Kasen Jennings had a rocky road to the High Country. The graduate student guard from Atlanta, Georgia is on his third team and his sixth season of college basketball, and his college career has been filled with triumphs and tragedies.

Jennings was ranked as a three-star prospect by 247 Sports and committed to Kennesaw State University out of high school, following his mentor and head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim, as well as his best friend, Chris Youngblood, who now plays for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“I knew Amir since I was really, like, a baby. I went to spend a lot of time with him when I was in middle school,” Jennings said. “It was like a no-brainer for me to go to Kennesaw cause I got my best friend there and pretty much my uncle as the head coach.”

Jennings spent three years at Kennesaw State under the leadership of head coach Abdur-Rahim. The dynamic duo helped the Owls make history by qualifying for their first-ever NCAA Tournament in 2023.

Following that year, Abdur-Rahim would become the head coach at the University of South Florida, and Jennings followed once again.

After redshirting his senior season in 2023,  Jennings played under Abdur-Rahim for the last time in the 2024 season.

Abdur-Rahim found himself in the hospital with an undisclosed illness, and on Oct. 24, 2024, he died at the age of 43. That same day, the Bulls defeated Wright State University 73-72 and Jennings played a team-high 34 minutes, recording 9 points. 

Despite the loss of a coach and a mentor,  Jennings and the Bulls had to push through their season and finished the year 13-19.

Abdur-Rahim’s death hit Jennings the hardest, as many of the players in 2024 had not played under him before.

“He was family; he was like another father figure for me. You know, I learned so much from him, just being around him every day, a lot of life lessons,” Jennings said. “I would literally go visit him every day when he was dealing with the stuff he was dealing with in the hospital.”

At the conclusion of his redshirt senior season, USF brought in a new coaching staff, and Jennings believed it was time for a fresh start.

He entered the portal and was looking for a place to find fun in the game again. Associate head coach Tanner Smith, who spent time as an assistant under Abdur-Rahim at Kennesaw State, now works at App State. When he heard of Jennings’ intentions to enter the transfer portal, he jumped on it right away.

“I had our staff, coach, look at him, and they loved him from the first three clips,” Smith said.

Smith said the environment of App State was similar to the one Abdur-Rahim cultivated, and that was a major reason Jennings committed.

Jennings and junior guard Eren Banks have formed a relationship as they both transferred for the 2025-26 season.

“He’s a great person off the court and our relationship is like we brothers,” Banks said.

Jennings understands he was unable to be himself last year and wanted to change that at App State.

“I felt like, last year, I got away from being present and being the leader I was supposed to be,” Jennings said.

He has been able to do that this year using his veteran leadership in the locker room and on the court.

Jennings wants to give his teammates the best version of himself. This can be seen in his stats as he is currently averaging a career-high 14.9 points and joined the 1,000-point club.

This jump-in play has not gone unnoticed by his coach.

“I’m grateful that he is here because I think he’s made our team better,” Smith said.

Banks saw the potential in Jennings after playing against him in 2023.

“I didn’t really know about him, but he was killing. And then when I saw him here, I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, we gonna be good,’” Banks said. 

Jennings now has 11 regular-season games left in his career and looks to continue having fun playing the game he loves.