'DWTS' champ Rashad Jennings says women must love mom to get his heart

— -- Rashad Jennings may have won the Mirrorball Trophy, becoming the newest champion on "Dancing With the Stars," but the NFL running back is still searching for a dance partner in his own life.

Jennings, 32, said there's a secret to getting his heart -- getting along with his mother, Deborah.

"My mom, she’s gotten to know me over the years. 'My son don’t talk to just anybody,' [she says,]" he told People magazine. "So she gives the thumbs-up."

Jennings continued, "My mom is the sweetest. You’re going to love her no matter who you are, so she doesn’t play that much of a role in yes, no, yes, no. But, if you can’t get along with my mom, something’s wrong."

The NFL player, who proposed to his last girlfriend before the two split in 2014, reflected on the devastating breakup.

"There was a lot of looking in the mirror because you think you have your life all figured out, especially when it’s with somebody," he recalled. "You start seeing family together, you start making those kind of ambitions, decisions mentally and when that’s kind of taken away, there’s an emptiness."

Still, Jennings said he's glad they both walked away.

"We’re so thankful that it didn’t happen at that moment because life would have looked completely different," he admitted. "You know how you want something when you want it, the way you want it, but it’s just not right? That’s exactly what both of us were doing. We both agreed to that. We both were thankful for it."

And although that relationship didn't work out, Jennings is still optimistic about marriage. Still, he doesn't feel pressured.

"I don’t have a clock at all," he told People. "I feel like I can accomplish a lot more being single, but I know if the right person’s beside me, that statement’s false."