Badgers tight end Penniston learns to be a better blocker
MADISON - This is what happens with great teams in the midst of record-setting seasons. Contributions come from every corner of the locker room all year long to keep the train rolling.
When Zander Neuville suffered a right knee injury at Minnesota last week, backup tight end Kyle Penniston came up with a nice 5-yard touchdown catch to help Wisconsin take a 17-0 lead with 50 seconds left in the first half.
Now, Neuville’s season has ended. Sources told
the Journal Sentinel on Wednesday morning he would not play Saturday against Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game.
That means Penniston is the No. 2 tight end behind senior Troy Fumagalli.
We know Penniston has the passcatching ability. But how about Penniston’s exceptional downfield block earlier in the second quarter last week? On Austin Ramesh’s 41-yard run to the Minnesota 15, which set up a field goal for a 10-0 lead, Penniston engaged the safety along the sideline for about 20 yards to clear the path for Ramesh.
“The guy I was supposed to block – he went the wrong way, and I just tried to go find the nearest guy to hit,” said Penniston. “He was the high safety and once I got in there I heard everyone screaming, so I knew ‘Ram’ probably broke a tackle or two.”
Blocking is something that Penniston knew he had to work on ever since he got to Wisconsin, but the redshirt sophomore really turned a corner this season.
“You know, we get on ‘Penny’ a lot,” said Badgers offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph. “But he really has improved tremendously. I love his progress through the year.”
The process began with getting bigger. The 6-foot-4 Penniston came in weighing 220 pounds .
“Coach (Shaun) Snee gave me a plan. I mean, I said if there was something like squash on there – I’m not going to eat squash,” said Penniston. “But 8 to 10 vegetables a day, I can eat for you.”
Penniston said he packed on 25 good pounds and started the season at 245. That was the first step that showed the coaches his willingness to block, and that effort was further evident in Wisconsin’s one-on-one drills.
“It starts off with one-on-one,” said Rudolph. “You want to carve the drill down to as simple as possible, just to let him see, in a perfect world, in a vacuum, how you’re supposed to be.
“Then you’ve got to do it when there’s a lot of things buzzing around you.”
At Wisconsin, blocking is critical. The run game is always a priority here. Penniston believes if you don’t block, you won’t play.
“Here’s how we’ve always explained it,” said Rudolph. “To be in there as a second tight end you’ve got to be better than the fullback or the third wide receiver.
“And to be the third tight end on the field you better be better than the second receiver or the fullback. You’re trying your best to put personnel groups out there that are the best players you can get on the field.
“If you’re going to be a playmaker in the pass game, a lot of that comes off of play action, especially when you use multiple tight ends. And so, yeah, you better be able to block.”
Not knowing exactly how the work would pay off, Penniston kept pursuing his goals behind the scenes.
“I learned a lot from Troy, just learning his techniques that he uses in the run game,” said Penniston.
Now that Neuville is out, Penniston’s role could expand. Everyone seems to see the potential.
Quarterback Alex Hornibrook sees it, too. In fact, he had just corrected his tight ends on that play that ended up getting Penniston the TD.
“On the touchdown, we were practicing it and I was too shallow,” said Penniston. “Alex wanted us closer to the back of the end zone so either the ball is going to get thrown out of the back of the end zone if it’s too high or you haul it in.
“I think my pass catching is there, but it’s the run blocking that’s going to get you on the field here. I still have a long way to go but it’s cool to see I was able to throw some blocks out there Saturday and make some big plays happen.”