Love and discipline: Michael Penix Jr. received both from his dad

“Well, my father didn’t raise me,” he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday. “My Mom raised me and three brothers. So, one of the main things I wanted to teach him was discipline and love. I really think that’s a strong thing that all kids should be taught in the beginning is love. When you teach them love, everything else will fall in place real easy.”

Penix Sr. was an outstanding running back at Tennessee Tech 1992-95. He was enshrined in the school’s Hall of Fame in November.

So when his son came to him at age 10 and told him he wanted to be a quarterback, he knew what to do. Penix Jr. was already recognizing a zone defense and knew how to attack Cover-Two zones.

“Me and my wife (Takisha), both, we always wanted our kids to make their own path, because I was a certain kind of athlete,” Penix Sr. said. “He was a certain kind of athlete. You’ve got to make your own way.

“When he decided that he wanted to be a quarterback and we saw that he had the skills to be a quarterback. me and my wife fully invested in him. We got a quarterback coach, training and so forth when we saw his potential.”

Penix Jr. said he enjoyed playing sports growing up.

“He always wanted to be outside,” Penix Sr. said. “He was always throwing things. Real good hand-to-eye coordination. We knew at a young age that he was going to be very athletic and talented because of some of things he was able to do with his feet and his hands at that age.”

Penix Sr. coached his son growing up.

“He wasn’t just a player’s coach,” Penix Jr. said. “My dad, he benched me. If I wasn’t playing good, he’d tell me I’m stinking up the field, because he wanted the best out of me. As a little kid, you don’t understand that.

“Just seeing how hard he pushed me to get to this point (where) I’m here today. It’s a blessing to have him and somebody like that in my life.”

Penix Sr. remembers the benching.

“He just got benched,” he said. “There was nothing else to be said or done. It’s just like any other player. The big thing when a parent decides to coach their kid, he has to make sure that he’s not your kid when you’re coaching, if that makes sense.”

At home, Penix Jr. was the son. In sports, he was Michael.

“We treated him the same way we treated every other kid on the field,” Penix Sr. said. “That’s the way I coach. … If Michael doesn’t do what he’s supposed to do on the football field, he won’t be on the football field. That was just the way that I did my thing.”

Then there was the matter of Penix Jr. not having his belt for his baseball uniform.

“Not the best memory, but I had an All-Star baseball game,” he said. “He was the All-Star coach. … I had to sit … not in the dugout, but in the stands, because I couldn’t find my belt on game day.”

He learned the lesson.

“He was just teaching me discipline,” Penix Jr. said. “You’ve got to be able to take care of your stuff. Whenever game day comes, you (must) have your stuff. You’ve got to be ready. I wasn’t ready that day. As a kid, you’re like ‘for a belt.’ I didn’t even need a belt.”

Penix Sr. didn’t think twice about the punishment for not being in uniform.

“That was simple,” he said. “Your team is depending on you, and part of your uniform was the belt. So, how you are going to be dependable if you don’t have your belt, a part of your uniform? Are you really ready to play at that time? Where is your mind at? So, your mind is not there. Something had to be done because he’s got to understand that every single thing, when you participate in a team sport, you have to do everything team-oriented. So, if the team is wearing a belt. You must wear a belt.”

The elder Penix once rushed for 261 yards against Southeast Missouri in 1993. He was a three-time Ohio Valley Conference selection.

“Me making the Hall of Fame was great,” he said. “But it is not all about me (any) more. My main focus is making sure my three boys are good right now. Not what I did in the past.”

The middle son is Mekhi, a wide receiver at Mississippi Gulf Coast, and the youngest is Mishon, who’s 15.

“Mishon is also a football player,” Penix Sr. said. “Me and my wife think he’s going to be the biggest of all of them. He’s already 6-foot-3 and over 190 pounds. We think he’s going to be the biggest. We have a receiver in Mekhi, and we have a defensive end/tight end in Mishon.”

They are proud of the all three, including Penix Jr., he said.

“Me and my wife are very proud of him,” Penix Sr. said. “He’s accomplished something that, stats of people going into the NFL is like 1%, or some real low percentage, of kids making the NFL. Even a lower percentage being a first-rounder. (Penix Jr. was the eighth overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft.) The things that he’s accomplished, we are very proud of him because of the way he fought.”

It wasn’t an easy road for Penix Jr., who suffered several injury setbacks in college.

“Nothing ever was given to him,” his dad said. “He worked hard at everything he did. He had to overcome a lot of things with his body, and he did. So, he’s in the stage now where God has put him there. He just has to do everything that he was doing, and he’ll be OK.”

AJC columnist Michael Cunningham contributed to this article.