Are you ready for some football?

Football has
returned to Youngstown State as the 2007 season is just around the corner.

This season will be a big one for the Penguins. Not only do they open the campaign against Ohio State University on Sept. 1 in Columbus, but they will host seven games at Stambaugh Stadium in the regular season.

The Penguins completed their first week of camp on Saturday, but have had only one day of full pads and it wasn’t a full contact session.

Two-a-days begin today as the Penguins will practice twice a day on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with single sessions on Tuesday and Thursday. The team’s only jersey scrimmage will be Saturday at noon.

Although most of the first week was spent in shorts to meet the NCAA requirements, the Penguins accomplished quite a bit according to head coach Jon Heacock.

Heacock likes
early sessions

Heacock likes what he’s seen from his returning veterans and he’s also impressed with the speed and quickness of some of his newly recruited players.

The Penguins put an emphasis on speed during their recruiting last winter, especially after what they went up against in the semifinal playoff loss to Appalachian State, a team that literally left the Penguins in the dust in the 49-24 loss.

Heacock and his staff is still trying to find a tailback after losing All-American Marcus Mason and Monquantae Gibson to graduation.

Leading prospects include sophomore red-shirt Jabari Scott and junior Brandon Nicholson. Neither has had much playing time and Scott sat out last year as a red-shirt after playing some as a freshman.

A couple of newcomers, junior college transfer Kevin Smith and redshirt freshman Jordan Edwards, have looked good in practice. Senior Tim Dewberry, from Canfield, has missed most of the last three seasons with injuries, but had a good spring and is having a good camp to date.

Receiving group
should be good one

The Penguins are loaded with wide receivers led by senior Rory Berry, junior Da’Michael Horne, transfer Ferlando Williams and senior Dustin Helle of Girard.

They will field possibly the two best tight ends in all of their division in junior Derrick Bush and senior Louis Irizarry.

The offensive line should be sound once senior Tyler Booth returns to action, which should be in time for the opener. Booth was injured in the spring and had knee surgery and is still recuperation.

Defensively. the Penguins will have another great group of linebackers led by All-Gateway James Terry and the return of fifth-year senior Jeremiah Wright and senior Rashod Cotton.

The secondary boasts veterans at safety in Bob Perez, Vince Gliatta and Dorian Chenault. They must replace the loss of All-Gateway cornerbacks Jason Perry and Codera Jackson.

The defensive front is led by All-Gateway Mychal Savage and Blake Halverson, but returning lineman senior Greg Jacobs has not reported to camp and is at home taking care of family problems.

The kicking game will be led by junior Brian Palmer and redshirt freshman Stephen Blose. They must find a punter to replace All-Gateway Joe Bishop. Junior transfer Ben Nowicki and Boardman freshman Erik Johnson are vying for the top spot.

2008 schedule
lists six away games

Penguins fans might be paying for this year’s seven home games when the 2008 schedule is announced.

It appears that for the first time in 20 seasons the Penguins might be playing more away games than home games.

The fact that the Gateway Conference becomes a nine-team conference in 2008 with the addition of North and South Dakota State will play a key role.

This year, the Penguins play four league games at home and three away. Next year, that will become four and four plus the Penguins have an away game at Southern Utah and one at Ohio State.

The only non-conference game at home will be against Liberty, a game that was rescheduled from a couple of years ago.

YSU fans who are having trouble getting a ticket to this season’s opener at Ohio State and upset that it might not be televised locally, can breather a little easier.

The Canfield Fair Board has announced that it has contracted MultiMedia Farms of Canfield to supply a 9-foot-by-12 foot LED display to show the YSU-Ohio State game at the grandstands on Sept. 1 and free of charge.

Word out of Columbus is that Time Warner Cable is working on a deal to carry both the YSU-Ohio State and the Akron-Ohio State game on Sept. 8 for their 600,000 central Ohio viewers even without a Big Ten Network deal.

XPete Mollica covers YSU athletics for The Vindicator. Write him at mollica@vindy.com