One person who will be very interested in watching Jets quarterback Chad Pennington perform against the Vikings on Sunday will be Gophers co-offensive coordinator Tony Petersen, who recruited and coached Pennington for four years at Marshall University.
And in 1997, Pennington's favorite receiver was former Vikings star Randy Moss, who once caught five touchdown passes in a game against Ball State.
Coming out of high school in Knoxville, Tenn., Pennington's only college scholarship offer came from Marshall, a school that graduated both of his parents.
But he made great progress, helped by his one season with Moss as a receiver, and in 2000 the Jets made him the first quarterback taken in the NFL draft -- further proof of how overrated recruiting rankings are.
"He was a good high school quarterback but he didn't throw the ball a lot, and was probably two inches shorter and only weighed about 185 pounds at the time," Petersen said. "Now he's 6-3 and weighs about 225.
"He played as a true freshman, and then Chad ended up redshirting his sophomore year and then he played the next three," Petersen added.
"Yeah, Randy was there Chad's junior year, so he threw to him the one year, and that season Moss broke the all-time reception record for Marshall."
Petersen said Pennington doesn't have a super great arm but has all the other needed qualities for a top quarterback.
Petersen also coached Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Byron Leftwich, who backed up Pennington as a freshman at Marshall.
Likes Pennington
Brooks Bollinger, who came to the Vikings from the Jets, is a big admirer of Pennington.
"I was fortunate to be able to be with him for almost four years and learned a lot of football from him," Bollinger said. "He's a very detail-oriented player, he's a very smart player, very accurate thrower, and he prepares himself week in and week out, you know, unlike anyone I've really seen."
Bollinger, who has been sidelined because of a shoulder problem, said his knowledge of Jets personnel could help the Vikings in their preparations.
"I've obviously been around the personnel quite a bit, so I know the players pretty well," he said. "But they're such a multiple team on offense and defense. They do so much stuff and they're willing to change week in and week out, so it's hard for me to really have a bead on what they're doing at this point."
Hunt will be missed
The American Football League, founded by Bud Adams of Houston and Lamar Hunt of Dallas, had scheduled one of its first meetings in 1960 at the old Pick-Nicollet Hotel in Minneapolis, and Minneapolis was named a charter league member.
That was when I first met Hunt, the Chiefs owner who died Wednesday. I recalled how upset he was when Max Winter and the Minneapolis group withdrew from the AFL to seek an NFL franchise. The AFL franchise intended for Minnesota was awarded to Oakland and became the Raiders.
Hunt went on to become one of the prime movers in the merger of the NFL and the AFL and was one of the men who came up with the idea of playing the Super Bowl. He was a great NFL leader.
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