In just four months, Minnesota's Noah Jennings 'has come a long way'
Among Minnesota’s transfer portal additions this offseason was Cincinnati wide receiver transfer Noah Jennings.
The South Carolina native, in his lone season with the Bearcats on the field in 2025, recorded 23 receptions for 323 yards, averaging 14.0 yards per reception.
He joined Tulsa wide receiver transfer Zion Steptoe and Auburn transfer Perry Thompson as the program’s offseason wide receiver haul as they look to revamp a room that has been stagnant the last several seasons.
In his debut at Huntington Bank Stadium on Saturday, for the Gophers spring game, Jennings had an impressive performance with two receptions for 84 yards, including a 74-yard reception on the first drive of the game.
“A game like today really helps people for their confidence that they can do it somewhere else,” Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck said after Saturday’s spring game.
It was a performance that was the culmination of a strong spring for Jennings, who has positioned himself as the favorite to be the program’s third starting wide receiver this fall alongside Jalen Smith and Javon Tracy.
“He’s smooth. He’s a really smooth player. He’s got great hands. He’s confident,” P.J. Fleck said.
“I think it’s really difficult for transfers to go into a spot and just think you’re going to walk in and perform,” he later added. “That’s really difficult. You’ve got to go prove it, earn it, do it for yourself, not just for other people to believe in you. You’ve got to do that for yourself. I thought he’s done a tremendous job all spring. “
Despite a quality season with Cincinnati a year ago, Jennings came to the Twin Cities far from being a finished prospect.
“I think when he got here, you start looking at him, you’re like, this is a really raw athlete,” Fleck added. “Bring him in, you develop him. In four months, he has jumped so high in the development process from his catches to his technique to his fundamentals to the system piece to the separational skills. I think he’s come a long way.”
For many transfers, the transition to a new program can be tough and not always smooth. For Jennings, that transition has been smoothed by his coachability.
“He doesn’t say a lot, but he works his tail off,” Fleck said. “He is unbelievably coachable. He truly is. When you coach him, you look and you’re right in the eye. We’ve got this picture of what being coachable looks like.”
“Noah does that with everything we do,” he added. “I’m really proud of him because he’s made huge strides. We’ve got a big summer. That’s going to be really important. Then you’ve got to go out there and produce in the fall. I think he took the next right step that we want him to be able to do.”
