Quick Facts
CancerBiography
Jonathon Jennings (born July 21, 1992) is a gridiron football quarterback for the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He attended Saginaw Valley State University, where he played college football and studied finance.
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. 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. As a senior, Jennings threw for 3,824 yards for 30 touchdowns, additionally rushing for 470 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Professional 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.
BC Lions
In April 2015, Jennings was signed by the BC Lions of the CFL. He competed for the back-up quarterback position on the depth chart, which he received in the season opener. 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 QB 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 March 2016, Lions GM and head coach Wally Buono announced that Jennings would enter training camp as the #1 QB 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.
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 | |||
| CFL totals | 36 | 24 | 769 | 513 | 66.7 | 7,230 | 42 | 25 | 101.5 | 68 | 363 | 5.1 | 20 | 4 | ||||