Jonathon Jennings

Jonathon Jennings (born July 21, 1992) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for the BC Lions and Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football for the Saginaw Valley State Cardinals. 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. From 2010 to 2013, he played for the Cardinals at Saginaw Valley State University, where he threw for 10,710 yards and 96 touchdowns at the Division II program. As a senior, Jennings threw for 3,824 yards for 30 touchdowns, additionally rushing for 470 yards and 12 touchdowns. He studied finance in college.

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. He also tried out with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL in April 2014. Jennings was not signed by any NFL or CFL teams in 2014, and did not play football professionally that year. Jennings recorded his first statistic on July 17 against the Roughriders, where he rushed for one yard on a quarterback sneak. 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. 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. On May 5, 2016, Jennings and the Lions agreed on a contract extension through the 2018 CFL season. Prior to signing the extension, Jennings would have become a free-agent following the 2016 campaign. 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. Jennings, who continued to struggle to start the 2018 season, was benched in favour of veteran Travis Lulay starting in Week 5. Lulay suffered a concussion and separated shoulder in consecutive weeks, opening the door for Jennings to start for the remainder of the regular season. Despite winning two of the following three games Jennings was once again relegated in favour of Lulay by Week 18. 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.

Ottawa Redblacks On February 13, 2019 Jennings agreed to a one-year contract with the Ottawa Redblacks for the 2019 season. Jennings began the season as the backup quarterback to Dominique Davis. 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. 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. 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. 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.

Career statistics

CFL 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

College +Season Team GP Passing Rushing Cmp Att Yds TD Int Rate Att Yds Avg TD 2010 Saginaw Valley State 9 99 168 1,064 9 8 120.3 60 111 1.9 1 2011 Saginaw Valley State 11 210 309 2,924 29 9 172.6 91 416 4.6 7 2012 Saginaw Valley State 11 270 420 3,282 27 10 146.4 82 291 3.5 6 2013 Saginaw Valley State 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