2025 ATH Dalen Penson Discusses Notre Dame Offer, Conversation with Chad Bowden
2025 Sandy Creek High School (Ga.) athlete Dalen Penson had himself a Sunday.
The 5-foot-10, 160-pounder was one of the top performances at the Under Armour combine in Atlanta. Out of 195 registered campers, Penson registered the fastest shuttle (4.13), the highest vertical (36.9), the longest broad jump (128.1) and the second fastest 40-yard dash (4.48).
Penson knew he did well, but the three-star prospect left Atlanta not knowing if it would change his recruitment. Well, it did as Notre Dame offered on Wednesday evening.
“I was just very appreciative and grateful that I was able to get offered from the Under Armour camp I participated in,” stated Penson. “I didn't know how I felt about it after the camp was done. I didn’t know if was really going to help me out or if I was just there. I was really excited to hear coaches noticed and saw it and find my name.”
Notre Dame was already familiar with Penson as Irish running backs coach Deland McCullough made a stop by his high school last month. On Wednesday evening, Chad Bowden was able to express why the staff wanted to offer.
“He was just telling me the numbers I put up were crazy and that’s what they were looking for.,” explained Penson. “He turned my film on and saw I was playing quarterback and said, ‘Wow, this dude is an athlete.’”
That in itself was reassuring to Penson due to the fact he knows he’s not a quarterback at the next level and ended up playing the position out of necessity.
“I thought that it was cool how coaches are able to look around the quarterback film that I have on there,” Penson said. “I had to play quarterback last year because we didn’t have a true quarterback. I’m glad I was still able to show off my athleticism.”
As for a position, Notre Dame views him as an athlete for now and Penson will have an opportunity to figure out where he wants to play in college in the coming months.
“Right now, it’s 50-50,” stated Penson. “Before the Notre Dame, I had 12 offers. Six were for receiver and six were at cornerback. A lot of schools have been asking what position I want to play in college. It’s mainly about using this next year to find what I want to play in college whether it’s wide receiver or cornerback.”
When it comes to visits, Penson is in the process of locking in a visit to Notre Dame. That could come this spring or he could come up for camp in June - or both.
“We were out at dinner and I told my parents about Notre Dame,” said Penson. “My dad said he would love to come and we could definitely travel up there to take a visit and go to the camp we had spoken about over the phone.
“I have Georgia Tech coming up in April and then I have a lot of other schools that I’ll possibly look into visiting. I have a lot of options I need to narrow down into which schools I can go to just do to scheduling, travel, fees and all that other stuff.”
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