ST. PETERSBURG, Fla – On Thursday, the Tampa Bay Rowdies announced that the club has added forward Cal Jennings to the squad for the upcoming USL Championship season. The deal is pending league and federation approval.
Jennings has spent the last two years under contract with Major League Soccer’s LAFC, but the majority of his playing time has come on loan in the USL Championship at Las Vegas Lights FC, where he produced back-to-back 11-goal seasons. Last season, Jennings recorded a career-high six assists for Las Vegas, following up on his four assists the previous year.
“Without putting too much pressure on Cal, because he’s still a young player, but the reason that we made some of the decisions we made this offseason was to open up the opportunity for Cal to come in,” said Rowdies Head Coach Neill Collins.
“It’s about getting better, and I think Cal can help us get better. We can help him get better as well. He’s very quick. He’s very good at threatening defenses in behind. He’s a goal scorer and a hard-working player that showed a real desire to be here. He’s got big boots to fill. We were the top goal scorers in the league last year but we also feel that we missed a lot of chances as well. We’re hoping that Cal can get those opportunities and continue that goal-scoring form he’s had and develop the other parts of his game.”
Over the last three years, Jennings has proven to be one of the most consistent finishers in the league. Including his nine-goal season with Memphis 901 FC in 2020, Jennings has notched 31 goals in 59 USL Championship appearances at a strike rate of a goal every 143.3 minutes.
“I was looking for a good team, a team that can compete for championships, a team that has sustained success. The Rowdies have done this,” Jennings said. “I also wanted to find a team where I fit the system, where I could push to win the Golden Boot. As evidenced by last year and previous years, the Rowdies create a lot of chances. I’m hoping to even up that number.”
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Jennings played his college soccer at the University of Central Florida. He tallied 46 goals during his four-year career for the Knights and was named a semifinalist for the Hermann Trophy in his senior season.
FC Dallas picked Jennings in the 2020 MLS SuperDraft, but the young striker ended up signing his first professional contract with Memphis in the USL Championship. After a successful debut season with Memphis, LAFC acquired Jennings’ MLS rights in order to bring him to Los Angeles. Jennings appeared in 11 matches over two seasons with LAFC and scored in the club’s victory over Orange County SC in the Third Round of the 2022 U.S. Open Cup.
“I want to create a lot of chances for myself and others,” said Jennings. “But even beyond that, I want to be on a team that is winning the league, winning the Eastern Conference, winning the U.S. Open Cup. I’ve seen what winning is like at different points of my career and I’ve also seen what losing is like and what being at the bottom is like. It’s a whole lot easier to be in a locker room that is having success, but it takes a lot of hard work to do so. I’m committed to putting that work in.”
The Rowdies are set to kick off their 34-match 2023 USL Championship campaign at home on Saturday, March 11 versus Indy Eleven. View the full schedule here. Single-game tickets will go on sale to the public in February. Fans can secure season ticket packages by visiting rowdiessoccer.com/seasontickets/ or calling 727-222-2000.
Current 2023 Rowdies Roster
Goalkeepers: Raiko Arozarena, Phil Breno, Connor Sparrow
Defenders: Conner Antley, Aaron Guillen, Freddy Kleemann, Forrest Lasso
Midfielders: Jake Areman, Sebastian Dalgaard, Charlie Dennis, Jordan Doherty, Yann Ekra, Leo Fernandes, Dayonn Harris, Zach Herivaux, Lewis Hilton
Forwards: Cal Jennings, Ariel Martinez, Lucky Mkosana, Felix Schröter, JJ Williams