Special teams game-breaker
“Before I leave here, I want to help make a name for Utah State, and want to put Utah State on the map.”
Those are the words that motivate kick returner/defensive back Jerome Dennis. After bursting onto the national scene as a returner when Roger Robinson (Fernandez) quit the team earlier this season, Dennis is determined to find out how good he can be.
“This year, this is where I find out what I can do, what I’m capable of,” Dennis said.
Dennis has been asking the coaches for a chance to prove himself since last season.
“I was telling them when Roger was in, ‘I’m telling you, give me a chance to get back there and get the ball and I will take it’,” he says.
While Dennis has only been returning kicks since the middle of the season, teams are already kicking the ball away from him to prevent him from busting loose for a big gain. He has returned 13 kickoffs this season for 388 yards and has averaged almost 30 yards a return – which ranks Dennis third in Division I-A.
Dennis seems to make the big plays at the right time as he has returned three kicks for more than 60 yards in the last five games, setting up the offense to tie or win a game. Against New Mexico State, Dennis had a 48-yard return that set up the first score of the game.
When asked about his recent success, Dennis said it comes from his competitive nature.
“I’m just a very competitive person, period,” he said. “When I have a job to do, I just got to do it to my full ability. Just expect me doing my job.”
Dennis has not been limited to making big plays through kickoff returns, however.
He intercepted a pass and returned it 75 yards for a touchdown as time expired at the end of the first half in USU’s 35-34 loss to Brigham Young University. The return gave the Aggies a 34-7 halftime lead, and was a play Dennis said is his most memorable play in his young career at USU.
While football is an important part of his life, Dennis has other aspirations as well. He hopes to one day put out a magazine, work as a broadcaster and start his own line of clothing.
“I really want to go to the league. Regardless if I go to the NFL or not, I want to put a magazine out,” Dennis said.
Dennis is also an avid poetry writer, winning awards in high school for his work.
When Dennis was younger, he admits that he would re-write his sisters’ poetry and then give it to girls to impress them. When his sisters found out, they got mad, and then he began writing for himself. It was then he found his talent, and he submitted his work to an English teacher in his school. While she gave out awards to students in her class, Dennis won two years in a row as an outsider who was never in the class.
A lot of Dennis’ talents come from the result of being the only boy in his family, he said. He grew up with his mom, sisters and aunts. While his mom usually worked, Dennis ended up entertaining himself.
“I didn’t have anybody to give me stuff to do, so I had to find things to do,” he said.
Football became one of those things to do, but Dennis did not take football real seriously until eleventh grade. During his senior year, Dennis played fullback, tailback, tight end, safety, middle linebacker and was the team’s long snapper.
“I would make a touchdown and have to go and hike the extra point,” he said.
In his final game, Dennis showed his real potential as a player by rushing for 300 yards on 30 carries and scoring five touchdowns. He also converted both of his two-point conversion opportunities. His team lost the game, though, as the kicker had his third consecutive extra point blocked.
While Dennis has many options in his future, his main focus now is on football.
“I plan to change the image that football players have at this school,” he said. “Not that it’s all bad or anything, but I just want to change the image. I want to be a very good representative of Utah State.”
– jwhigg@cc.usu.edu