KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee wide receiver Jauan Jennings has bounced back from a tumultuous year and is starting to regain the form he showed two seasons ago, when his uncanny knack for producing big plays helped the Volunteers earn a top-10 ranking.
After getting dismissed from Tennessee’s team last November following a derogatory social media rant targeting the Volunteers’ coaching staff, Jennings was reinstated in the spring by the current staff but spent much of the offseason recovering from a knee injury. Jennings said he’s feeling better now, and he had five receptions for 71 yards and a touchdown last week in Tennessee’s 30-24 upset of Auburn that snapped an 11-game Southeastern Conference losing streak.
“Just being able to be with my brothers, that’s the most important thing to me,” Jennings said Monday after being made available to the media for the first time since his reinstatement. “Getting that second chance to come back, it just means so much. I’m just thankful.”
Jennings’ statistics still don’t put him on pace to match what he accomplished two seasons ago, when his touchdown catches highlighted back-to-back victories over Florida and Georgia .
The 6-foot-3 junior has 17 catches for 207 yards with two touchdowns halfway through the season. He caught 40 passes for 580 yards and seven touchdowns in 2016 before a wrist injury caused him to play just one game last fall.
But the fact he’s contributing at all shows how far Jennings has come since that November afternoon when it appeared he’d never play for Tennessee again.
Ten days after former Tennessee coach Butch Jones was fired , a video posted on Instagram showed Jennings using plenty of profanity while also saying the words “lying,” ″fake” and “snake” to describe the Vols’ coaching staff.
Brady Hoke, the Vols’ interim coach at the time , kicked Jennings off the team. After Jeremy Pruitt took over as coach and Phillip Fulmer replaced John Currie as athletic director , the new staff gave Jennings an opportunity to return.
