Chad Pennington - College Career

College Career

Originally the Thundering Herd's fourth-string quarterback in 1995 (and slated to be redshirted), Pennington led Marshall to the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship game, in which Marshall lost to Montana, 22-20. The following year, Pennington was redshirted in favor of Eric Kresser, a transfer from the University of Florida who guided the Herd's return to the 1-AA Championship game in 1996. Pennington returned to play in 1997 as Marshall moved from Division 1-AA to Division 1-A football. His senior year (1999) featured Marshall having an undefeated and untied record (13-0) as Pennington led the team to its third consecutive Mid-American Conference championship.

Pennington set school records in several passing categories. Randy Moss was Pennington's top receiver at Marshall. He finished fifth in Heisman voting in 1999. Pennington was selected by the New York Jets in the first round and was the eighteenth (18th) overall pick of the 2000 NFL Draft. Pennington finished his career at Marshall with 1,026 of 1,619 completions for 13,423 yards and 115 touchdowns, with only 45 interceptions.

He led Marshall to the school's first bowl victory in a 48-29 routing of Louisville in the 1998 Motor City Bowl. Pennington was the bowl game's MVP. Pennington and Marshall returned to Pontiac, Michigan, the following year taking a 21-3 victory over Brigham Young, capping Pennington's undefeated senior season.

In addition to his success on the football field, Pennington excelled academically, graduating with a degree in journalism, a 3.83 grade point average and becoming a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship. He wrote frequently for Marshall's newspaper The Parthenon and was a broadcaster for the school's radio station, although he used a pseudonym on air so as not to be distracting.