Trevor Penning

Trevor Penning credits his success in football to a move he made in eighth grade to the Newman Catholic school system. It was there, he says, that he was pushed on and off the field to become a college-level player. Penning flew under the recruiting radar, partly because he was a little behind academically. But he landed at Northern Iowa, where developed into the first player in program history to go in the first round of the NFL draft. "You look back and see what's happened in these last five years — how he's worked and developed himself to come out where he's at right now," UNI coach Mark Farley told the Des Moines Register. "You just feel so good for him and the people who've guided him through that."