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By Pete Mollica

Hubbard’s Joel Younkins was thrown into action last year by injuries.

YOUNGSTOWN — When Joel Younkins was recruited by Youngstown State out of Hubbard High School he felt he had a good chance to be a regular in a couple of seasons.

Younkins sat out his first season as a redshirt in 2007 and during that time was moved from fullback to defensive end.

Even with a new position it took Younkins less than a couple of months to work his way into the Penguins’ starting lineup as he opened the season against Ohio State.

“Obviously it came a lot quicker than I expected it to,” said Younkins, now a redshirt sophomore, “but it wasn’t just me. A lot of guys got thrown into action a lot sooner than anyone expected.”

The YSU defensive line was hit hard by injuries early in the season.

“We all wanted to play,” said Younkins. “We just never thought that it was going to happen that quickly.

“In the long run it is only going to help us down the road because now we have several other players who got some playing time and are that much ahead of where they were expected to be,” he said.

Younkins (6-foot-2, 225 pounds) played in 11 games last season and started five. He also started against South Dakota State, Liberty, Northern Iowa and Indiana State.

He finished the season with 15 tackles and had two quarterback hurries. He had a high of three tackles against the Buckeyes and Southern Utah.

He was in for 336 snaps, second-most among defensive linemen.

Younkins had a perfect 4.0 grade point average during the fall semester of his freshman year and was named to the Gateway Football Conference honor roll.

In high school he was a second team Division III All-Ohio pick at linebacker his senior year and played both ways for the Eagles. Hubbard was 10-1 his senior year and he was the team’s most valuable player both as a junior and senior.

“I was recruited as a fullback, but when I came here I told the coaches that I’d play wherever they needed me,” he said. “I’ve always liked defense and I was really looking for a position that would get me on the field as quickly as possible.

“The defense is really coming together this spring,” Younkins said. “We’re playing as one right now. We just keep getting better every day and now with Coach [Jon] Heacock overseeing the defense it can only make us that much better.”

Younkins has been slowed somewhat this spring with an injury, but expects to be ready to go soon.

“I kind of tweaked my hamstring a little,” he said.

“I don’t know how serious it is so I’m just taking it one day at a time.”

The Penguins will hold their final practice on Thursday morning before the annual Red and White spring game on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Stambaugh Stadium.

mollica@vindy.com