We’re in the summer months now, and that means adults take a look at the games student-athletes play and decide how to change the rules one way or another. Have faith, though. Those adults on the Division I Football Oversight Committee have three non-voting player representatives, and one is West Virginia receiver Gary Jennings.

Jennings, who was nominated by WVU’s athletic department administration, forwarded along to the Big 12 and then selected by the NCAA, is learning how broad the NCAA is. There are more layers than he imagined, and any decision involves detail and procedures. It’s new to him, and it’s “great I’m surrounded by so many smart people,” but Jennings has a purpose and feels the need to serve it.

He does not act on his own. When he’s asked about an issue, he gets to work. He reads about the topics that come to him and spends lengthy periods of time researching on the Internet. Jennings talks to his parents, to his peers, to his teammates — “They all say, ‘More money,’” Jennings said. — and to anyone else he believes can add to what he knows and what he’s trying to share.

“I feel that all voices are heard on this committee, so I want to make sure I’m saying what I believe needs to be said,” Jennings said. “That’s what the cool part is. I was able to experience that in Nashville. I was in a room with Bob Bowlsby and a bunch of other commissioners and athletic directors, and they were asking me questions about what I thought.”