Knoxville, Tenn. (WVLT) -- For the 17th year, footballs were flying at the Pennington Quarterbacks and Receivers Camp.

"17 years. Time flies," Chad Pennington told Sports Overtime Monday afternoon. "To grow up in this camp, coach the camp, and now run the camp, it's been alot of fun. I always look forward to coming back in July and working with the campers and coaches and seeing familiar faces."

The camp kicked off Monday and will end Wednesday afternoon.

"Alot of these campers start when they are in 8th grade and they finish the camp four of five years later when they are seniors in high school," Pennington continued. "It's nice to see the evolution of them not only as football players, but as people. Some of these kids have gone on to play college ball and then they come back and help us in the camp. It's really a nice thing we have going."

Pennington quarterbacked the Miami Dolphins to an AFC East championship last season, a year in which he was named the NFL Comeback Player of the Year.

The Knoxville native is entering his tenth season as an NFL quarterback. Just once did he face the late Steve McNair. That game was played in 2003, when Pennington was a member of the New York Jets.

"I will always remember Steve as a gutsy performer. Tough, gritty, played hurt alot of times. In today's game you get nicks and bruises and they won't play. He played regardless with what he had. I remember one year in the playoff run, he had a stretch with the Titans where he didn't even practice and he played the games on Sundays. That's unheard of. For him to play at that level, at a playoff level and to get his body ready regardless of the injuries he was facing is pretty unbelievable."