[Sports] Spotlight Athlete: Penrod excels in 3 sports for Wauseon

[SliCeR]

الصور وبعد كدا لكلامWAUSEON — As far as high school student-athletes go, Wauseon’s Connar Penrod is a coach’s dream.

A standout in football, basketball, and baseball, the 6-foot-2, 180-pound senior carries a 3.9 grade-point average, is a fierce competitor, and is a student of each game he plays.

Penrod has signed to play baseball at Bowling Green State University, where the Falcons recruited him as a pitcher. 

But he is just as passionate about football in the fall and basketball in the winter.

“A lot of D-I [college] athletes specialize,” Penrod said. “My big thing has always been that I don’t want to burn myself out. So, whatever sport is in season, I’m all in on that sport at that time.

“I’ll have some secondary [training] action during basketball season throwing the baseball, but for the most part, whatever sport is in season, I work on that sport extremely hard. When that season is over, I turn the page and work on the next season.”

The past three football seasons illustrated Penrod’s versatility and overall athleticism.

As a sophomore, he was the starting varsity quarterback, but was moved to wide receiver as a junior in 2019. All he did at this new position was make 73 catches for 1,254 yards, and score 16 touchdowns on a 9-3 Wauseon team that reached the second round of the Division IV playoffs.

In the Indians’ first-round playoff game that season, Penrod had nine catches for a school-record 310 yards and scored four TDs in a 41-18 win over Bellevue. Penrod’s work was rewarded with a selection to the D-IV All-Ohio second team.

Entering this past season, Wauseon football coach Shawn Moore’s initial inclination was to keep Penrod at receiver, with an occasional turn at quarterback. Moore soon scrapped those plans.

“Connar is a tremendous athlete in whatever he’s doing,” Moore said. “He played quarterback from junior high through his sophomore year, and I saw some talent in [senior] Cody Figy last year at quarterback. That’s about all he could do position-wise, but Connar could play anywhere on the field, and he was all for the team.

“The plan this year was to keep him at wide receiver, and see if we could mix him in at quarterback. But he gave us the best chance to win playing quarterback, and we had some other pretty good receivers. He was a tremendous leader and did whatever he could to help us be successful.”

Penrod completed 119 of his 230 passes for 1,856 yards and 23 touchdowns for the 6-2 Indians. He also rushed for 325 yards and three TDs.

“I’m all about do whatever it takes to help the team win,” Penrod said. “Going to receiver, I was able to use my athleticism out on the edge. Coming back this year, having played quarterback before, that transition was just a mental review of the plays and how to read a defense. It was just about getting back into the swing of things.”

Penrod didn’t miss a beat.

“Connar’s a smart player, and that’s what kind of puts him above everybody else,” Moore said. “He just understands what we’re trying to do, and he has it in his head what everybody is supposed to do on the field.

“He understands defenses, and was willing to get the ball to the person who needed to get the ball. He didn’t try to force things, and made good reads. He could also move out of the pocket and scramble.”

When the calendar flipped to December, Penrod was back for his third season on the hard court with the Wauseon basketball team after averaging 10.5 points and 7.0 rebounds as a junior.

“Connar is obviously a very good athlete,” Indians basketball coach Chad Burt said. “What he’s added to his game this year is being more skilled and more versatile. He’s able to knock shots down, and that has added a dimension to his game.”

Through five games this season Penrod is averaging 13.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. He had a career-high 31 points in a 54-43 win over Napoleon on Dec. 12.

“We hope that stays consistent throughout the season,” Burt said. “What really sets him apart is his IQ. He’s one of the more intelligent athletes across the board in all fields of competition, whether it be football, basketball or baseball. He is really able to think at the next level, and make adjustments on the fly. He is that prototypical coach on the floor.”

Wauseon, along with the rest of Ohio spring sports teams, had its baseball season canceled by the coronavirus pandemic. Penrod’s last work as a prep pitcher came as a sophomore in 2019, when he was 4-2 with a 3.20 earned run average, and struck out 75 batters in 48 innings pitched.

Indians baseball coach Trent Thomas expects a much more dominant mound effort from his ace right-hander this spring.

“Connar thinks the game in every sport,” Thomas said. “I was the quarterback coach in football too. He’s got a mind for what he needs to do. He is super competitive. On the mound, he’s got dominant stuff, and he is just learning how to pitch.

“Once coach [Kyle] Hallock gets him full time at Bowling Green, I think the sky’s the limit for him. I think he’ll be [throwing] at least in the mid-90s [mph] before he leaves BG.

“He hit 90-91 on the [radar] gun last summer, and that was after we were off for three months. He worked out for about two weeks, and threw that fast. He’s got it in there.”