Seahawks draft pick Gary Jennings was coached by Russell Wilson in YMCA basketball
It’s always heartwarming to see your former players become professional athletes.
It’s even better when they make to the big leagues on the same team as you.
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Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson got to experience this feeling during the 2019 NFL Draft when the team selected wide receiver Gary Jennings Jr. with the 120th pick.
Jennings was coached by Wilson in a YMCA basketball league, according to the Associated Press. He estimated that he was in fourth grade.
At that time, Wilson attended Collegiate School (Richmond, Va.) and helped his dad coach the YMCA team, according to the Seahawks’ site. Jennings and Wilson’s sister, Anna, played youth basketball together.
Gary!!! @_Gman12
What’s crazy is how God works! From my dad and I coaching you and my sister @a_willy03 in basketball when y’all were young and us all going to the same school together to now!What a blessing! #GoHawks https://t.co/Z81ZfTTJ2O
— Russell Wilson (@DangeRussWilson) April 27, 2019
Wilson and Jennings attended Collegiate together, as it was a K-12 school. Jennings remembers watching Wilson on the football field.
“He was an amazing quarterback back in the day, too,” Jennings said, according to the Seahawks. “I saw him run back and forth across the field, and someone was always wide open. They won state basically every year he was there.”
Maybe Jennings was able to pick up a couple things from the older peer on the football field. If they still have a connection, that could prove instrumental for a team that may be losing its top receiving weapon in Doug Baldwin. The eight-year veteran is contemplating retirement due to the effects of injuries, according to ESPN.
The Seahawks drafted wide receivers Jennings and D.K. Metcalf.