Reality Nearly as Good as Dream for Jennings

Jim Jennings dreamed the dream every star running back dreams as he comes out of high school and heads for his choice of universities.

The guys who carry the football are the glory guys. They get their names in the paper. They get the instant replays. They get the cheers. All of this because they get the football.

This was what Jennings wanted when he came out of San Marcos High School, Class of ’87.

Not everyone charted his future quite the way he did.

College coaches looked at his 230 pounds and his agility and they saw a kid who could be a linebacker or an offensive lineman or maybe even a defensive lineman. They saw him bursting out of his collar and sleeves and pant legs and he saw himself bursting out of tackles.

“Out of high school,” he said, “I was going to select a team that wanted me to play fullback. That’s why I came to San Diego State. To play fullback.”

This was for the fall of 1987. He came with a rather celebrated recruiting class which also included Patrick Rowe and the since-departed Tommy Booker and Scott Barrick. His arrival was unheralded in company such as that, but here he is a senior star on a team two days away from playing Brigham Young for the Western Athletic Conference championship and a berth in the Holiday Bowl.

Indeed, Jim Jennings has become a star.

In the offensive line.

He stands 6-feet-4 and weighs 275 pounds. His arms and legs are massive. Put a football in one of his hands and it would look like an egg in almost anyone else’s.

Jennings plays strong tackle and does the dirty work while guys like Marshall Faulk, David Lowery and Rowe occupy the headlines for what is likely SDSU’s strongest team.

Such is life.

Life changed for Jennings after the 1988 season, which he spent as what he expected to be. He was a redshirt in 1987, but stepped in as starting fullback in 1988. He carried the ball 31 times for 104 yards and a touchdown.

Mostly, he blocked.

“The fullback position did a lot of what the guards do,” he said. “Trapping. Blocking the force players on the outside. The hardest thing for me was the blocking part of it. That’s why I redshirted, to play with the scout team and learn how to block.”

Like most star high school running backs, he did not get into the blocking part of it. He carried the ball every down. Other guys did the blocking stuff.

What happened after the 1988 season was that Al Luginbill was hired to replace Denny Stolz as head coach. Luginbill installed a one-back offense. When a back is eliminated in such an arrangement, the back who goes is the fullback.

Jim Jennings suddenly became a man without a position to call his own.

“I felt that I proved I could play fullback at this level,” he said, “and the plan had been to get me the ball more so the backfield wouldn’t be so one-dimensional. But Coach Luginbill wanted to go with the one-back offense. I could either transfer or switch and see what I could do.”

Though he did not make the switch dancing and prancing and giggling with delight, he beefed up rather than beefed.

“I did what I had to do and made the best of it,” he said. “I’m glad now I stuck with the program.”

He bulked up to 275 pounds, as much from lifting a fork as from lifting weights.

“Three square meals and a workout,” he laughed. “It wasn’t tough at all.”

Suddenly, he went from having the football in his hands to having the fate of other guys carrying the football in his hands. Really, it was not that much different from being a fullback.

“I do a lot of the same things,” he said. “The biggest difference is that I’m four yards closer.”

Nearing the end of his third year in the offensive line, Jim Jennings has become a very special part of a very special team preparing for a very special game. He is a senior, a rarity in this baby brigade of a team, and he is about to play the biggest game of his SDSU career.

“Playing BYU is a big game any way,” he said. “They’ve dominated the WAC for so long that it always makes your season if you beat them. This year, with the opportunity we have, all the rewards are there if we beat them. That makes this game really special.”

Things on campus are a little crazy this week. Folks who normally pay little attention to athletes or athletics are taking note. A fellow doesn’t even need to be a star running back to get the pats on the back and the attaboys.

Jim Jennings, erstwhile star running back, may not be playing the position he dreamed of playing, but he is certainly about to play the sort of game he dreamed of playing.