CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The news came down. The eyebrows went up.
SMU named a building after Kevin Jennings? As in, two-years-and-counting starting quarterback Kevin Jennings?
There was no case of mistaken identity.
This fall, the Kevin Jennings Recovery Center will officially open inside SMU’s $150 million football facility, which first welcomed players less than two years ago.
“I do think it is unprecedented,” SMU coach Rhett Lashlee told The Athletic in a recent interview.
Two years ago, a $5 million donation landed Patrick Mahomes’ name on the team meeting room in Texas Tech’s new $242 million facility. However, he’d been gone almost a decade.
Ndamukong Suh’s $2.6 million donation meant Nebraska’s new weight room adopted his namesake, but that was five years after he played his last snap.
Jennings is believed to be the first active college football player to have a piece of his team’s facility named after him while he’s still a student.
“We just thought it would be so cool for him to still be playing here and get to experience some of the legacy he created,” Lashlee said. “And he’s not finished.”
Five years ago, Jennings was a three-star quarterback at South Oak Cliff whose best scholarship offer came from Missouri State. Lashlee showed up to scout a pair of opposing linemen in a playoff game, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the opposing quarterback leading his team to a victory.
He offered him on the spot.
In 2024, Jennings’ third season on campus, he took over as a starter and led the Mustangs to the ACC title game and College Football Playoff as a first-year team captain, going 11-3 in the program’s first season in its new conference. It led to offseason offers of significant money and bigger stages. However, Jennings stayed.
Last year, he helped the Mustangs win another nine games, narrowly missing a return trip to the ACC title game.
Together, Lashlee and Jennings have won 20 games in two seasons, the program’s proudest era in four decades since the Pony Express won 41 games in four seasons.
Lashlee had offers to leave. Jennings did, too. Again. They both stayed. Jennings said Lashlee’s decision influenced his own.
“I’m from Dallas. I’m a Dallas kid, born and raised,” Jennings said. “Why would I want to go anywhere else and leave a legacy there when I can do it here?”
In December, when it looked like Jennings was officially stiff-arming suitors for a second consecutive offseason, Lashlee started brainstorming.
“It’s our job to give him all the reasons to feel good about that decision,” he said.
With Jennings’ blessing, the school began plans for a Heisman campaign, which debuted at ACC media days, with Lashlee taking off his dress shirt to reveal a Jennings for Heisman shirt live on the ACC Network.
A conversation about legacy also began.
“Kevin has meant so much to SMU by his commitment and loyalty to stay at SMU; that speaks volumes. Not just now but into the future,” Lashlee said. “So you’re asking, ‘How can we honor that?’ It’s great when guys leave, and five years later they come back, and retire their jersey, put their name up somewhere or do statues. All that is great, and who knows, maybe that will all happen, right?
“But how can we think outside the box and honor him in a way that is beneficial to him?”
At the same time this offseason, football operations staffer Josh Nash and strength coach Shawn Griswold noted that as much as they loved the new team facility, it lacked a room dedicated solely to recovery.
“So I thought, why don’t we just name it the Kevin Jennings Recovery Center inside our facility?” Lashlee said. “That’s a way to honor him while he’s still here.”
SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings and head coach Rhett Lashlee have helped put the Mustangs back in the national conversation. (Mitchell Leff / Getty Images)
Lashlee thought back to his experience. At his high school back in Springdale, Ark., the locker room is named after him, but it wasn’t until long after he was gone. He’d never even stepped foot inside by the time his name was on it.
Lashlee thought about Jennings’ future and saw a scene. Jennings could bring his wife and kids back to University Park and show them around the facility. He could point to the sign and say, “Look what I helped build,” but more than that, Lashlee said, he’d have the memories.
Jennings has been such an integral part of SMU’s transition back into a power conference that the school agreed he was the right player to honor.
“Every kid from Dallas can look and say, ‘Man, I can go to SMU and do all of this because look at what Kevin did. I can stay and get my degree. It worked for him. It can work for me,’ ” Lashlee said. “That’s how you build programs. That’s part of the legacy he can leave; the commitment he had to the city of Dallas, SMU and a program that’s going to love him for the rest of his life.”
A few months later, donors Malcolm and Ann Holland, who graduated during the Pony Express era, decided to donate to the school, but they weren’t sure where their money would be best used. They had been discussing various scholarships and projects, but putting their name on something wasn’t important.
SMU reached out and made the pitch.
“He’s the humblest dude, and I thought, ‘You know what, if we could help him and just thank him for what he’s done for our university, this would be a really cool thing to do,’ ” Malcolm Holland said. “We told them we don’t want our name. I’m sure they’ll put our name underneath something, but this is, ‘Thank you, Kevin, for being a loyal, humble athlete that represents what I think athletes should be.’ That’s why we did it.”
Like the Heisman campaign, they pitched Jennings and his father on the idea. They loved it.
“I was just very grateful for it,” Jennings said. “It’s truly amazing.”
The center is still under construction but is scheduled to be finished before the season ends. Jennings will be able to spend time recovering there while he’s still wearing red and blue and representing his city.
“We want to thank Kevin,” Holland said, “and this is a great way to thank him.”