YSU FOOTBALL Voting for captains is vote for everyone

Yancey Marcum and Mike Bracken will be joined other seniors on a rotating basis.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- Senior defensive standouts Yancey Marcum and Mike Bracken were announced Monday as captains for the Youngstown State football team.
Marcum, a 6-foot-1, 240-pound linebacker from Nicholasville, Ky., was the team leader in tackles a year ago with 114 and started every game.
Bracken, a 6-0, 210-pound strong safety from Imperial, Pa., was tied for second in tackles with 86. He has started every game for the Penguins the last two years and has played in every YSU game all of his last three seasons.
YSU coach Jon Heacock said the voting was a new experience for him.
"Yancey and Mike were the choice for defensive captains by the team vote," he explained. "On offense all of our seniors received equal votes and, rather than pick just one, we decided that we will rotate the rest of the seniors every game during the season as our other captains."
Shared equally
The remaining 13 seniors will rotate as the other two captains each game and at least one will be from the offense each week.
"Since the voting was so close we didn't feel that it was fair to pick just one or two," Heacock said.
Heacock said every senior received votes.
"Once again we have a great group of seniors that follow in the great tradition at YSU," he said. "They are all leaders on and off the field.
The offensive seniors are tight end Mike Roberts (6-0, 250) from Plant City, Fla., wide receiver Phil Larmon (5-11, 185) from Worthington, wide receiver Matt Rycraft (6-0, 185) from West Branch High, guard Norris Kennedy (6-2, 303) from Lake Wales, Fla., and placekicker Nick Terracina (5-9, 176) from Lake Charles, La.
On defense there is lineman Nate Baston (6-1, 255) from Bethel Park, Pa., lineman Matt Briggs (6-4, 259) from Cleveland, tackle Jason Eisele (6-5, 290) from Avon Lake, cornerback Herb Jones (5-10, 184) from Twinsburg, end Justin Martin (6-3, 260) from Downers Grove, Ill., tackle Matt Porter (6-3, 268) from Yuma City, Calif., cornerback Steve Reynolds (6-1, 200) from Akron and punter Ryan Martino (5-10, 176) from Youngstown.
The Penguins held a light workout Monday in shells and shorts, after which Heacock announced the captains to the team.
Surgery for Edwards
Redshirt freshman defensive tackle Leon Edwards will miss three to four weeks as he is scheduled to have knee surgery this week. Edwards is a 6-0, 330-pound backup on the defensive line from Lutheran West High in suburban Cleveland.
With the start of classes on Monday the Penguins were hit with a large number of walk-on players who wanted to try out.
"There must have been 800 of then down there," Heacock joked. "We'll have to weed them out and hopefully there might be a player or two in the group."
Actually the figure was closer to 50 and those candidates will undergo a tough workout with strength and conditioning coach Todd Burkey the rest of this week.
"Whoever makes it through this week will probably be out here at practice next week," Burkey said.
The Penguins were scheduled to practice at 3:15 p.m. today and Wednesday. YSU will hold a practice on Thursday afternoon and then take Friday off before starting "game week" on Saturday in preparation for the season opener Sept. 2 with Slippery Rock.
mollica@vindy.com