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Palmer and Zetts are ready for some indoor football
Palmer To Kick For Thunder
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Former YSU kicker Brian Palmer has joined the Mahoning Valley Thunder
GAME TIME | Thunder
Matchup: Thunder vs. Peoria Pirates.
Records: Thunder 1-12, Pirates 4-9.
Kickoff: 8 p.m. Saturday at Peoria (Ill.) Civic Center.
Radio: WBBW-AM (1240).
Next: The Thunder travels to Manchester (N.H.) on July 17 for their final road game of the season, then play host to the Green Bay Blizzard on July 25 in the season finale.
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Former YSU quarterback Tom Zetts is wrapped up by defense during af2 Mahoning Valley Thunder practice.
Brian Palmer will be counted on right away as the Thunder’s kicker.
YOUNGSTOWN — The Thunder’s YSU flavor has generated some excitement at the Covelli Centre, although the af2 team will be on the road for its next two games.
This week’s signing of kicker Brian Palmer and quarterback Tom Zetts may help ticket sales, although not until the Thunder’s season-ending home game against the Green Bay Blizzard on July 25.
“Some of my friends have already said they’re going to rent a loge for the last home game,” said the 23-year-old Palmer, who has been issued jersey No. 19.
“I wanted No. 88, but they said I’d be swimming in it,” Palmer said of the number he wore in high school at Mineral Ridge and in college.
No. 19 was the jersey used by Mahoning Valley’s last kicker, Nathan Palkovic, before he was released following a 2 for 6 point-after performance in a 62-47 loss to the Wilkes-Barre Pioneers on June 28.
Kicking the ball between 9-foot uprights and into nets will be other new wrinkles that Palmer faces indoors.
“The first couple kicks might be little awkward, but the kicking in the middle of the uprights makes me concentrate on being more accurate and more consistent. Outside, you’ve got a little more leeway. Indoors, you’ve got to be pinpoint.”
On kickoffs, Palmer has a different focus.
“I’ve just got to make sure the ball goes up in the air and into the net area. Coach [Chris MacKeown] said that my job is to make extra points and kick off the net.”
In his first pro game in Peoria on Saturday, Palmer hopes to replicate the attitude he carried at YSU.
“Hopefully, I’ll help get the Thunder on the right track. It’s also great to play for the Mahoning Valley, again, just like I did at YSU. Like the ‘Defend Youngstown’ shirts say, I kind of feel that, when we go on the road, that’s my job [to defend Youngstown].”
Palmer, the Thunder’s third kicker in the last several weeks, said he’s ready to tackle again, if necessary.
“They taught us in tackling drills, so I’m ready for it in case anything happens,” Palmer said of instruction at YSU where he played last in 2008.
Palmer, who signed with Dr. John Geletka as his agent, recently attended a pro combine in Indianapolis.
“I hung with everyone up there,” Palmer said of his standing among the competition. “In my head, I know I can do it, it just takes that one opportunity to get.”
While he works to finish his degree, Palmer hopes to use af2 as a stepping stone.
“It’s a new phase. In baseball, you’ve got to play in the minors before making the major leagues. That’s why I’m here. I’ll just take one step at a time, one day at a time.”
Zetts, meanwhile, seems to be somewhat settled into a career outside of football.
First and foremost, he’s an algebra teacher at Boardman High.
“It’s not something I want to give up anytime soon,” he said.
Football — the af2 variety — is secondary.
“I’m not chasing dreams here, believe me,” he said. “I’m just here to play a little bit while I’m still in good enough shape to do it.”
However, there is an exception.
“If the Browns call, I think I’d answer.”
With three games remaining in the 2009 season, Zetts, 25, clarifies his role.
“It’s this mid-summer thing. I’ve got three weeks to give it all I’ve got and that’s what I’m going to do. I’m not here to overtake [starting QB] Brad [Roach], but, nonetheless, I want to play ball. I’m here to compete and, if I’m the guy that’s going to help us win, that’s great. If not, I know my role.”
Zetts’ last competition was for the Parma Panthers in the Italian-American Football League team that finished 6-2 last summer after losing in the European championship game in Germany.
“I started every game and had lots of fun. The cultural experience was the most satisfying thing,” he said.
A week after graduating from YSU, Zetts got a call to go to Italy.
“To have them pay for it and be part of a football team and run around the country was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”
Zetts said each team had a three-American limit.
“Very few Italians get paid. They have jobs and families and we go out and practice late at night so everyone can make it. But they love putting on helmets and shoulder pads and going out and beating each other up a little bit and shaking hands when it’s all over.”
With the Thunder, Zetts’ head is spinning faster than an Algebra I student’s.
“I’m trying to get a grip on their concepts, just how everything’s structured and I have yet to reach a point where I’m confident with what I call. I’ve only been here two days, so I think that’s acceptable.”
bassetti@vindy.com