Bennie Jauan Jennings ( ; born July 10, 1997) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

wide receiver for the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

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 ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, and was selected by the 49ers in the seventh round of the

2020 NFL Draft The 2020 NFL Draft was the 85th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2020 NFL season. The first round was held on April 23, followed by the second and third rounds on April 24. The d ...

Early years

Jennings attended

Blackman High School Blackman High School is a high school located in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, United States which is operated by the Rutherford County Schools. The school was established in 2000 to complement the existing Blackman Elementary School. History Black ...

Murfreesboro, Tennessee Murfreesboro is a city in and county seat of Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 152,769 according to the 2020 census, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010. Murfreesboro is located in the Nashville metropol ...

. He played

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 ...

in high school. A four-star recruit, Jennings committed to the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

to play college football.

College career

Jennings played at Tennessee from 2015 to 2019 under head coaches

Butch Jones Lyle Allen "Butch" Jones Jr. (born January 17, 1968) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach at Arkansas State University. Jones previously served as a special assistant to the head coach and offensive analyst at the Univ ...

and

Jeremy Pruitt Jeremy Pruitt (born May 28, 1974) is an American football coach who most recently was a senior defensive assistant for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the head coach at the University of Tennes ...

. He converted to wide receiver in college. In the 2015 season, Jennings was an instant contributor. In his collegiate debut against

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep on ...

, he had three receptions for 56 yards in the 59–30 victory. Later on in the season, in a 28–27 loss to

rival A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, he showed off his dual-threat ability when he threw a 58-yard touchdown pass to quarterback

Joshua Dobbs Robert Joshua Dobbs (born January 26, 1995) is an American football quarterback for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Tennessee, and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fourth rou ...

on a trick play. In the 2016 season, Jennings role in the offense expanded. He recorded his first game with over 100 receiving yards with three receptions for 111 receiving yards and a touchdown in a 38–28 victory over

sealing an 18-point comeback for the Vols. The win was Tennessee's first over the Gators since the 2004 season. In the following game against

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, Jennings recorded the game-winning reception on a 43-yard Hail Mary from Dobbs to put the Vols up for good 34–31. Jennings finished the 2016 season with 40 receptions for 580 receiving yards and seven receiving touchdowns. In 2017, Jennings appeared in only one game due to a wrist injury but was dismissed from the team under interim head coach

Brady Hoke Brady Patrick Hoke (; born November 3, 1958) is an American football coach in his second stint as the head coach at San Diego State University. He was previously the head coach at the University of Michigan from 2011 to 2014. Hoke grew up in O ...

later in the season. He was reinstated for the next season by then-new head coach Jeremy Pruitt for the 2018 season. He earned a medical redshirt for his time missed in the 2017 season. In the 2018 season, Jennings appeared in 11 games and recorded 30 receptions for 438 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns. In the 2019 season, Jennings was a key contributor for the Vols during their 8–5 season. He recorded four games with at least 100 receiving yards. His best output came in a victory against

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

, where he had seven receptions for 174 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns. Overall, he finished his senior season with 59 receptions for 969 receiving yards and eight receiving touchdowns. During his collegiate career, he had 146 receptions for 2,153 yards and 18 touchdowns.

Collegiate statistics

Professional career

Jennings was selected by the

in the seventh round with the 217th overall pick of the

. He was waived on September 5, 2020, and signed to the practice squad the next day. He was placed on the practice squad/injured list on October 24. He signed a reserve/future contract on January 4, 2021. Over the course of the 2021 season, Jennings established himself as the 49ers third wideout. He registered his first career touchdown in Week 2 against the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

, and by the end of November had become an integral part of the offense. Over the final five weeks of the 2021 season, Jennings recorded 16 receptions for 212 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns, including a career-high six receptions for 94 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns in a must-win week 18 matchup with the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

. His production continued in the playoffs, with Jennings recording at least one reception in each round before the 49ers exited in the

NFC Championship The NFC Championship Game is the annual championship game of the National Football Conference (NFC) and one of the two semi-final playoff games of the National Football League (NFL), the largest professional American football league in the world. ...

. In the 2022 season, Jennings appeared in 16 games, of which he started four. He finished the 2022 season with 35 receptions for 416 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown. On February 28, 2023, the 49ers placed a exclusive-rights tender on Jennings, which he signed in April.

References

External links

San Francisco 49ers bioTennessee Volunteers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jennings, Jauan 1997 births Living people Sportspeople from Murfreesboro, Tennessee Players of American football from Tennessee American football wide receivers Tennessee Volunteers football players San Francisco 49ers players