralded four-star quarterback recruit, was out jogging, running the day after winning the state championship.
"That self-dedication is what it takes," Bennie said.
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Jennings, The Tennessean's 2014 high school football player of the year and a former boys athlete of the year, is no longer a quarterback. He's set to play in Super Bowl 58 as a wide receiver when his San Francisco 49ers face the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday (5:30 p.m. CT, CBS) in Las Vegas.
Jauan Jennings' 247 ranking better than Patrick Mahomes, Brock Purdy
Jennings, 26, will be the highest-rated high school QB recruit playing in the 2024 Super Bowl. He was the No. 5-rated dual-threat quarterback in the country in 2015, and the No. 89 recruit overall.
That's higher than Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, the No. 389 overall player in his class, according to 247Sports. San Francisco QB Brock Purdy was ranked No. 839. Both were three-star prospects. Sam Darnold, the 49ers' backup QB, is the next highest-rated QB recruit at No. 138.
Jennings, a two-year starting quarterback at Blackman, passed for 3,425 yards in two seasons as a starter with 31 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He also ran for 1,560 yards and 26 TDs as a dual-threat QB.
Back then, many envisioned him at other positions in college than quarterback. Some said wide receiver, others said cornerback or safety. But he made it clear he planned to play quarterback in college before signing with Tennessee.
Why Jauan Jennings moved to WR with Tennessee football
Jennings made it clear in high school: he planned to go to Knoxville and play quarterback for Butch Jones, Tennessee's football coach at the time. And Jones told the family he would play Jennings at quarterback.
But when Jennings arrived in Knoxville and began competing, he was deep on the depth chart. Jones told Jennings and his family that a redshirt would be needed his freshman season to continue to evolve at the quarterback position.
"Butch's exact words were, 'Jauan, we think and we really believe that you can play quarterback in the Southeastern Conference. In order to do that, we need to redshirt you and develop you,' Bennie said.
"Then, that famous word, but, comes," Bennie said. "After he told him that, he said, 'But, I need a player at wide receiver. I'll promise you 25 to 35 snaps a game — no more, no less.'"
Jennings turned his head to his dad, a former Lincoln County star and member of the University of North Alabama hall of fame, and asked what he thought.
Bennie laid out the choices.
"Like every kid at that age he said, 'Well, I want to play now,'" Bennie said.
So Jennings became a wide receiver. He caught 146 passes for 2,153 yards with 18 TDs in five seasons in Knoxville. He has 78 catches for 963 yards and seven TDs in four seasons with the 49ers, who drafted him in the seventh round of the 2020 NFL Draft.
"The thing that made him so different, and I thought he could have been a pro safety as well," said Knoxville Catholic football coach Philip Shadowens, who coached Jennings at Blackman. "He approached everything he did that you don't ever see.
"His approach was no matter what you ask me to do, I'm going to be the best guy doing that. That's how he's approached everything, whether it's basketball or football or playing safety, corner or quarterback."
Jauan Jennings in contract year with 49ers
Jennings is in the final season of a four-year contract with San Francisco and will be a restricted free agent after the season, which means the 49ers can match any deal Jennings receives on the market.
The 49ers have interest in keeping him around for another contract.
Jennings signed a four-year $3,406,024 contract with the 49ers, which included a signing bonus of $111,024 with an average salary of $851,506.
Bennie says Jennings hasn't gone out and purchased lavish items. He still drives the car Bennie's wife, Jennings' step-mom, bought him in college, a 2014 Nissan Maxima.
"He's always said he's not going to make any big purchases until his second contract," Bennie said.
Jennings has two daughters, a 5-year-old and a 2-year-old. He continues to keep his horse on his dad's farm in Rockvale. He still rides it bareback and often walks the horse around the farm with his daughters riding.
Bennie said he's not the same person around his daughters.
"But on the other hand, they are out there throwing footballs and running routes," he said. "The only different part is they are girls. He's not as rough with them."
Reach Tom Kreager at 615-259-8089 or tkreager@tennessean.com and on the X platform @Kreager.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Jauan Jennings enters Super Bowl 58 a 49ers WR. He once was a star QB
