Rashad Jennings set for first NFL training camp, wants city support

The four-year contract is signed. The offseason mini-camps and team activities are over. Now, finally, Rashad Jennings is going to training camp.

But as Jennings, the former Liberty and LCA standout sees it, Lynchburg is going to training camp.

“We’re going to training camp. I need backup, I need support, I need everyone,” Jennings said Thursday. “I need Lynchburg behind me. I’m out fighting grown men every day. I need those prayers.”

Jennings, of course, is bringing his hometown with him to Jacksonville Jaguars training camp in a figurative sense. A seventh-round pick in April’s NFL Draft, Jennings reported to camp in north Florida on Sunday and will begin practice today, battling primarily against former USC tailback Chauncey Washington for the chance to back up starting tailback Maurice Jones-Drew.

But before Jennings even played his first training camp snap, he was back in his hometown, stumping and campaigning. The cause? Bringing Lynchburg and Liberty University together, at least in a football sense. Jennings’ goal is to help fund a project that will give free tickets to area residents to Liberty’s football games. As the Flames football brand continues to grow, Jennings — who grew up in Forest and only briefly left town, spending a year at the University of Pittsburgh before transferring to LU — wants to address what he perceives as a disconnect between the community and the university.

Jennings spent a good chunk of Thursday afternoon meeting with Lynchburg mayor Joan Foster discussing ways that the two sides can connect. On his way to the meeting, Jennings found a situation that was perfectly analogous to what he wanted to discuss.

Jennings was walking down a city street, wearing a Jaguars’ workout shirt. Three kids walked down one side of the street, four more on the other. The list of NFL players walking down a Lynchburg street on a given weekday afternoon is pretty short, so both sets of kids stopped Jennings and asked him if he played football. By the end of the conversation, the seven kids were walking and talking together.

Once separate entities, now grouped together. That’s Jennings’ vision for the relationship between Liberty football and the residents of the city.

“Now they’re walking down the street in a group of seven,” Jennings said. “Because something connected them.”

Jennings’ visions are admittedly grand. “I want 50,000 people at the games. I mean, people aren’t going to be able to move!” he said.

But he said he believes he’s been blessed to have been put in a position to affect change in his hometown, and he’ll do anything to fulfill that vision.

“This is the kind of stuff that goes through my mind during games,” Jennings said. “We were playing Stony Brook. I remember this one time, I got tackled. I got up, and D-Nic (Dominic Bolden) helped me up, I looked in the stands, and I said, ‘Why isn’t the whole city of Lynchburg out here?’ This is what I’m saying to my teammate during a game.”

Jennings spent the rest of his time in town this week visiting family, speaking at youth football camps and getting his mind right for the task ahead — making Jacksonville’s 53-man opening day roster. In preparation for the draft, Jennings worked out in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with several NFL players, and he roomed with Jones-Drew. So he has a good idea of the sort of work ethic it takes to earn a roster spot. Jennings said he benefited from his coaching at Liberty, where Flames coach Danny Rocco, who spent time coaching in the NFL with now-Virginia coach Al Groh, runs pro-style practices.

During summer mini-camps, Jennings found quickly that he could indeed compete with NFL players. Everything changes now, though, as pads are strapped on for the first time and the tackling becomes live. He said he’s ready for that challenge.

“You never know,” Jennings said. “Everybody says they want to play at that next level. You go into it confident. But you still don’t know it until you do it.”

Jennings, who is writing a book and spends some of his free time playing guitar, has split his time this summer between Jacksonville and Lynchburg, trying to endear himself to his new community while still playing an active role in his old one. Through his Twitter page, Jennings reached out to fans for help in purchasing a new car. He participated in a jail ministry, speaking of his faith to inmates at a Florida correctional facility.

But with the start of camp, those activities cease.

“It’s like this,” he said, putting both hands parallel to his eyes and motioning forward, signifying tunnel vision.

New challenges lie ahead. Jennings’ hometown, however, will never be far from the front of his mind.