Heacock likes the effort, but not errors

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State football coach Jon Heacock said the one thing he was pleased with after watching the films of Saturday’s jersey scrimmage was the Penguins’ overall effort on the field.

The scrimmage, the first of three scheduled during fall camp, was won by the offense, which will retain the red practice jerseys for at least another week, 52-49 on a trick play of the session’s final play to complete a major come-from-behind win.

“I thought the effort on both sides of football was tremendous, sometimes it was for naught because we weren’t doing the right things,” Heacock said.

“Our tackling on defense was very good, there were some big hits out there,” he said. “And the offense after a slow start and a couple of turnovers made a great comeback to win.”

Heacock said the interception thrown by the Penguins’ senior starting quarterback Brandon Summers, “was just a great defensive play.

“Brandon tried to rifle one in there, but it took a great defensive play by Na’eem Outler to pick in off.

“We still have a long way to go, but that was our 11th practice session and we still have 19 more and we looked like a team that was three weeks away from its season opener.”

Heacock said the Penguins came out of the session with minor bumps and bruises, except for redshirt freshman cornerback Brian Gaiters, who injured his knee.

Gaiters was on the field Monday, not taking part in drills, but running and conditioning on the sidelines and said the knee felt fine and he should be back soon.

Several others were banged up, but not seriously. They included junior defensive tackle Roger Gillum, redshirt freshman safety David Fleming, sophomore wide receiver Dionte Snow and redshirt freshman fullback Gary Thornton.

Those were in addition to the seven others who did not take part in Saturday’s scrimmage.

The Penguins are a little thin at cornerback after Gaiters went out. Senior Lenny Wicks, sophomore Randy Louis and sophomore Branden Sibley are already out with injuries.

With Thornton out, the Penguins have just one healthy fullback in freshman Rob Stupar, as both Banna brothers, junior Kyle and freshman Dan, are out with injuries.

“Most of those are football injuries and they should all be back shortly,” Heacock said.

The second jersey scrimmage is scheduled for Saturday at 9:50 a.m. at Stambaugh Stadium.

The Penguins will begin classes next Monday and will practice only in the afternoons.

mollica@vindy.com