Friday, July 30, 2004
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State head football coach Jon Heacock says redshirt freshman Tom Zetts is the team's No. 1 quarterback heading into fall drills which begin next weekend.
That's the first big step the fourth-year head coach has taken in getting the Penguins back on the right track after a disastrous 2003 campaign.
For the past two seasons, the Penguins have gone into fall workouts without a projected starter at quarterback and have struggled both years at the position.
Zetts, a Boardman High standout, came to the Penguins last year, but suffered a season-ending broken collarbone in the team's season opener. It was the second straight year the 6-1, 203-pounder had suffered the break and in the exact same spot.
After sitting out the rest of the 2003 season as a medical redshirt, Zetts came back strong this past spring and took over the No. 1 spot from junior Aaron Marshall, who had been the starter for most of the past two seasons.
Heacock said that he and the coaching staff felt Zetts earned the nod in the spring.
"We've talked it over with the team and the other quarterbacks," Heacock said.
Although Zetts lacks game experience, he has shown great leadership this spring and he carried a perfect 4.0 grade point average in the fall and spring semesters. Many local experts are comparing his abilities to that of another Boardman standout, Jeff Ryan, who last guided the Penguins to the I-AA playoffs in 2000.
With the naming of Zetts, the Penguins become one of just four Gateway Conference teams to have a set starter at quarterback going into fall practice.
The other three are Joel Sambursky of Southern Illinois, Tom Petrie of Northern Iowa and Justin Haddix of Western Kentucky.
Handshakes
At the Gateway media day this week, Commissioner Patty Viverito announced a new policy. Beginning this year in Gateway play, student-athletes from both squads will have a pregame handshake before the opening kickoff.
The idea was put fourth after Western Kentucky and Western Illinois greeted each other on the field prior to their 2003 contest in Macomb. The previous meeting in the 2002 playoffs between the schools resulted in a postgame fight that included numerous suspensions for both schools.
Following that incident, the Gateway was looking for a way to do something to show the sportsmanship of the conference.
Viverito was impressed with the idea and took a proposal to all the Gateway presidents who were also in favor of the pregame handshake.
Transfers are focus
Players who haven't played a down in the Gateway were a point of focus by the press at media day.
Southern Illinois' new backfield tandem featuring Terry Jackson, a transfer from Minnesota, and Brandon Jacobs, a transfer from Auburn, were a highlight among questions asked to 2003 Gateway Coach of the Year Jerry Kill.
Indiana State's Tim McGuire said the Sycamores have added 29 new scholarship players for the coming season, including 21 junior college or Division I-A transfers.
McGuire also said that in the offseason the ISU administration stepped up funding for the football program which allowed it to hire two more full-time assistant coaches and increase the recruiting budget.
The Gateway also announced its football television package for the 2004 season.
There will be a minimum of eight games aired as part of the package, including two non-conference games and one game on the CSTV National I-AA Game of the Week.
Penguins on TV
Youngstown State will be part of this year's package as the Penguins will be on television on Oct. 2 when they travel to Bowling Green, Ky., to meet Western Kentucky in a 7:30 p.m. contest. That game will be carried over Fox Sports Midwest Network.
The YSU-Western Kentucky game will be aired the same day as the UNI-Southern Illinois contest in Carbondale, Ill. That game will be the CSTV National I-AA Game of the week beginning at 2:30 p.m.
Youngstown State football players will report for fall drills next Friday, with the first workouts scheduled for Saturday at Stambaugh Stadium.
XPete Mollica covers YSU athletics for The Vindicator. Write him at mollica@vindy.com.