A smiling Aarion Penton reached out to his baby sister, Geordin.
“Come here, girl!” he shouted.
He extended his arms and pulled his sister close.
Kimberly Penton remembers these moments. Aarion, her son, was in middle school. Geordin was only a few months old.
Kimberly remembers her son being family-oriented. He always was, and he still is.
Geordin passed away from a rare, genetic brain condition on March 1, 2008. Aarion was 13.
“They gave her six months to live, but she gave us 14 wonderful months,” Kimberly said. “And we enjoyed every bit of it with her.”
Aarion, now a senior at Missouri, has emerged as a top-notch cornerback in the Southeastern Conference. He already has two interceptions this season and has earned playing time since his freshman year.
Whenever he makes a big play on the field, he signals to Geordin.
“When he does something good, he always throws his hand up to his sister,” Kimberly said. “He always says that his family is what drives him.”
Aarion plays for his family, and his family supports him. Kimberly said she has only missed one of Aarion’s football games since he started playing at age six. The only one she missed? She was giving birth to George, Aarion’s younger brother.
From his days at Christian Brothers College High School to his senior year at Missouri, Aarion has found success in athletics. And, if all goes well this fall, the cornerback’s career could continue into the NFL.
####Growing up
Penton remembers people watching him play football as a kid. He would score multiple touchdowns a game and people would make comments about his speed and potential.
“I never really realized it,” he said. “I just had fun and competed.”
Growing up, Penton told his mother that he would play in the NFL. Kimberly had her doubts.
“I, to be honest, didn’t think he would play professional football,” she said. “I thought he would end up going to college as a basketball player.”
Aarion was athletically gifted growing up. He excelled in multiple sports, and his mother said he was always fast.
When he entered high school, Aarion joined the football, basketball and track teams. He made CBC’s varsity football team as a sophomore, and he helped the team reach a state title game.
Scott Pingel, the football coach at CBC, thinks Aarion matured greatly during his time in high school.
“Just seeing him grow up from a playful kid that didn’t always know right from wrong, to a senior who kind of understood what he wanted in life and just grew up,” he said.
Aarion credits Pingel’s program with helping him grow.
“They helped me out a lot,” Penton said. “Just staying focused and learning the good techniques and stuff to go with school and study habits. Coaching was great.”
Though he was a standout basketball player, Aarion primarily received interest from colleges for football. He decided to stay in his home state and attend Missouri.
Less than a year after graduating from CBC, Aarion Penton was playing in the SEC Championship Game.
####College
Aarion had immediate success with the Tigers. He played as a true freshman, helping Missouri to a Cotton Bowl Championship and a No. 5 national ranking.
Since then, Penton has continued to improve. He is not a tall player — Mizzou Athletics lists him at 5-foot-10 — but he has a physical style of play and trusts his athleticism.
“It’s a lot of corners in the league that’s just very athletic,” he said. “Not the tallest but good with ball skills and very physical. I just try and perfect my craft each day and just move forward and be positive.”
Penton said he enjoys watching professional defensive backs play, especially Aqib Talib of the Denver Broncos and Tyrann Mathieu and Patrick Peterson of the Arizona Cardinals.
The senior is not afraid to get in opponents’ faces during the game. He will jaw with wide receivers and make his presence known.
“That’s the competitor in him, man,” senior linebacker Michael Scherer said. “You can’t back down to anybody, you can’t let anybody walk all over you, and he doesn’t. It doesn’t matter how big a guy is, how tall he is, he’s going to stand up to anybody.”
Defensive coordinator DeMontie Cross describes Penton as a “compact, smaller player that plays big.”
As for the trash talking, Cross says that comes with the position.
“That’s what (defensive backs) and wide receivers do,” he said. “They just jaw … throughout the game, and either you make the plays or you don’t.”
Luckily for the Tigers, Penton usually does. This season, he already has eight tackles and three pass breakups to go along with his two interceptions.
He also has a presence in the huddle. Scherer said Penton is vocal and a leader on the defense.
Penton got to play in the SEC Championship Game as both a freshman and sophomore. He cherishes those memories, and he wants to return to the game in his final year with the Tigers. In the process, he wants to set an example for the team.
“I’m trying to lead the younger guys and show them how focused you have to be every time you step out there,” Penton said.
Senior defensive back Aarion Penton, 11, pumps up the crowd before a third-down play in the first quarter.ALEXZANDRIA CHURCHILL/SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
####Looking ahead
Though he doesn’t have the height of Peterson, Talib or many of the NFL’s star cornerbacks, Penton has potential to take his game to the next level.
Scherer thinks he has a good shot.
“He’s a really good corner, he’s really fast, he’s really athletic, he can do a lot of things …” the linebacker said. “If he just keeps playing the way he’s playing and keeps working the way he’s working, it’s not going to be a problem for him.”
Penton’s size may concern NFL scouts, but it is not necessarily a dealbreaker. There are smaller cornerbacks playing professionally.
Pingel has noticed improvements since Penton was in high school.
“Aarion’s a smaller guy,” he said, “but what I’ve noticed is how much stronger he’s gotten over the years playing against SEC receivers that are probably about 3 or 4 or 5 inches taller than him … he’s not afraid to stick his nose in there and make tackles.”
Though Pingel says he is not sure what professional teams are looking for, he is confident in Penton’s abilities.
“I know that he has the football mindset to play at the next level,” he said. “Probably not as tall as they want, but man the kid can play ball.”
Penton is a top-level SEC corner who plays physical football and does not get pushed around. His mom says he’s a naturally gifted runner, and he ends up a leader on whatever team he’s on.
With these skills, a professional career is possible.
And if Aarion Penton one day dons an NFL uniform, his family will be in the stands and his sister will be in his heart.
_Edited by Theo DeRosa | tderosa@themaneater.com_
