Anthony Jennings (born October 31, 1994) is an American former

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

. He played

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

(LSU) from 2013 and the

University of Louisiana at Lafayette The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus University of Louisiana System and the s ...

in 2016. Jennings was the starting quarterback for the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a ...

during the 2014 season and the

Louisiana–Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns are the athletic teams of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The college has been competing athletically since 1901. The Ragin' Cajuns compete in NCAA Division I, fielding 16 varsity teams. Nickname The univ ...

for the 2016 season.

Early years

Jennings attended Marietta High School in

Marietta, Georgia Marietta is a city in and the county seat of Cobb County, Georgia, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 60,972. The 2019 estimate was 60,867, making it one of Atlanta's largest suburbs. Marietta is the fourth largest ...

, where he played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

. He was ranked by

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

as a four-star recruit and the sixth best

dual-threat quarterback In gridiron football, a dual-threat quarterback, also known as a running quarterback, is a quarterback (QB) who possesses the skills and physique to run with the ball if necessary. With the rise of several blitz heavy defensive schemes and increa ...

in the 2013 recruiting class.

ESPN.com ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc. History Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including: ...

ranked Jennings as the eighth best dual-threat quarterback in his class. Jennings committed to play

in June 2012.

College career

As a true freshman in 2013, Jennings was the backup quarterback to

Zach Mettenberger Zachary Rich Mettenberger (born July 16, 1991) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for three seasons, primarily with the Tennessee Titans. He played college football at LSU and was selected ...

. After Mettenberger tore his ACL, Jennings started the

2014 Outback Bowl The 2014 Outback Bowl was an American college football bowl game that was played on January 1, 2014, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The 28th edition of the Outback Bowl (which was originally called the Hall of Fame Bowl, and later re ...

against

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. Overall, he appeared in nine games, passing for 181 yards, one

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

and one

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

. Jennings entered his sophomore season in 2014 as LSU's starting quarterback. That season, Jennings started 12 of LSU's 13 games, throwing for 1,611 yards and 11 touchdowns. In 2015, Jennings lost the starting quarterback job to

Brandon Harris Brandon Harris (born January 24, 1990) is an American football coach and former cornerback who is currently the cornerbacks coach at Florida Atlantic University. He was drafted by the Houston Texans in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft. He ...

. On March 10, 2016, LSU announced that Jennings intended to transfer to another school. At the time of the announcement, he was scheduled to graduate from LSU in the summer of 2016. As a graduate transfer, he would be eligible to play immediately at his new school. In July 2016, Jennings transferred to the

. He entered the 2016 season at Louisiana–Lafayette in a competition with sophomore Jordan Davis for the starting quarterback role. Jennings won the starting job, and helped lead ULL to an appearance in the

New Orleans Bowl The New Orleans Bowl is an NCAA-sanctioned post-season college football bowl game that has been played annually since 2001. It is normally held at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans; when the Superdome and the rest of the city suffered damage due to ...

against the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles, which Louisiana-Lafayette lost. This was the last season of Jennings' college football career, as he was denied an NCAA waiver which would have allowed him to play in 2017.

Arrest

Jennings and two of his teammates at LSU were arrested in June 2015. All charges against them were later dropped.

References

External links

Louisiana–Lafayette profile

LSU profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jennings, Anthony 1994 births Living people LSU Tigers football players Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football players American football quarterbacks Players of American football from Marietta, Georgia