Weather forces YSU to 'Holler' elsewhere

The Penguins find other ways to continue their spring instruction.
By BRIAN RICHESSON
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- It seems fitting that 4 inches of snow fell Monday on a group of Penguins.
But snow and cold don't exactly go well with Youngstown State football, at least not when the program is trying to conduct spring workouts.
"I'd rather have winter back," Youngstown State coach Jon Heacock joked. "It was a lot warmer."
After inclement weather had wiped out two Penguin practices, the program's annual Hoot-N-Holler drill -- its first contact workout of the spring -- was also canceled Monday and hasn't been rescheduled.
"It's a little frustrating," said Heacock, the second-year coach. "At the same time, it doesn't give you an excuse to sit around and complain.
"There could be a million reasons to be depressed, but nobody cares."
Do their best: When weather forces Youngstown State to move indoors, Heacock and his staff do their best to continue instruction.
"We have young folks who need all the attention they can get," Heacock said. "And we have a group of older guys who need to realize the guy next to him needs all the help he can get."
While indoors, attention is usually placed on offensive/defensive work, individual drills and anything that can be picked up on video.
"You continue to try to teach and learn," Heacock said. "If we have to go into the gym to have indoor workouts, we will."
Which isn't all bad, Heacock said, because the beginning of the spring is mostly spent on fundamentals anyway.
"Like getting a guy to know where to line up, where his assignments are," he said.
Still, Monday's Hoot-N-Holler drill would have given players an opportunity to let off some steam in a contact-drill setting.
Training: "They've been conditioning over the winter, and they've trained hard. For them it's time to go after it a little bit," Heacock said.
"But I give them credit; the days they've been out there, they've been focused," he added. "I would just like us to get some repetition so the learning curve stays the same."
Even if it has been slowed by the weather, Youngstown State will push forward this spring with hopes of solidifying holes at quarterback, offensive line, receiver and secondary.
"We're OK," Heacock said. "We have 20 days to get things in; we've got some time at the end.
"We're not panicked by any mode."
richesson@vindy.com