White said he and his assistant coaches were always hesitant to bring a ninth grader among the big boys for fear of them “losing their stinger” — being overwhelmed by the stage and not playing up to their potential. The player has to approach the situation with maturity, and they also have to be talented enough to hold their own.

Needless to say, it didn’t take long for Jennings to prove he was up to the challenge. He wowed his coaches early on with his work ethic, and pretty soon a Clemson coach offered him a scholarship just from looking at him.

“You kind of want to bring them along slowly, put them in there against more guys their age at the time and then work them up against some older guys and see how they handle it. He was able to do that,” White said. “He was able to go against juniors and seniors on our team and could pretty much hold his own. He’d get his little rear end whipped every now and then, but for the most part he could handle his own. We saw right then that he was going to be special.”