Rowan shows his stuff

Redshirt freshman quarterback Todd Rowan had a great night Friday in the Red and White game at Stambaugh Stadium.
But don't expect the youngster from LaBrae to unseat Tom Zetts as the Penguins starting signal caller next fall, unless something happens to the Boardman native.
But it is comforting to know that Rowan could, if needed step into that role.
Friday's performance, which included throwing 12 consecutive pass completions and four touchdowns for 215 yards, was one of the best individual efforts in the spring game in some time.
I think that coach Jon Heacock's quote after the game hit the nail on the head when he said, "That's why we recruited him."
If you remember, a year ago in the Red and White game, sophomore quarterback Vince Gliatta had an exceptional game, but saw little action that next season behind Zetts.
Gliatta has since made the switch to defensive back where he is expected to make much more of a contribution to the program than he did the two years he played at quarterback.
Teams limitedoffense, defense
Friday's game was pretty much controlled by the coaching staff and both teams were very limited as to what they could run both on offense and defense.
The key to the entire night was the fact that the Penguins came out of the game relatively injury-free.
Sophomore tailback Jabari Scott, who brought the fans to their feet early in the game with a 60-yard run on which he appeared to be stopped several times, came out with a sprained ankle, but the YSU training staff said it was nothing serious.
At least three starters and another potential starter didn't play in the game.
Senior tackle Pat Walker, who was slightly injured in the jersey scrimmage, sat out along with senior defensive back Codera Jackson and offensive guard Josh Tanner. All are expected to be ready for the fall.
Then there was junior transfer Louis Irizarry, who suffered a hamstring pull at the end of the first week of spring practice and never got to see any of the good stuff the rest of the spring.
The 6-foot-5, 250-pound Ursuline High graduate is still expected to be a force this fall.
Irizarry pulled his hamstring April 8, a Saturday morning when the temperatures barely made it into the 30s. It's a miracle there weren't more muscle pulls that morning.
Defense mademajor strides
The YSU defense has really made some great strides this spring.
Friday night the top two tacklers from the game were both linebackers, senior Marty Hutchinson for the White with five and senior Jeremiah Wright for the Red with six.
Hutchinson, a native of Newton Falls, also had three tackles for losses and two sacks in the game.
The sacks were a little tainted since the quarterbacks were off limits to tackles, so the officials blew the whistle as soon as they were touched.
That still didn't stop Zetts from lowering the boom on sophomore defensive back Jarvis Richards after he intercepted a Zetts pass in the second half.
"I didn't even think about it," said Zetts. "He had the ball and he had on a red shirt, that's all I knew."
Richards intercepted Zetts twice during the jersey scrimmage a week ago.
Heacock said he was pleased with the overall progress the team made through spring drills.
"There is still a long way to go, but we've gotten better and that was one of our goals," he said.
Heacock said the next three months will be entirely up to the team's senior leadership to keep them working hard and preparing for the fall practice in August.
"NCAA rules do not allow the coaches to work with the players over the summer, so it will be up to our seniors to take charge and see that the summer workouts go as planned," he said.
One nice thing is that the Penguins have 25 seniors on the roster this season, so they have plenty of leaders to go around.
Pete Mollica covers YSU athletics for The Vindicator. Write to him at mollica@vindy.com.