Cary-Grove's Pennington the complete package - physically, mentally

Junior fullback Tyler Pennington has developed into a Cary-Grove all-timer by being a practice one-timer.

Built sturdily if not spectacularly at 5-feet, 11 inches and 205 pounds, Pennington has been collecting yardage and touchdowns at a school-record pace since his freshman year, thanks to a running style that combines intelligence with instinct.

"Many times if a statement is made in general but not directed specifically at a kid, they'll often forget it or not pay attention to it," Cary-Grove coach Brad Seaburg said. "Tyler pays attention to everything we say. He's a classic one-timer. When you tell him one time he gets it and he does it. That's why he's so instinctive. He's so in tune with what's going on around him. He is so mature for a high school kid."

Pennington played a mix of defensive line and linebacker for the first three games of the 2013 season. He switched to fullback for the final 8 games of his freshman year and the rest is Cary-Grove rushing history.

In 8 games at fullback as a freshman, he carried 197 times for 1,120 yards and 8 touchdowns for a team that lost in the second round of the Class 7A playoffs to Boylan, which later lost to eventual state champion Batavia in a semifinal.

In 14 games as a sophomore, Pennington carried 274 times for 1,833 yards and 35 touchdowns. In a 31-28 loss to Providence in the 2014 Class 7A championship game last November, he gained 180 yards and scored 2 touchdowns in 39 attempts. He also played most of that game at linebacker and made 4 tackles.

Despite the loss of four of five starters from arguably the best offensive line Cary-Grove ever fielded, Pennington again is flourishing. Entering a Class 7A quarterfinal at Batavia on Saturday at 1 p.m., he has rushed 241 times for 1,257 yards and 21 touchdowns.

His career totals are unwieldy. In 712 rushing attempts over 33 games as a fullback, including nine postseason games, Pennington has gained 4,200 yards, good for a career average of 5.9 yards per carry. He holds the school record for touchdowns with 64.

Pennington became Cary-Grove's all-time leading rusher at midseason, surpassing Eric Chandler, a 2010 graduate who helped the Trojans win the Class 6A state title in 2009. He went on to play four years at Augustana and is now a Cary-Grove English teacher and assistant freshmen football coach. Chandler finished his three-year varsity career with a then-record 3,483 rushing yards and 46 touchdowns. Kevin Kaplan, a 1999 graduate, is third on the program's all-time rushing list with 3,076 yards.

Pennington has added 15 pounds of muscle each of the last two offseasons, but Chandler said the young fullback's brain contributes as much to his success as his brawn.

"His physical attributes improve every year because he works so hard in the off-season, but I'm impressed with how smart a football player he is," Chandler said. "We joke that we hope down the line he's a coach because he has the mental ability to pick things up quickly and has for three years. That's pretty incredible for someone his age. His numbers for the 40 (yard dash) and for the squat are good, but the difference for him is he has the intellectual level of some of the third- or fourth-year players I played with at Augustana. Sometimes I scratch my head and can't believe how he got there."

The instinctive aspect of Pennington's game is derived partly from his upbringing. Raised in what he calls "a sports family" by parents Doug and Stellana Pennington - Doug played at Lane Tech before playing defensive line at Northern Illinois, Triton College and Northwestern - Tyler began playing football for the Cary Jr. Trojans at age six. He said playing the sport for 11 seasons has helped develop his football intellect and hone his instincts.

"I've been watching and playing sports since I was born so I have the natural instincts," Pennington said, "but I think you develop all the little details over time. It's those little details that matter the most."

Pennington's arsenal of physical and mental skills was on display in last week's 35-17 win over Benet in a Class 7A second-round game. Offensively, he rushed for 151 yards and 3 touchdowns. Defensively, he notched 3 sacks, forced 2 fumbles and recovered another.

Now, it's Batavia's turn to scheme for Pennington.

"He's a very good football player. We'd better figure out a way to deal with him because no one else has, it seems to me," Batavia coach Dennis Piron said. "He makes their offense click."

Cary-Grove's workhorse fullback said the triple-option offense won't approach Batavia's physical defense any differently.

"They are a very good team from a great program with a great defensive line and a great coaching staff," Pennington said of the 10-1 Bulldogs. "We have full confidence that we can do what we do against any team as long as we're playing our game."

Pennington could finish as one of the greatest rushers in IHSA history. If the durable fullback maintains his career average of 127.3 yards per game in Saturday's quarterfinal and 11 games next season (Cary-Grove has played at least 11 games every year since 2004), he would finish with 5,727 career yards, which would rank eighth on the state's all-time list.

Pennington spoke like an all-timer this week when he said he is not concerned with individual accomplishments like becoming his school's all-time rushing leader.

"I'll take it, but hopefully we still have a few more games left this year," he said. "I'm just trying to do my job so we can play one more game next week."

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