Tennessee football: Jauan Jennings has ended many Vols losing streaks

With a huge game Saturday in Tennessee football’s win against the South Carolina Gamecocks, Jauan Jennings ended another Volunteers losing streak.

Once recruited as a four-star quarterback who actually converted to wide receiver, Jauan Jennings’s first touchdown was still a pass on a trick play against the Florida Gators in 2015. He would have no more touchdowns that season, and Tennessee football would go on to lose that game in heartbreaking fashion, keeping their most frustrating losing streak alive.

A year later, though, Jennings began the process of dismantling losing streaks suffered by the Vols one by one. It started with Florida again. Jennings made the famous catch after burning Teez Tabor for the touchdown that gave the Vols the lead for good. That ended UT’s 11-game losing streak to Florida, as they won 38-28.

One week later, though, he one-upped himself. Jennings caught the Hail Mary in the end zone to beat the Georgia Bulldog. Since UGA was ranked No. 25 and the game was in Athens, it was Tennessee football’s first road win over a ranked team since, well, they beat Georgia in Athens way back in 2006. Yes, they went a decade without such a win.

Of course Jennings suffered a season-ending injury in 2017. He was then dismissed from the team by an interim coaching staff for calling them liars…after they got caught lying. And he returned in 2018.

What did he do then? Well, he finally got his groove back midway through the season, and he caught the go-ahead touchdown in the Vols’ road win over the Auburn Tigers. That win alone ended 15 losing streaks for UT. You can read about all of them here, but the most notable ones were losing streaks to Auburn dating back to 1999 and SEC West teams dating back to 2010.

Finally, he ended another major losing streak last Saturday against the South Carolina Gamecocks. With seven receptions for 174 yards and two touchdowns, both of which were go-ahead touchdowns and the last one putting the Vols ahead for good, he was the key to ending Tennessee football’s inexplicable seven-game losing streak to Will Muschamp.

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Noticing a patten here? Jennings’s most standout performances in wins all come when the Vols end major losing streaks. It’s a staple of his career on Rocky Top and further proof that he is just the ultimate game in the biggest moments.

Lots of other players were key in all of those wins, to be fair. You’ll hear names like Joshua Dobbs, Josh Malone, Derek Barnett, Jarrett Guarantano, Kyle Phillips, Marquez Callaway, Darrell Taylor and Daniel Bituli. And they all deserve praise.

But if there has ever been a game in which Tennessee football had to end a frustrating losing streak over the past few years, they only did it if Jennings came up big in the game. Regardless of what happens with Jeremy Pruitt and the program as a whole, Jennings’s legacy on Rocky Top is cemented with what he has done.

He was always going to be the No. 1 receiver coming into the year, and he has more than lived up to the hype of playing that role. By ending another Vol losing streak Saturday, he only added to his legacy. And with four, maybe five games left, he’s not done.