Greg Jennings
 Greg Jennings with the Packers | |||||||
| Green Bay Packers | |||||||
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| Personal information | |||||||
| Born: | September 21, 1983 Kalamazoo, Michigan | ||||||
| Career information | |||||||
| College: | Western Michigan | ||||||
| NFL draft: | 2006 / Round: 2 / Pick: 52 | ||||||
| Career history | |||||||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||||||
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| Career NFL statistics as of Week 14, 2011 | |||||||
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Gregory Jennings, Jr. (born September 21, 1983 in Kalamazoo, Michigan) is a professional American football wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League. He was drafted out of Western Michigan University in the second round, 52nd overall, of the 2006 NFL Draft.
High school career
Jennings attended Kalamazoo Central High School where he was all conference in three sports—football, basketball and track. Jennings played wide receiver, running back, outside linebacker and defensive back as a four-time letterman for the football team. He was listed 11th on the "Fab 50" rankings of the Detroit Free Press as a senior.[1] Jennings finished seventh in voting for Mr. Basketball of Michigan in 2000–01[2] and scored a school record 50 points in a losing effort against Benton Harbor as a senior.[1]
College career
Greg Jennings attended Western Michigan University. He finished his career there with 238 receptions for 3539 yards and 39 touchdowns. When Jennings was a redshirt freshman, he missed 8 games due to a broken ankle bone. In the 8 games he did play, he caught 10 passes for 138 yards. In 2003, he was second on the Broncos with 56 catches for 1,050 yards and 14 touchdowns. He finished the 2003 season with 1,734 all-purpose yards. He was named to the second team All-Mid American team. In 2004, he led the Broncos with 74 catches for 1,092 yards and 11 touchdowns. He tallied 1,415 all-purpose yards. He was named to the All-MAC team. In 2005, he had 98 catches, and led the nation in catches per game, with 8.91. He had 1,259 yards with 14 touchdowns, and earned the 2005 MAC Offensive Player of the Year Award. His 5,093 all-purpose yards is a WMU record, and ranks 8th in MAC history. Jennings became only the 11th player to gain over 1,000 yards in at least three seasons of a college career.[3] Jennings graduated from WMU in 2010 after completing the 16 credits he needed through self-instructional classes.[4]
Professional career
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers drafted Jennings in the 2nd round (52nd pick overall) of the 2006 NFL draft. Jennings signed to a four-year contract on July 25, 2006. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported the deal was worth $2.85 million, including a $1.24 million signing bonus.
Jennings was named the starting wide receiver, along with Donald Driver, which put Robert Ferguson in the slot, for his first professional regular season game Green Bay Packers by head coach Mike McCarthy on September 2, 2006. Jennings led the NFL in receiving yardage during the 2006 preseason. He had 1 catch for 5 yards in his first game.
On September 24, 2006, he caught a 75-yard TD pass from Brett Favre against the Detroit Lions. It was Favre's 400th TD pass for his career, a milestone reached only by Favre, Dan Marino, and Peyton Manning. This was also Jennings' first 100-plus yard game, as he finished with 3 catches, 101 yds and 1 touchdown. Jennings was voted NFL Rookie of the Week for games played September 24–25, 2006, the only time he received this honor. Jennings was also named to the NFL All Rookie team at the end of the season.
On September 23, 2007, Jennings caught a game-winning 57-yard TD pass from Favre with less than two minutes to play to help beat the San Diego Chargers 31–24 at Lambeau Field and improve the team's record to 3–0 in 2007. This was Jennings' first touchdown catch in 2007, as well as Favre's 420th career touchdown pass, tying him with Dan Marino for the most TD passes in NFL history.
A week later on September 30, 2007, during a 23–16 victory over the Minnesota Vikings, Jennings caught a 16-yard pass from Favre that opened the scoring ten minutes into the first quarter, and broke the all-time touchdown pass record Favre had shared with Dan Marino.[5] On October 29, 2007, Jennings caught an 82-yard touchdown pass from Favre to defeat the Denver Broncos 19–13 in overtime, tying him for the second longest overtime touchdown in NFL history. Then the following week, he caught the game-winning touchdown pass that went for 60 yards to beat the Chiefs in Kansas City. Against the Cowboys on November 29, 2007, in a game broadcast on the NFL network, Jennings hauled in the first ever touchdown pass by quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Jennings and running back Ryan Grant each had a touchdown during a 33–14 victory over the St. Louis Rams on December 16, 2007, making it the first time two Packers players have each scored a touchdown in the same four consecutive games.[6] Jennings collected 80 receptions for 1292 yards and 9 touchdowns in the 2008 season.
On June 23, 2009 Jennings received a new three year extension which will pay him $26.35 million and includes $16M guaranteed. It also includes a $11.25 million signing bonus.[7] Jennings caught a game winning pass on September 13, 2009 on a 3rd and two play, where the Packers ran a play action fake and rolled Aaron Rodgers out to the left, who then threw a long 50 yard pass to Greg Jennings to defeat the Chicago Bears in the season opener.[8] In the Packers 2009 Wild Card game against the Arizona Cardinals, Jennings had 8 receptions for 130 yards, scoring 1 touchdown. In the 2010-2011 season, Jennings helped the Packers go 10-6 in the regular season. In Super Bowl XLV, on February 6, 2011, Jennings caught four passes for 64 yards and scored two touchdowns in the Packers' 31–25 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.[9][10] [11]
Jennings played the first 13 games of the 2011 season before going down with a sprained MCL week 13 against the Oakland Raiders during the season he collected 69 receptions for 949 yards. Including a season high 149 yards on 7 receptions, and a TD in a week 7 game at the Minnesota Vikings. He returned for the Packer's divisional round playoff game against the New York Giants and recorded 4 receptions for 40 yards in a Packers' loss.
In 2012, Jennings sat out most of the early season due to a groin injury,cand was scheduled to have surgery in Philadelphia, but was postponed due to Hurricane Sandy.[12]
Career Statistics
Regular season
| Season | Team | GS | Rec | Yds | Avg | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Green Bay Packers | 14 | 45 | 632 | 14.0 | 75 | 3 |
| 2007 | Green Bay Packers | 13 | 53 | 920 | 17.4 | 82 | 12 |
| 2008 | Green Bay Packers | 16 | 80 | 1,292 | 16.2 | 63 | 9 |
| 2009 | Green Bay Packers | 16 | 68 | 1,113 | 16.4 | 83 | 4 |
| 2010 | Green Bay Packers | 16 | 76 | 1,265 | 16.6 | 86 | 12 |
| 2011 | Green Bay Packers | 13 | 67 | 949 | 14.2 | 79 | 9 |
| Total | 88 | 389 | 6,171 | 15.9 | 86 | 49 |
Playoff Games
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
| Year | Date | Team | Opp. | Result | Receiving | Scoring | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | TD | Point | |||||
| 2007 | 2008-01-12 | GBP | SEA | W 42-20 | 6 | 71 | 11.83 | 2 | 2 | 12 |
| 2007 | 2008-01-20 | GBP | NYG | L 20-23 | 1 | 14 | 14.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2009 | 2010-01-10 | GBP | ARI | L 45-51 | 8 | 130 | 16.25 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 2010 | 2011-01-09 | GBP | PHI | W 21-16 | 1 | 8 | 8.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2010 | 2011-01-15 | GBP | ATL | W 48-21 | 8 | 101 | 12.63 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2010 | 2011-01-23 | GBP | CHI | W 21-14 | 8 | 130 | 16.25 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2010 | 2011-02-06 | GBP | PIT | W 31-25 | 4 | 64 | 16.0 | 2 | 2 | 12 |
| Total | 7 Games | 36 | 518 | 14.39 | 5 | 5 | 30 | |||
Greg Jennings Foundation
This is a foundation started by Jennings to attempt to benefit underprivileged children and youth organizations. The entire charity organization raises money through organizational events, donations, and fund raisers. The organization allows people, groups, and organizations from either Michigan or Wisconsin to apply for grant money. The headquarters of the foundation are in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Acting career
On May 5, 2010, Jennings made an appearance on the CBS prime time hit show Criminal Minds. He portrayed a lab technician working at a crime scene.[13] Jennings is also in discussions to appear on BET's The Game.[14] He appeared as himself on the July 6, 2011, episode of Royal Pains. He is also the main actor and star of Old Spices 'Smelf' ad campaign.
Family
Jennings is married to Nicole Jennings, also of Kalamazoo, and they have three daughters named Amya, Alea and Ayva. On October 5, 2012, they welcomed their son Aice Gregory.[15]
References
- ^ a b Greg Jennings Profile at Greg Jennings official website (retrieved December 7, 2010).
- ^ Hal Schram Mr. Basketball at Michigan High School Basketball Record Book (accessed December 7, 2010).
- ^ Green Bay Packers bio for Greg Jennings (accessed December 7, 2010).
- ^ Golston, Hilary. "Packers WR Jennings graduates, set to make TV debut on CBS show". WFRV-TV. Retrieved 2011-01-06.
- ^ Pasquarelli, Len. "Favre audibles to a record-setting performance". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2007-10-01.
- ^ Goska, Eric. "Eric Goska column: Grant-Jennings scoring streak sets team record". Packersnews.com. Retrieved 2007-12-17.
- ^ Sources: Jennings close to extension ESPN, June 23, 2009
- ^ Game Review: Clutch In Crunch Time To Beat Bears Packers.com, September 14, 2009
- ^ ESPN Super Bowl Box Score
- ^ Layden, Tim (February 14, 2011). "Green And Golden: Behind the poise and precision of quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the gutsy contributions of a host of role players, the Packers burnished their championship legacy with a memorable 31--25 victory over Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XLV". Sports Illustrated. Time Inc. Retrieved 2011-02-11.
- ^ "Greg Jennings sells T-shirts to raise money for his foundation". Fox 11 online. Retrieved Friday October 14, 2011.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ "Greg Jennings' hernia surgery postponed by Sandy". National Football League. Retrieved 2012-10-30.
- ^ Packers Greg Jennings on Criminal Minds TerezOwens, May 11, 2010
- ^ Greg Jennings in prime time Wednesday ESPN, May 5, 2010
- ^ Nicole Jennings Endowment Benefits Nursing Students WMU Foundation (retrieved February 7, 2011)
External links
