Depth could pay off for YSU

Photo

YSU head coach Jon Heacock

Last year’s injuries and defections allowed many young players to get playing time.

By Pete Mollica

YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown State football team put on the pads for the first time Monday morning and coach Jon Heacock was pretty pleased with what he saw from the Penguins.

“It was only the fifth day of practice, but I thought it was a very solid workout,” said the veteran coach who is beginning his ninth season.

“It is very obvious that we still have a lot of work to do, but there was a lot of good teaching going on today,” added Heacock. “Defensively we worked on a few different sets, while offensively we ran the ball some and passed it some.”

It has been obvious that the Penguins are pretty deep at just about every position on the field and this has allowed Heacock and his staff the option of getting a lot of people into the mix.

“We are currently working with three entire groups on both sides of the football and we’ll continue to work with three groups as long as we have the bodies to do it,” said Heacock.

“It makes a big difference when everybody has a group to work with,” he said. “I only wish we could bring in more players to camp because the more bodies that you have in camp the healthier you will stay.”

And Heacock knows all about having a shortage of players after last season when injuries and defections depleted the Penguins and forced a lot of young players into action.

But even that has paid dividends for the Penguins because those young players forced into action last season got a lot of experience which has helped them develop into a solid reserve corps for this season.

“Yes it was difficult last year with all the injuries, but those young kids who were called into action are that much better this year and are going to help us as the season progresses,” Heacock said.

Heacock has also been impressed with his new recruiting class, several of whom will probably play key roles in the upcoming season.

“I really feel that the big difference was getting them into their own workout the first two days of camp,” said Heacock. “They really learned a lot. As long as I’m head coach we will continue to split up the workouts those first two days regardless whether there is a school conflict or not.”

Monday the Penguins spent a good deal of time getting work for the young quarterbacks on the roster, trying to find out who will be the backup for senior starter Brandon Summers.

Sophomore Dailyn Campbell, who made a start last year as a true freshman, probably is the leading candidate, while sophomore Marc Kanetsky and true freshmen Kurt Hess and Gannon Hulea are also getting plenty of work.

“We definitely have to find a backup there and quickly,” said Heacock.

There were eight players who did not take part in the first day of contact work, but none of the eight are considered to have serious injuries and also are expected to be ready within the next week or so.

Senior cornerback Lenny Wicks, who was injured last spring and had surgery, is healthy, but still hasn’t gotten clearance to begin contact. The same holds true for sophomore linebacker John Sasson.

The others sidelined with bumps and bruises and minor pulls included junior fullback Kyle Banna, sophomore wide receiver Ely Ducatel, freshman free safety Dom Rich, redshirt freshman fullback Gary Thornton, sophomore cornerback Bradley Sibley and sophomore free safety Adam House.

The Penguins lost senior linebacker Rashod Simons, who left the team before camp, and senior cornerback Jarvis Richards, who was recovering from a serious knee injury and has decided not to continue playing football.

Notebook

Scouts from the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Browns watched Monday’s practice. The Browns were represented by NFL Hall of Famer Paul Warfield, a Warren native. Both teams were in camp to take a look at senior wide receiver Donald Jones. The Redskins also had an interest in Richards and were surprised to find out he wasn’t playing this fall. … The Penguins have today off, but will take part in a media-only photo session at 9 a.m. at Stambaugh Stadium. They will hold their first two-a-day session on Wednesday at 9:50 a.m. and again at 4:20 p.m.

mollica@vindy.com