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EXCLUSIVE: Michael Penix, Sr. Knew Son’s Future at Age 10

EXCLUSIVE: Michael Penix, Sr. Knew Son’s Future at Age 10

One Sunday afternoon Michael Penix, Sr. and his 10-year old son Michael were watching an NFL game.  In the middle of game the youngster turned to his dad.

“He said ‘Dad, I want to be a quarterback’,” recalled Michael Penix, senior.

Thinking he would be simply calling his son’s bluff.  Dad didn’t push his son into football, but his own passion for the sport has clearly rubbed off on his first-born.  Still, he hoped that he’d choose to follow in his gridiron footsteps as a running back.

Senior grabbed the TV’s remote mid play.

“I hit pause just as the quarterback dropped back.  I said ‘ok, you’re the quarterback.  Where are you going to throw the ball here?’’’

Penix, Jr. leaned towards the TV screen and pointed at the players frozen in time.

”Well, the defense is in Cover 2,” Junior explained.  “The primary receiver is covered up but if the QB has time he should be able to get the ball to the second receiver.”

First, the elder Penix was a bit surprised that his son even knew all of the football terminology but also that he had immediately recognized the defensive alignment.  Seemingly, Junior had caught up to his dad who played college football.

Senior was a one of the best running back Tennessee Tech history.  Between 1992 and 1995 he has three games of over 200 all-purpose yards and 13 games with more than 100 rushing yards.  He still holds the Golden Eagles’ school-record of yards in a single game with 261 yards against Southeast Missouri in 1993.  Additionally, he still holds the TTU record for longest run from scrimmage with a 92-yard touchdown run against Murray State in 1994.

Senior would have considered it a blessing to have his first-born follow in his footsteps to the school where he met his wife, a track star from Queens, New York.

Secretly, he hoped that by pausing the game and letting his son look at the complexities a quarterback faced on any given play he could derail any notion of his namesake trying to be a quarterback.

“I hit play and boom exactly what he saw is what the quarterback did,” he said.

And that happened again and again and again—8 months shy of his 11th birthday.

Sundays of watching football together on their Tampa-area sofa shifted from a pastime between father and son to weekly, live “school’s in session” moments.

“He was able to process plays, go through the quarteback’s progressions, the defensive alignments and coverage schemes,” Penix, Sr. recalled.

And his sone was 10 years old.

“We knew he was something special–that he had a gift,” he added.

Sure, he had the athletic genes of his parents but a football mind well-beyond his years.

“We knew we had to find him a quarterback guru,” he said.  “He already knew where every player was supposed to be and when they were supposed to be there.  He needed an instructor to help him master the mechanics of throwing.  As a former running back myself, I knew that I  could only teach him so much about the position.”

Under the tutelage of a QB coach and Jason Robers at Tampa Bay Tech High School in Florida, Penix Jr. started his final two seasons.  In the two seasons for the Titans, between 2016 and 2017 Penix, Jr. threw for 4,243 yards, with 61 touchdowns and six interceptions. He went 20-4 in his career.

Roberts saw what Penix, Sr. saw, and in 2019 he told Sports Illustrated:  “He was the best high school quarterback I’ve ever seen.  I expect him to be great, be a Heisman (Trophy) finalist and be a first-round pick.”

But at Indiana University each of his 4 seasons ended with an injury.  He played in three games in his freshman season in 2018 before tearing his ACL.  Rinse, repeat the next 4 seasons.  His body was injured but not his mind.

He transferred to the University of Washington where he lost a total of 3 games, making it to the National Championship Game.  As Roberts predicted, Penix, Jr. was a Heisman finalist and a first-round draft pick.

He left out the part of Penix as a rookie taking over for a 12-year veteran in the 14th game of the season.

Sunday against the New York Giants Michael Penix, Jr. will have a chance to show what his dad saw 14 years ago on their Tampa sofa.

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