Things didn’t start the way that Ali Jennings had hoped.

The sophomore wide receiver didn’t even see the field until the third game of the season as he battled back from a lingering hamstring injury he sustained in fall camp.

Admittedly, it was a lot of frustration for Jennings as he wasn’t able to showcase all of the work he put in during quarantine on the practice field. After playing 313 snaps spread over 10 games last season, he had to watch from the sidelines as he attempted to work his way back.

A tough pill to swallow for anybody, but especially a young player that seemed primed to take that next step in his second year after a productive off-season.

“I kind of got down on myself during camp because I worked so hard during the off-season and the entire COVID-19 situation to come back and make a huge impact,” he said. “I felt like it kind of set me back two months behind everybody else.”

He was self-motivated, but also relied on his teammates who helped him pull him out of the funk. Anytime he’d start to doubt himself, his running mates at wide receiver would be there to pick him up.

So Jennings kept his head down and kept pushing. Truthfully, the time away from the field served as all the motivation he needed to come back his best.

Eventually that perseverance paid off with his return to the field. And because of that experience on the field last year he was able to make an easy transition into things.

“The game has slowed down a lot for me,” he said.

After playing only three snaps in his return against Baylor, Jennings has played at least 25 in three of the four games since then and turned that into 7 catches for 46 yards and a touchdown as part of the rotation at the wide receiver position. Now, he’s starting to feel like himself again.

“I’m better than what I was last year and I’m just going to keep moving forward with it,” he said.

Now seven games into the year, Jennings is hitting his stride serving as a physical receiver that’d been counted on to make tough catches. He was the target on the final West Virginia play against Texas but the ball fell incomplete on a run-pass-option play into the end zone.

That alone shows the trust and how far he’s come since the start of the year.

“He’s really started to come on and give us some significant minutes and reps during the game and starting to do some good things. So really more than anything he’s getting healthy and being able to practice full speed and play at a faster level,” coordinator Gerad Parker said.

Now, Jennings is hoping the close to his year is certainly better than how things opened. And if what has unfolded is any indication, he’s certainly on the path to doing just that.

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