ZETTS JUST GETS BETTER

The senior
quarterback begins his fourth year as the Penguins’ starter.

By PETE MOLLICA

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

OUNGSTOWN STATE HEAD

football coach Jon Heacock said that the thing that impresses him most about senior quarterback Tom Zetts is that he’s improved every year he’s played for the Penguins.

Zetts, the 6-0, 215 pound Boardman native, begins his fifth season with the Penguins, the fourth as the team’s starting quarterback.

Going into his final year at YSU he is within reach of almost every current record for a Penguin quarterback and, barring injury, should hold most of them by season’s end.

But even that won’t be good enough for Zetts unless the Penguins win every game and go on to win the national championship this year.

He’s led the Penguins to two straight Gateway Conference championships, something nobody else has ever done and last season got his first taste of the postseason as the Penguins reached the semifinals of the NCAA Football Championship Division playoffs.

Never satisfied

“Another thing that has impressed me about Tom is that no matter how well he plays he always feels he could have done better and he’s never satisfied with his effort,” added Heacock.

“I’m not too sure about early in his career here, but I know the last two seasons he has never gone out onto the field when he didn’t feel he had a chance of winning the game,” he added.

Zetts is amazed at how fast the time has gone for him at YSU.

“I can’t believe this is my last season here,” Zetts said early this week. “It’s gone by so quickly, but it’s been great and I’ve enjoyed it.”

Excited about season

The Penguins just completed their first full week of fall camp and Zetts is excited about what lies ahead for the Penguins.

“Things are really starting to come together on the offense,” he said Saturday after the team’s first practice in full pads.

“We still have a long way to go, but you can see where everybody is heading and the progress they are making at all positions,” he added.

“Right now there are still a lot of fundamental things that we need to work on, but it is expected with all the new faces that we have on the team this year,” he said.

Zetts came to YSU as a highly touted freshman out of Boardman in 2003 and was being groomed early to take over the reigns, but suffered a season-ending injury in the team’s opener against Edinboro and was medically redshirted.

He came back in 2004 as a redshirt freshman and took over the starting duties and has started every game since for the Penguins, 36 going into this season’s opener Sept. 1 at Ohio State.

Records within reach

He currently holds the team’s highest pass completion percentage mark of 58.9, is third in attempts (817), third in completion’s (481), second in touchdown passes (44) and has had 11 200-yard passing games. He also ranks fourth in passing yardage (5,788) and his 36 starts rank fourth.

All the records are well within his reach with just a normal season in 2007.

But Zetts wants more.

“My goal would be to win 11 straight regular season games and then sweep though the playoffs to the national championship,” the three-year letterman added.

Impressed by young players

Zetts said that what has impressed him most about this year’s young players is their desire to learn.

The Penguins have five quarterbacks on the roster, three are incoming freshmen and Zetts’ backup, redshirt sophomore Todd Rowen.

“The three freshmen are in my ear constantly and that’s good,” he said. “Todd’s been around a couple of seasons now and he knows the system pretty well.”

The Penguins lost their top two running backs from a year ago and although Zetts feels very comfortable with the prospects he has this year, he’s very willing to put the ball in the air more this year.

“I’m always lobbing for more passing,” he kidded, “but we do have a great group of receivers and we have the two best tight ends in all of Division I football.”

The Penguins took today off from practice, but will hold their first two-a-day workout on Monday at 8:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. at Stambaugh.

The team will hold its lone jersey scrimmage on Saturday at noon at Stambaugh.