Jonathon Jennings

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

This article is about the gridiron football player. For the politician, see Jonathan Jennings.

Jonathon Jennings
Jennings before a Redblacks game in 2019.
Born: (1992-07-21) July 21, 1992
Columbus, Ohio
Career information
CFL statusAmerican
Position(s)QB
Height6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight205 lb (93 kg)
CollegeSaginaw Valley State
High schoolWesterville South
Career history
As player
2015–2018BC Lions
2019Ottawa Redblacks
Career stats
Pass completions1,086
Pass attempts1,637
Percentage66.3
TD–INT69–58
Passing yards13,651

Early career

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 Saginaw Valley State, 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]

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.[2][3][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.[2]

BC Lions

In April 2015, Jennings was signed by the BC Lions of the CFL.[5] 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
Year Team Games Started Att Comp Pct Yards TD Int Rating Att Yards Avg Long TD
2015 BC 18 6 215 142 66.0 2,004 15 10 99.8 26 127 4.9 17 0
2016 BC 18 18 554 371 67.0 5,226 27 15 102.1 68 363 5.3 20 4
2017 BC 18 14 466 306 65.7 3,639 16 19 83.8 55 267 4.9 27 2
2018 BC 18 6 239 161 67.3 1,628 8 7 85.6 36 226 6.3 33 0
2019 OTT 18 6 163 106 65.0 1,154 3 7 74.0 29 102 3.5 13 3
CFL totals 90 50 1,637 1,086 66.3 13,651 69 58 91.4 214 1,085 5.1 33 9
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References
  1. "Jonathon Jennings". SVSU Cardinals. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  2. Araki, Michiko (May 29, 2015). "GETTING TO KNOW JONATHON JENNINGS". BC Lions. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  3. Niziolek, Michael (May 11, 2014). "Kansas City Chiefs invite SVSU quarterback Jon Jennings to rookie mini-camp". MLive. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  4. Yuille, Sean (May 10, 2014). "2014 Lions undrafted free agent tracker". Pride of Detroity. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  5. "Jonathon Jennings". BC Lions. Archived from the original on July 7, 2015. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  6. Beamish, Mike (June 14, 2015). "Back up QB battle gets interesting". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  7. "Depth Charts". BC Lions. Archived from the original on July 22, 2015. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  8. Bucholtz, Andrew (July 18, 2015). "Lions, Lulay run over Riders in a tale of teams going in different directions". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  9. https://www.bclions.com/2015/10/05/jennings-and-brooks-earn-cfl-player-of-the-week-honours/
  10. "Lions not ready to reward prime pivot Jennings just yet". www.vancouversun.com. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  11. "Lions, Jennings ink extension through 2018". CFL.ca. May 5, 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  12. "B.C. Lions sign Jonathon Jennings to contract extension through 2018". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  13. "Lions re-work contract with QB Jennings – Article – TSN". TSN. January 12, 2018. Retrieved January 13, 2018.
  14. "Lions' Lulay to start against Bombers – Article – TSN". TSN. July 13, 2018. Retrieved July 13, 2018.
  15. "Lulay in concussion protocol after exiting vs. Ottawa – CFL.ca". CFL.ca. September 7, 2018. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
  16. "Report: Lions expect Lulay to miss 4–6 weeks – CFL.ca". CFL.ca. September 18, 2018. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
  17. "Lulay, Sutton to start in Week 18 - CFL.ca". CFL.ca. October 9, 2018. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
  18. "Report: Jennings informs Lions he'll become a free agent - CFL.ca". CFL.ca. November 27, 2018. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  19. "Redblacks reach a deal with former Lion QB Jonathon Jennings". CFL.ca. February 13, 2019. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
  20. "Redblacks Name Davis Week 1 Starter". Ottawa Redblacks. June 3, 2019. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
  21. "2019-07-19 Game Tracker - Ottawa Redblacks vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers (2581)". CFL.ca. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  22. "2019-07-25 Game Tracker - Calgary Stampeders vs. Ottawa Redblacks (2584)". CFL.ca. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  23. Staff, 3Down. "Redblacks bench Dominique Davis after three atrocious interceptions against Riders | 3DownNation". Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  24. "2019-09-07 Game Tracker - Toronto Argonauts vs. Ottawa Redblacks (2608)". CFL.ca. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
  25. "Transactions: January 23, 2020". Ottawa Redblacks. January 23, 2020. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
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