USU's Penn recovering from injury

Donald Penn made 42 career starts on the offensive in his stellar four-year football career at Utah State, but on the first snap of the 2006 Hula Bowl in Honolulu in late January, the 6-foot-5, 315-pounder suffered a second-degree tear in his MCL when Utah's Quinton Ganther fell on him while being tackled.

"I played for the rest of the game. I didn't know how bad it was until I got home and had an MRI," Penn said. "It was really disappointing."

Instead of fully participating in the NFL Combine last month at full strength, Penn worked out in limited drills, but was there mostly to make contacts.

"A lot of the coaches at the combine said not to worry about it because they had seen me on film and know that I can play," Penn said.

Penn spoke with 15 to 20 more scouts Tuesday at Utah State's first Pro Day and reiterated to them he would be ready when the second Pro Day rolls around Mar. 28.

"All that counts is they have seen me play," he said. "I think I'm still good and when I do have the opportunity to test I know I will test well."

Tuesday Penn tested in strength and benched 225 pounds 22 times. Defensive tackle John Chick and defensive back Jarrett Bush worked out in all the strength, speed and agility drills.

"They did really good," Penn said.

Penn, who made 41 consecutive starts, was named to the Western Athletic Conference second-team.

Chick (6-4, 248) led the WAC and ranked fifth in the nation with 12 1/2 sacks. It was the most sacks recorded in a season by an Aggie since 1986. For the year he tallied 48 tackles and 19 tackles for loss.

Bush (6-1, 198) ranked sixth in the nation in passes defended with 13. He also finished fifth on the team with 50 tackles and tied for the team-high with two interceptions.

Both Chick and Bush were named to the WAC First-Team.

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E-mail: jhinton@desnews.com