TOM ZETTS Not all fun and games

Adjusting to college-level talent has been a challenge for YSU's quarterback.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- Tom Zetts just wants to be the quarterback that he was a few months ago.
Zetts, the redshirt freshman from Boardman, earned the starting quarterback position with his play this past spring, but hasn't been nearly as good since the season began.
The Penguins own a two-game losing streak, both Gateway Conference games, and are 2-4 on the season heading into Saturday's homecoming contest against Northern Iowa (1-4, 0-2) set for 4 p.m. at Stambaugh Stadium.
"It was fun in the spring -- there were no games, no pressure, just the fun of playing the game," Zetts said. "That's what I want to do now."
The 6-1, 203 pounder has been carrying a lot of pressure on his shoulders this season. Most of it he's put on himself.
"The coaches took me aside and showed me films of my play during the spring," Zetts said. "They said that's the Tom Zetts we want out on the field right now.
Comparison
"Most of the pressure I have right now is the pressure I put on myself," Zetts said. "I came in and was compared to Jeff Ryan -- it was a compliment, but I'm really not the fastest guy in the world and I'm not the best runner."
Ryan is a former Boardman and YSU quarterback.
"I really haven't had the opportunity to be excited about what I've been doing early this season," Zetts said. "I wasn't having too much fun back there."
Zetts said that he feels he's getting better each week.
"In each game there are four or five plays that if I or somebody makes them, it's a totally different game," Zetts said.
Zetts said that he has mixed feelings about losing last season because of the broken collarbone that he suffered in the season opener.
"It hurt me because I was away from the game for a whole year and away from the competition," Zetts said. "But at the same time I got to sit back and watch Aaron [Marshall] play and learn from him and learn more about the offense as a whole. So it really went both ways."
Adjustments
Zetts said that the biggest adjustment he's had to make in college is to the speed and quickness of the game.
"The game is so much faster and the linemen are so much quicker in college," Zetts said. "In high school, I was playing against one Keilen Dykes [of Chaney], who's now at West Virginia, but now there are four Keilen Dykes coming at me every week.
"The hitting is so much stronger here also. I've really taken some good shots this year," Zetts said. "The quickness and the hitting are the two biggest things I've had to adjust against."
Zetts said that he feels more comfortable working out of the shotgun than under center.
"I think that all quarterbacks feel more comfortable out of the shotgun," he said. "First of all, you are already five yards deep and it gives you an extra second or two to look over the defense."
The young quarterback doesn't do a whole lot of play-switching at the line of scrimmage.
"I don't feel that I'm ready to do that just yet," Zetts said. "I might have a couple of options at the line, but I don't change many."
Final five outlook
Zetts says that the offense is confident they can turn things around over the final five games of the season.
"We feel that we've played the two best teams in the conference, not that the other five are going to be easy games, because they aren't -- they are all good teams," Zetts said.
"We feel that we can turn things around and we have to, if for nothing else to be able to say we beat these teams when next season comes around," Zetts said.
Statistics show that Zetts is having a pretty good year under center. In six games, he has completed 84 of 138 passes for 956 yards and six touchdowns, but has been intercepted five times. He is averaging 159.3 yards a game through the air.
"My only concern right now is being Tom Zetts and being the best quarterback that I can possibly be," Zetts said.
mollica@vindy.com