Third-year NFL quarterback Michael Penix Jr. now has a season’s worth of starts at 17.
But there’s one thing the Atlanta Falcons signal-caller hasn’t done yet.
Play in his backyard.
This Sunday, Penix will be about 40 miles north of his hometown, Dade City, when Atlanta (3-4) heads to Raymond James Stadium for a Week 8 NFC South road clash against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-5).
“It’s exciting,” Penix told reporters Wednesday. “I imagine I should have a lot of people coming to the game. My mom usually knows that headcount. But it’s going to be exciting to be able to get out there.”
Penix was originally born in Cookeville, Tennessee, where his father, Michael Sr., starred as a running back and his mother, Takisha, was a track and field athlete at Tennessee Tech. The family then relocated to Dade City and later to Riverview.
In a 2019 interview with Indiana Hoosiers on SI, Penix Sr. shared that his baby, Penix Jr., took his first steps in the end zone of a local football field.
“His very first steps as a baby – they were actually in the end zone,’’ Penix, Sr. told Tom Brew. “His first steps were right out there on the football field, right there in the end zone with me. How’s that fo...