Texas Tech transfer Jennings talks UVa, starting the process
Amid a busy transfer season now that its run in the NCAA Tournament is in the rear view, Virginia completed a Zoom call on Wednesday with Texas Tech transfer Robert Jennings.
A 6-foot-7 forward, Jennings saw limited minutes this year as a freshman for the Red Raiders. There is some familiarity with Jennings and Virginia as Tony Bennett and his staff recruited the DeSoto (TX) native a little bit coming out of high school.
Jennings spoke with CavsCorner about this new phase of recruitment and what it has been like since he entered his name in the transfer portal.
“It has been very fun and I have enjoyed it,” Jennings explained. “The coaches that have reached out have shown nothing but love and I appreciate that. I view this process as a moment to build relationships and I thank God for putting me in a position to be able to talk to coaches.
“I know there are a lot of people around the world that would like to be in my position, “he added, “so I just thank god every day for getting the opportunity to go through this.”
Thus far, Jennings has had similar calls with St. Louis, Tulsa, and George Washington.
Being able to once again get on a call with Bennett was something Jennings was excited about.
“I always love speaking with Coach Bennett,” he said. “We really connect on a different type of level. In this first conversation since my name has been in the portal, he wanted to express his interest and it was good to talk to him again because he recruited me a little out of high school. It was a good time to catch up and talk about the interest and it was good that we could talk face to face again, I really enjoyed it.”
The two, given their history in recruiting, had plenty to discuss beyond the court.
“We really just caught up,” Jennings said. “We did not go into that much detail about how I would fit into their system but we will probably talk more about that soon. If I went to Virginia I know he would try and put me in the best situation to display my talents and I think we could work well together.”
As Jennings went through the gauntlet of the Big 12 this year, he was able to catch the Wahoos on TV a few times.
“I was able to watch a couple of Virginia’s games this year and the culture is the first thing that really stands out,” he said. “You know they are always going to play hard and they are disciplined. They know what they stand for and you can really tell that they have all bought in and it is fun basketball to watch.”
Wherever Jennings decides to call his next home, he thinks he can do a lot for that program.
“I feel like I can bring a lot of energy and toughness,” he said. “I am a versatile defender and am always going to be a hard worker. I am going to go hard in practice every day and try to do whatever it takes to make my teammates better while I am getting better at the same time. In the locker room, I will hold the team together and do the best I can to lead by example for the younger players. I was a freshman once and I know the difficulty of coming to college after high school so I really want to be a role model to the freshmen coming in.”
As of right now, there’s no rush to make a decision about his next college and is really taking this process one day at a time.
“I am just kind of playing it by ear so I don’t really have anything set in stone quite yet,” Jennings said. “Whatever comes, I will deal with it when it comes. Me and the people that I am working with are just going to take it day by day and do what is best for us.”
