Tennessee football: San Francisco 49ers give Vols WR Jauan Jennings T.O.’s number

Former Tennessee football Volunteers wide receiver Jauan Jennings will be wearing Terrell Owens’ No. 81 with the San Francisco 49ers.

Well, it looks like the San Francisco 49ers are making clear what they expect out of Jauan Jennings. Given how vocal he was over the years with Tennessee football, they decided to award him one of the most legendary, and controversial numbers in franchise history.

Jennings, who was taken in the seventh round of the NFL Draft, will wear Terrell Owens’ former number, No. 81. To be fair, that’s also the number that Anquan Boldin wore with San Francisco when he played for them from the 2013 season through the 2015 season.

Simply put, it’s a number associated with lots of production, which Jennings showed he could provide during his time with Tennessee football. San Francisco announced all five of its draft picks numbers with a Twitter graphic Tuesday afternoon.

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If you think about it, Jennings wearing the number makes sense. He’s a bit of a combination of Boldin and T.O. in certain aspects. As we mentioned, he’s vocal like T.O. In addition to his personality, he provides a good bit of size at 6’3″ 215 pounds, something that was always an advantage for T.O. as well.

However, he’s like Boldin in the fact that he ran a 40-time north of 4.7 and that killed his draft stock. Of course, Boldin still went in the second round, while Jennings fell to the seventh, but the idea is still the same.

Although he is filling some big shoes, wearing the number itself does not mean greatness. After T.O. left at the end of the 2003 season, San Francisco tried to give out that number to lots of different wide receivers, none of whom worked out. Five different receivers wore it, and three non-receivers wore it between T.O. and Boldin.

After Boldin, two more receivers wore it. They didn’t work out. So Jennings still has to prove his worth beyond just receiving the number. If his production with Tennessee football brings any value, however, then he’ll be just fine in the number. He’s got the mental toughness to handle the pressure that comes with it.