Penguins ready to get started

The Youngstown State football team officially begins workouts for the 2006 season on Friday morning at Stambaugh Stadium.
For the first time in a while, there is an abundance of optimism among not only the Penguins, but within the Gateway Football Conference as well.
Last week during the Gateway's annual media day event in St. Louis, the Penguins were being touted as one of the top two teams [on paper] going into this season. In the annual poll of the coaches and the media that covers the Gateway, Northern Iowa was picked as the preseason favorite and YSU was No. 2.
But the talk of last week's session was more about the Penguins and Illinois State as the conference's top two teams.
UNI was picked No. 1 primarily on the fact that the Panthers went all the way to the I-AA national championship game before losing to Appalachian State.
The Panthers still have (they feel) the best quarterback in the conference in junior Eric Sanders, who hobbled out and led UNI to a 21-7 victory over YSU last year in a game that he wasn't even suppose to play. But the Panthers were hard hit by graduation and return only 12 starters off last year's team. Only Southern Illinois, last season's other playoff representative, has fewer (nine).
YSU, Redbirdstop all returnees
YSU has 17 and the Redbirds and Missouri State each have 16.
Illinois State also has the offensive player of the year returning in senior wide receiver Laurent Robinson. The Redbirds were the first team in Gateway history to have both the offensive and defensive players of the year in the same season. The defensive honors went to graduated senior Brent Hawkins, a defensive end.
YSU head coach Jon Heacock, now beginning his sixth season and with a new contract, talked about the overall strength of the conference and where it lies.
"We examined all of the returning rosters and broke down who has what coming back and where and the results were surprisingly pretty balanced," Heacock said. "Most everybody had most of their strength returning offensively. And oddly most of the teams defensively were lacking on the defensive line."
Including the Penguins.
Defensive linecould be question
It's not that the Penguins do not have talent on the defensive line -- they do -- but they just don't have a lot of experience.
They graduated senior standouts Brandon Brown and Justin Scholes, while two other players originally being counted on, Jose Galloza and Ben Suran, are no longer with the team and haven't been since before the start of spring practice.
Sophomore Mychal Savage is going to be a good one this year, while junior Greg Jacobs, junior Maurice Smith-Davis and junior Blake Halverson and senior Jim Phelan all are expected to see action up front.
If that group can control the run and put some pressure on the quarterback, then the talent that YSU has at linebacker and the secondary should have a field day this year.
YSU's offense should be as good as any in the league. They probably have the best backfield returning in the conference and the same can be said of the offensive line. If there is a question at all it would be at wide receiver and possibly tight end, but again the Penguins have talent there. It's just inexperienced.
The Penguins might also have the best tight end in all of college football this year, but the problem is that he hasn't played a game in two years.
Irizarry makesdebut with Penguins
Junior Louis Irizarry, a product of Ursuline High, joined the YSU team last fall as a walk-on, practiced every day with the scout team and fulfilled every obligation that Heacock and his staff asked of him.
He was excited about getting a full go in spring drills, but pulled a hamstring early and never really got to take part in the action.
At 6-5, 252 pounds and with the speed of a wide receiver, Irizarry could be the force that makes the difference in the Penguins this season. He was a predicted starter at Ohio State University going into his second season before getting into trouble and getting booted off the team.
He's taken care of his problems off the field and Heacock and his staff are anxiously awaiting to see just what he can do on the field beginning this weekend.
Pete Mollica covers YSU football for The Vindicator. Write to him at mollica@vindy.com.