Nazareth’s James Penley made a big impression early in his career – and now he’s poised for a big finish

Nazareth senior James Penley made a big impression early in his varsity career.

Three years ago, the Roadrunners had a shortage of players because of the pandemic, leading veteran coach Tim Racki to deploy a number of freshmen – a rarity for Racki through all his years – to fill out the varsity roster.

Penley, a wide receiver/cornerback, was among the wide-eyed freshmen.

“I was very leery about bringing him up because of his size, but he had a motor and the right mentality,” Racki said. “We had low numbers, but I knew he wanted to be up. I tried to prepare him that this (varsity) is different.

“It was one of our first games when he got laid out after catching a pass. He just got rocked, almost folded in half. That was my biggest fear.”

Penley, a three-way contributor, shocked his coach.

“He just popped up right away,” Racki said. “He was a little sore, but he had just taken a tremendous hit by an all-conference senior safety. He has just kept improving from there.”

Penley said his “welcome to the varsity moment” came against Lemont in Week 2 of his freshman season.

“I remember I broke out onto a slant route, but the corner or safety was on it and in the blink of an eye, it was on my back,” Penley said. “He knocked the wind out of me. It happened faster than I was used to. He wasn’t even a huge kid, but I knew from then on to keep my head on a swivel. I remember coach checked on me, saw I was feeling good. From that moment on, he has not worried about me anymore.”

After a solid summer, Penley is a player to watch this season.

Penley caught 72 passes for 1,158 yards and nine touchdowns last season while finishing with 49 tackles and intercepting two passes.

A two-way starter, Penley was instrumental in Nazareth’s 38-20 victory over Joliet Catholic in the Class 5A state championship game last season. He had an electric performance at Illinois State University’s Hancock Stadium, hauling in seven passes for 163 yards and two touchdowns to go with three tackles and two pass breakups to help lead the Roadrunners (9-5) to their fifth state title since 2014.

“He’s always been mature beyond his years and had a great game against Joliet Catholic,” Racki said. “He’s extremely focused and very passionate about football, just an extreme competitor. He always brings that spark to practice and goes full speed and he gets mad at me when I take him out for a breath. He’s old-school.

“He thrives in the spotlight, especially catching punts. He’s very confident and comes up big in big moments.”

The 5-foot-9, 180-pounder said he dealt with a brief adjustment period last season starting on both sides of the ball. He enters the season with high expectations. Penley has received offers from Marshall and Tennessee-Martin.

“I’m definitely stronger,” he said. “I put on 15 pounds of muscle in the offseason. I put on weight but worked on getting faster and taking myself to the next level physically. I’m trying to focus on breaking tackles and also hitting harder.

“My goal is to play power four (football). My height is not the greatest, but it’s about showing what you can do, so it doesn’t matter if you don’t have the typical wide receiver height.”