Early Years
Pennington's father, Elwood, was a physical education teacher and football coach at Halls High School, and his mother, Denise, a teacher at the Webb School of Knoxville. Pennington's first sport was basketball, which he began playing in the third grade. Both of Pennington's parents are of English descent. He began playing football in his freshman year in high school. His parents decided to have him repeat the eighth grade when he was enrolled at the Webb School of Knoxville due to the school's intense academic program. Pennington played baseball, basketball and football at Webb but knew he had a better chance at getting into college via football.
He was only recruited by two colleges, Middle Tennessee State University and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, both Division 1-AA schools. In 1995, he went to a training camp at Marshall University, his parents' alma mater, where he was noticed by head football coach Jim Donnan and offered a scholarship.
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