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 | Position:
Cornerbacks | 5th Season
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| Alma Mater:
University of North Texas | 1996
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Clay Jennings joined the TCU football staff as cornerbacks coach in January 2008.
In his first seasons with the Horned Frogs, TCU led the nation in total defense.
Greg McCoy and Jason Verrett earned honorable mention All-Mountain West honors in 2011, each grabbing an interception on the year. Verrett racked up 58 tackles during the season.
Jason Teague was a 2010 second-team All-Mountain West Conference selection, giving TCU six All-MWC honorees in the last four seasons.
Both Rafael Priest and Nick Sanders were first-team All-MWC picks in 2009. Priest was ranked by Rivals.com as the nation's sixth-best cornerback, while Sanders was tabbed by Sporting News as the MWC's hardest hitter.
Jennings, who has coached six current NFL defensive backs, came to the Horned Frogs after serving as the cornerbacks coach at Baylor in 2007.
Jennings worked two seasons (2005-06) as safeties coach at Houston. He helped the Cougars to back-to-back bowl appearances and the 2006 Conference USA championship. In 2006, Cougars' free safety Will Gulley earned Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year honors while Brandon Brinkley was named to the league's all-freshman squad.
In his first season at Houston, Jennings saw Rocky Schwartz earn Conference USA third-team all-league honors and Kenneth Fontennette be named an honorable-mention Freshman All-American by The Sporting News.
Prior to his two-year stint at Houston, Jennings spent two seasons (2003-04) as the defensive backs coach at Louisiana-Lafayette, where he helped the Ragin' Cajuns to a No. 11 national ranking in pass defense. At Louisiana-Lafayette, Jennings tutored current NFL players Antwain Spann (New England Patriots), C.C. Brown (Houston Texans) and Michael Adams (Arizona Cardinals).
Jennings also worked two years (2001-02) as secondary coach and recruiting coordinator at Sam Houston State. He helped the Bearkats to a share of the 2001 Southland Conference championship and the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs. At SHSU, Jennings coached All-American and Buck Buchanan Award finalist Keith Davis, who just completed his fifth season with the Dallas Cowboys.
Jennings also coached the secondary at Southern Arkansas (2000), Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa (1999) and Morehouse College in Atlanta (1998). At SAU, Jennings mentored Jordan Babineaux of the Seattle Seahawks. At Morningside, Jennings coached first-team All-American Matt Walker.
A four-year letterwinner (1992-95) as a defensive lineman and special teams standout at North Texas, Jennings was a member of the Mean Green's 1994 Southland Conference championship team and the school's first NCAA Division I-A squad in 1995. He began his coaching career as a student assistant (1996) and then graduate assistant (1997) at North Texas before moving on to Morehouse.
Jennings is a 1992 graduate of Waco's La Vega High School and a 1996 North Texas alumnus (bachelor's of science in kinesiology). Jennings and his wife, Belinda, have two children: son Kirby and daughter Kenzie.
