Louisville RB Braxton Jennings Continuing to Improve After Earning Scholarship

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville football program football has a very talented overall roster heading into their 2026 season, but no position group on team is quite as deep and talented as running back.

For starters, it's a room that is headlined by one of the best players in the entire sport in Isaac Brown - someone who has already rushed for over 2,000 yards in his first two years in college. His backup, Keyjuan Brown, is someone who could start at a lot of schools at the power conference level, and is coming off of a career year. Not to mention that Missouri transfer Marquise Davis and true freshman Lekhy Thompkins both have serious long term potential due to their talent and athletic profiles.

It's undoubtedly a position group that is led by top end star power, but what completes it is the top-to-bottom depth. Not only does that include the aforementioned four, it also includes Braxton Jennings.

The 5-foot-11, 195-pound running back entered college as a walk-on, and only has one year of experience under his belt, but he has shown a tremendous amount of growth in a very short amount of time. So much so that, following the end of his true freshman campaign last season, it resulted in Jennings being place on scholarship.

"It was truly a blessing," Jennings said this past Friday. "I came here as a walk on. I just knew I had something to prove, and I carried that every day, throughout practice and throughout game week. Preparing for moments like the Kentucky game, where I get my moment and opportunity. Just to hear I got put on scholarship, it was really just a blessing. I trust in the Lord, and I feel like he gave me this opportunity for a reason. So it's all up from here."

An in-state product from Ashland, Ky., Jennings was not a highly-recruited prospect coming out of his school. He was a low three-star recruit, and ranked as the No. 2,110 prospect in the Class of 2025, per the 247Sports Composite. He held just three D1 offers: Buffalo, Eastern Kentucky and Eastern Michigan.

But instead of choosing one of those three schools and getting a free ride, Jennings chose to walk-on at Louisville He did this because he had faith in not only his ability to compete for a scholarship, but the capabilities of Barclay to mold and develop him.

"I just really bet on myself," Jennings said. "I trusted in coach Barclay. I came to a camp going into my senior year that summer, and ever since that meeting, Barclay and I had a bond. I knew I could trust him, and I knew he was trustworthy. I just trusted his word, and I came here, and everything went well."

Jennings didn't get very many in-game opportunities during the 2025 season, with his first three appearances coming in garbage time, but showed flashes of what he could do. He rushed six times for 27 yards against Eastern Kentucky, six times for 43 yards and a touchdown vs. Bowling Green, and five time for 17 yards at SMU.

These stats might not pop off the page compared to what Isaac Brown and Keyjuan Brown do, but behind the scenes, running backs coach Chris Barclay knew that he had yet another special player to work with in Jennings.

"I knew, early on that this kid, if he can come in here- first of all, if I can make it happen, because I knew there were some people that are pursuing him," Barclay said. "But if we can make this thing happen, I think this kid's going to be something good. He's going to be not your typical walk-on.

"I felt that way in the summer when he first got here, and I just knew that he was gonna need an opportunity. He would need to continue to develop, which he did, but he had the work ethic and the attention detail that you're looking for as a coach. You just saw, every week, he was just continuing to get better."

Jennings finally got his opportunity to show out in the regular season finale against Kentucky. Not only were Isaac and Keyjuan unavailable due to injury, Duke Watson - now at UCF - was as well. This resulted in Jennings being thrust into a much bigger role than expected.

And he put on a show.

Jennings finished with 20 carries for 113 yards, helping Louisville smash Kentucky 41-0. He won the Howard Schnellenberger MVP Award, which is given to the best player for the winning team of the annual Governor's Cup. In just one game, Jennings doubled his yardage for season, winding up finishing with 200 rushing yards on 37 tries on the year.

Jennings didn't earn a scholarship simply due to his efforts in the rivalry game, although that certainly didn't hurt, either. During the early goings of this offseason, both in winter workouts and in the first half of spring ball, the running back has regularly displayed the work ethic needed to success. In fact. Barclay cites "hard work, commitment, and resilience" as to why Jennings earned his scholarship.

"He understands the work ethic that it takes, the commitment level. I think he's just a kid that just needed an opportunity," Barclay said. "He fell through the cracks for a lot of schools, but I evaluated the tape and really liked what I saw from a fundamental standpoint. He's got skill, he has size, he's not little, and he's coachable. He's one of those kids that's very eager. He has questions. He wants to know why. He's a kid that just continues to get better every time you touch the field."

While Jennings is actively working to earn himself a significant role in the running back rotation come this fall, which in turn would take away reps from other backs, he and the rest of his position group actually have a very beneficial relationship.

Jennings has had the opportunity to learn from both Isaac and Keyjuan, which is arguably one of the best running back duos in all of college football. He's also helped these two when it comes to breaking out of your shell and being more outgoing, considering he probably has the biggest personality amongst UofL's running backs.

"I be talking," Jennings said. "I'll be getting the boys to laugh sometimes. They're quiet, so I feel like I got to be that spark. Sometimes get these boys laughing and joking around when necessary. But when it's all business, it's all business."

Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Twitter/X and Instagram for the latest news.

More Cardinals Stories