Measurables
UNIVERSITY- Northern Iowa AGE- 22 CLASS- RSSR
HEIGHT- 6’6 ¾” WEIGHT-330 ARM LENGTH- 34 ¾”
40 Time- 3 CONE- VERTICAL- BROAD JUMP- BENCH PRESS-
Overview
Trevor Penning played his high school ball at Newman Catholic High School in Iowa. There he played basketball and was part of the track/field team as a discus and shot-put thrower to go along with football. His first two years at Northern Iowa were limited as he redshirted his true freshman season(2017) and only appeared 4 games as a redshirt freshman in 2018. In 2019 Penning started in all 15 games. 2020s Covid situation made it interesting for the football conference of MVF, they skipped play all together in the fall and picked up a season in the spring of 2021. For that spring 2021 season Penning started 5 games at LT and 1 game at RT. He received All-MVFC honorable mention for the season. This last fall, fall of 2021, Penning started all 12 games at LT. By most publicans he was a FCS First-Team All-American, as well as First-Team All-MVFC, he received MFVC offensive linemen of the year and was considered a finalist for the Walter Payton National Offensive Player of the Year award. After the season was finished Penning was invited to the Reese’s Senior Bowl, where he was considered a standout for his physicality.
Strengths
From a physical standpoint, from a demeanor standpoint there’s a lot to love about Trevor Penning. If you’re drafting him early you have to realize that he needs some development. He may be a little tall for the position but I would consider him at guard to start and develop him at tackle until he’s ready. Regardless, the traits are hard to push aside. Penning has outstanding size and length for the position. He shows a quick first step to drop into his pass pro set. If we’re talking about point A to point B athleticism, Penning shows well in that aspect. For example, Penning shows the ability to run well across the field laterally, he shows good foot quickness in his pass pro sets when his technique is good. His power and finishing ability is what will absolutely jump off the screen at you. Penning has a strong upper body and an incredibly strong set of hands. Plays often end with his opponent on the ground. If they aren’t on the ground they’re getting stone-walled by his initial punch. He makes it a priority and a focus to rough up his opponent, even when it isn’t necessary he will toss an opponent to the ground. If he reaches his potential he can be an impact starter in the run game and a plus pass protector, that’s absolutely what you’re drafting him for. I see his best fit being in a power/gap run scheme but he has the athletic ability to be a zone-run scheme blocker.
Weaknesses/Room for Improvement
From a technical standpoint, Penning is all over the place. He plays way too upright most of the time and this leads to various issues. This allows for edge defenders to get underneath him and disengage, this restricts his ability to readjust to counter moves as a pass protector. It overall hurts his balance and causes him to get over-extended reaching for blocks. I would say it hurts Penning’s ability to drive his feet in the run game as well and clear people out of his gap. Penning seems to lack hip flexibility, which primarily shows up in the pass pro side of things. This is part of the reason he plays so upright. I felt he has good quickness but he struggles to change direction quickly, it seems like it labors him at-times to change directions. You really don’t see clean technique of any sort with Penning which is both exciting when you think about the room he has to grow but also scary because you have to wonder how much you improve with him. The easiest of which should be cleaning up his feet in pass pro, you often see false steps and not the smooth routine that is needed for the tackle position. In the run game, improving his leverage would make a world of difference. He can often fall off-balance from over-extending himself reaching for a block. You just have to work on his ability to stay square to a target. Penning’s lack of technique led to consistent holds and that was against rather poor competition in college, he will need to clean this up or it’ll be more of the same. If it’s me anywhere in the first round would be very risky to take a guy like this but the second round is probably worth a flier just for potential in year 2-3.
Scheme Fit
There’s so much development it hardly matters but his style is better suited for a power-run scheme. Likely projects as a RT.
Round Grade
Second Round