Jonathon Jennings Explained

Jonathon Jennings
Image Upright:0.9
Import:yes
Position1:Quarterback
Birth Date:21 July 1992
Birth Place:Columbus, Ohio, U.S.
College:Saginaw Valley State
High School:Westerville South
Height Ft:6
Height In:0
Weight Lb:205
Playing Years1:
Playing Team1:BC Lions
Playing Team2:Ottawa Redblacks
Statlabel1:Pass completions
Statvalue1:1,086
Statlabel2:Pass attempts
Statvalue2:1,637
Statlabel3:Percentage
Statvalue3:66.3
Statlabel4:TDINT
Statvalue4:69–58
Statlabel5:Passing yards
Statvalue5:13,651
Cfl:jonathon-jennings/160212

Jonathon Jennings (born July 21, 1992) is an American former professional football quarterback who played for the BC Lions and Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He attended Saginaw Valley State University, where he played college football. Jennings made his professional debut for the Lions in 2015.

Early life and college

Jennings played high school football and basketball at Westerville South High School, where he was a first team All-League player as a senior.[1] From 2010 to 2013, he played for the Cardinals at SVSU, where he threw for 10,710 yards and 96 touchdowns at the Division II program.[2] As a senior, Jennings threw for 3,824 yards for 30 touchdowns, additionally rushing for 470 yards and 12 touchdowns.[3] He studied finance in college.

College statistics

General! colspan="6"
PassingRushing
Season GP Cmp Att Yds TD Int Rate Att Yds Avg TD
Saginaw Valley State Cardinals
9 99 168 1,064 9 8 120.3 60 111 1.9 1
11 210 309 2,924 29 9 172.6 91 416 4.6 7
11 270 420 3,282 27 10 146.4 82 291 3.5 6
12 220 340 3,440 31 11 173.3 110 527 4.8 12
Career 43 799 1,237 10,710 96 38 156.8 343 1,345 3.9 26

Professional career

Early career

Jennings was eligible for the 2014 NFL draft, but went undrafted. He tried out with several National Football League (NFL) teams prior to the 2014 season, including the Kansas City Chiefs, the Detroit Lions, and the Green Bay Packers.[4] He also tried out with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL in April 2014.[5] Jennings was not signed by any NFL or CFL teams in 2014, and did not play football professionally that year.

BC Lions

In April 2015, Jennings was signed by the BC Lions of the CFL. He competed for the back-up quarterback position on the depth chart, which he received in the season opener.[6] [7] Jennings recorded his first statistic on July 17 against the Roughriders, where he rushed for one yard on a quarterback sneak.[8] Due to injuries to starting quarterback Travis Lulay, Jennings played in eight regular season games, starting six, and started in the Lions' lone playoff game. Jennings completed 66% of his passing attempts for 2,004 yards with 15 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. In his second career start, Jennings also caught a 21 yard touchdown pass on a contested catch thrown into double coverage by receiver Austin Collie on a trick play against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.[9] In March 2016, Lions GM and head coach Wally Buono announced that Jennings would enter training camp as the #1 quarterback on the depth chart (above veteran Lulay) and he hoped that Jennings would have earned that title by Week 1 of the 2016 regular season.[10] On May 5, 2016, Jennings and the Lions agreed on a contract extension through the 2018 CFL season.[11] Prior to signing the extension, Jennings would have become a free-agent following the 2016 campaign.[12] Following a less than impressive 2017 season Jennings agreed to restructure his contract for the 2018 season; lowering his initial salary, but adding more on-the-field incentives.[13] Jennings, who continued to struggle to start the 2018 season, was benched in favour of veteran Travis Lulay starting in Week 5.[14] Lulay suffered a concussion and separated shoulder in consecutive weeks, opening the door for Jennings to start for the remainder of the regular season.[15] [16] Despite winning two of the following three games Jennings was once again relegated in favour of Lulay by Week 18.[17] In late November, following the close of the season, Jennings informed the Lions that he would not be re-signing with the team, intending to become a free agent in February 2019.[18]

Ottawa Redblacks

On February 13, 2019 Jennings agreed to a one-year contract with the Ottawa Redblacks for the 2019 season.[19] Jennings began the season as the backup quarterback to Dominique Davis.[20] Davis missed two games in July which elevated Jennings to the starting role. However, Jennings struggled in both outings, throwing for less than 200 yards combined with three interceptions and only one touchdown.[21] [22] In Week 11 Jennings came in relief of Davis after he threw three interceptions in the first quarter of the game: Jennings completed 16 of 26 pass attempts for 208 yards with one touchdown, but was unable to lead the Redblacks to victory.[23] As Davis continued to struggle, and the Redblacks fell to 3-7, the team chose to name Jennings' as their starting quarterback in Week 13: Despite throwing for 327 yards Jennings and the Redblacks were defeated 46-17 by divisional rival Toronto Argonauts.[24] Jennings was demoted to third stringer, and closed out the 3-15 Redblacks' season with a three rushing touchdown performance, but his passing statistics for the year were the worst of his career. He was released by the Redblacks on January 23, 2020.[25]

Statistics

 Passing Rushing
YearTeamGamesStartedAttCompPctYardsTDIntRatingAttYardsAvgLongTD
2015BC18621514266.02,004151099.8261274.9170
2016BC181855437167.05,2262715102.1683635.3204
2017BC181446630665.73,639161983.8552674.9272
2018BC18623916167.31,6288785.6362266.3330
2019OTT18616310665.01,1543774.0291023.5133
CFL totals90501,6371,08666.313,651695891.42141,0855.1339

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Jonathon Jennings . SVSU Cardinals . July 25, 2015.
  2. News: Araki . Michiko . GETTING TO KNOW JONATHON JENNINGS . July 25, 2015 . BC Lions . May 29, 2015.
  3. News: Niziolek . Michael . Kansas City Chiefs invite SVSU quarterback Jon Jennings to rookie mini-camp . July 25, 2015 . MLive . May 11, 2014.
  4. News: Yuille . Sean . 2014 Lions undrafted free agent tracker . July 25, 2015 . Pride of Detroity . May 10, 2014.
  5. Web site: Jonathon Jennings . BC Lions . July 25, 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150707062921/http://bclions.com/roster/show/id/7809 . July 7, 2015 . mdy-all .
  6. News: Beamish . Mike . Back up QB battle gets interesting . July 26, 2015 . Vancouver Sun . June 14, 2015.
  7. Web site: Depth Charts . BC Lions . July 25, 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150722022543/http://www.bclions.com/depthchart . July 22, 2015 . mdy-all .
  8. News: Bucholtz . Andrew . Lions, Lulay run over Riders in a tale of teams going in different directions . July 25, 2015 . Yahoo! Sports . July 18, 2015.
  9. Web site: Jennings and Brooks earn CFL Player of the Week honours. October 5, 2015.
  10. Web site: Lions not ready to reward prime pivot Jennings just yet . www.vancouversun.com . 2016-03-03.
  11. Web site: Lions, Jennings ink extension through 2018 . 2016-05-05 . CFL.ca . 2016-05-05.
  12. News: B.C. Lions sign Jonathon Jennings to contract extension through 2018 . The Globe and Mail . May 5, 2016 . 2016-05-05.
  13. News: Lions re-work contract with QB Jennings – Article – TSN. 2018-01-12. TSN. 2018-01-13.
  14. News: Lions' Lulay to start against Bombers – Article – TSN. 2018-07-13. TSN. 2018-07-13.
  15. News: Lulay in concussion protocol after exiting vs. Ottawa – CFL.ca. 2018-09-07. CFL.ca. 2018-09-27. en-US.
  16. News: Report: Lions expect Lulay to miss 4–6 weeks – CFL.ca. 2018-09-18. CFL.ca. 2018-09-27. en-US.
  17. News: Lulay, Sutton to start in Week 18 - CFL.ca. 2018-10-09. CFL.ca. 2018-10-10. en-US.
  18. News: Report: Jennings informs Lions he'll become a free agent - CFL.ca. 2018-11-27. CFL.ca. 2018-11-28. en-US.
  19. Web site: Redblacks reach a deal with former Lion QB Jonathon Jennings. 2019-02-13. CFL.ca. en. 2019-02-13.
  20. Web site: Redblacks Name Davis Week 1 Starter. 2019-06-03. Ottawa Redblacks. en. 2019-06-03.
  21. Web site: 2019-07-19 Game Tracker - Ottawa Redblacks vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers (2581). CFL.ca. en. 2019-08-20.
  22. Web site: 2019-07-25 Game Tracker - Calgary Stampeders vs. Ottawa Redblacks (2584). CFL.ca. en. 2019-08-20.
  23. Web site: Redblacks bench Dominique Davis after three atrocious interceptions against Riders 3DownNation. Staff. 3Down. en-US. 2019-08-26.
  24. Web site: 2019-09-07 Game Tracker - Toronto Argonauts vs. Ottawa Redblacks (2608). CFL.ca. en. 2019-09-09.
  25. Web site: Transactions: January 23, 2020. January 23, 2020. Ottawa Redblacks. en. January 23, 2020.