Missouri Tigers’ Aarion Penton to Attend Senior Bowl
Mizzou product Aarion Penton will attend this year’s Senior Bowl.
With Colorado cornerback Chidobe Awuzie dealing with an injury and unable to participate in the coming week’s Reese’s Senior Bowl festivities, Missouri Tigers cornerback Aarion Penton has been invited to the week-long showcase, as reported by Josh Norris of RotoWorld and NBC Sports.
Penton, a 5-foot-10, 195-pounder from CBC High School in St. Louis, is coming off a week at the East-West Shrine Game in St. Petersburg, Florida. The coming week will give him more chances to prove himself as a worthy pro to NFL talent evaluators. Obviously, since he received the call-up after his performance at the East-West Shrine, he must have already done something to catch the eye of scouts and executives from around the league.
In 12 games during 2016, Penton had 43 total tackles, a team-leading five interceptions for 82 yards, and a team-best 12 pass breakups.
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Though Alabama’s Minkah Fitzpatrick picked off passes in both the SEC Championship Game and the College Football Playoff Semifinal to give him six for the season, Penton’s five gave him the most interceptions of any SEC player during regular season play.
Penton has remained free of controversy for over two years now after getting off to a rough start to his college career. Penton was arrested twice in 2014 for marijuana possession–once in March and once in November–and the second arrest earned him a one-game suspension.
He’s avoided legal trouble since then, though, and played in every game for his final two seasons as a Tiger.
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Penton is currently considered by most to be a fifth or sixth-round prospect, but we’ve seen cases in the past where a strong Senior Bowl week has enabled a player to jump up from being a relative afterthought to an early-round prospect.