Hopes for NFL Future Not So High for SDSU’s Jennings

The letters from the agents began arriving last summer at San Diego State, followed by the phone calls and visits from the professional scouts in the fall.

They were all telling offensive lineman Jim Jennings the same thing: You have a future, big guy, in the National Football League.

“After they get done selling you, you think there’s no way you’re not going in the first couple rounds,” Jennings said. “The agents tell you that they have copies of the scouting reports, and they’re telling you that you’re ranked in the top 20 linemen.

“It’s exciting. You believe them: They really think I can play on the professional level. Here’s somebody that’s in the business, and they’ve seen it go and they’re interested.”

Family and friends are thrilled. They are impressed by the attention, and they begin guessing: Will the Giants draft Jim Jennings? Will the Redskins?

“You got finance guys calling you up saying this is how we’re going to manage your millions,” Jennings said. “That sounds good: Jim Jennings, millionaire. It’s great for your ego.”

And then the scouts disappear.

“When the season ended everything changed,” Jennings said. “While the top guys got workouts every day, you might have one every couple of weeks. You start thinking maybe they are not interested.”

The scouts continued to call on San Diego State the past few months, but they were there to look at wide receiver Patrick Rowe, who is expected to be picked in the second or third round of Sunday’s NFL draft.

“I’d find out when they were coming in to look at Patrick, and I’d go over there and hope they’d ask me to work out,” Jennings said. “I did a lot of standing around. Many times I was too shy to ask if they wanted to look at me.

“Sometimes they’d have Patrick run some pass routes and then they would leave. They wouldn’t even notice me; I’d just leave. I was just waiting for the time when they would say: ‘Oh, yeah, Jim Jennings, I remember, let’s go. We’re interested.’ ”

In addition to the individual workouts, the NFL invited hundreds of players to Indianapolis to work out for all 28 teams. Anybody who is anybody got an invite, but not Jim Jennings.

“I just assumed if there was that much interest in the summer and fall that they would want me to go to the (NFL) Combine workouts,” he said. “When I didn’t get the invitation, I was shocked. . . . You’re a first team all-conference lineman for the best rushing game in the nation and you’re friends and family are telling you that they should be looking at that.

“I’m also hearing people say, that they like me like they liked (San Diego State offensive lineman) Nick Subis last year, and Nick went to the Combine and he got drafted in the sixth round. I’m figuring I’ll do the same thing, and then nothing happens.”

The 1992 Draft Preview, a publication available to the public and NFL teams that describes in detail each player eligible for the draft, offered no encouragement.

“Has had chronic neck problems,” the publication said. “Short for offensive tackle. Ugly body. Lacks functional football strength. Has no explosion. Doesn’t stand out.”

Welcome to the NFL.

“That kind of stuff will just crush you,” Jennings said. “I had neck problems as a junior, but nothing as a senior, but do they know that?”

Do they know how hard Jim Jennings will work to make it in the NFL? Do they know how deep the competitive fires burn? Do they care?

“You don’t hear from any of the teams and you think everybody has lost interest and this isn’t going to work out,” he said. “Then last weekend the Chiefs called and they wanted me to fly in for a physical examination, and I’m way up here again thinking, ‘OK, we’re ready to go.’ ”

While he waits to find out if the Chiefs were impressed, he continues to attend classes. Friday he competed for SDSU’s debate team in Los Angeles and argued that “Advertising degrades the quality of life.” He will graduate in May with a degree in speech communications, but Sunday and Monday will speak louder to his immediate plans.

“I’m not planning on getting called Sunday,” said Jennings with a laugh. “I’ll probably watch the draft with my family because they have been so supportive and excited about my career all through the whole thing. When the first-round guys go, I can say, ‘I blocked this guy,’ and that will give the family a thrill and they can say, ‘Oh, yeah, you blocked him great.’

“At this point it’s so exciting for the family and I do go through a lot of this for them. Ever since I was kid, I’ve always been bigger than everyone else and it was always just kind of expected that I’d play in the NFL.”

Jim Jennings is still bigger than most at 6-3, 279 pounds, but not nearly big enough for most NFL teams. He enjoyed an outstanding collegiate career, but 28 teams might very well pass on him when Round 12 ends Monday afternoon.

“You bet I’m envious of Patrick Rowe,” Jennings said. “Here is a college guy living off a scholarship check, and by the end of this weekend, he’s set. If he doesn’t play a down, he’s going to have enough money to do what ever he wants.

“It’s very cruel the way this whole process is designed. But then nobody can take away what I’ve done at the college level. It’s just weird; you wish you could know what they are thinking. What they know.”

For $15.95, there is always the 1992 Draft Preview, and a mock draft and the ranking from 1 to 125 of the best athletes available.

“For $15.95,” Jennings said, “I’d much rather get some good literature, some good Hemingway, something worthwhile.”