Savage, Fernandez named All-MVFC

YSU football

The YSU football players were selected among the conference’s best at the annual media day.

STAFF REPORT

ST. LOUIS — Youngstown State seniors Crispin Fernandez and Mychal Savage were named to the Missouri Valley Football Conference’s preseason team on Monday at its annual media day.

Fernandez, from Porterville, Calif., and Savage, from New Rochelle, N.Y., are expected to anchor the defense for the Penguins, who are looking to improve on their 4-8 record of a year ago.

Youngstown State was picked to finish sixth in the nine-team league. The last time the Penguins were tabbed for sixth, they tied for the conference championship in 2005.

Also receiving individual mention was sophomore tailback Kamryn Keys. Keys, the 2008 conference freshman of the year, was named to the preseason honorable mention list.

In the team balloting Northern Iowa was picked for first, garnering 314 points and 26 first-place votes. Southern Illinois, which tied the Panthers for the top spot in the league last year and earned the automatic NCAA playoff bid by virtue of a win over Northern Iowa, was second with 281 points and nine first-place votes.

South Dakota State was third with 231 points, followed by North Dakota State (206, including one first-place vote), Western Illinois (174), YSU (171), Missouri State (111), Illinois State (90) and Indiana State (42).

Youngstown State players are scheduled to report on Aug. 5, with their first practices a day later. The Penguins open the season at Pittsburgh on Sept. 5.

Coach returns

Mike Kolakowski, who served as defensive coordinator at Youngstown State from 2004-06, has returned to the coach Jon Heacock’s staff as safeties coach.

Kolakowski spent the past two seasons as safeties coach and special teams coordinator at Central Michigan. The Chippewas advanced to the Motor City Bowl each of his two years and won the Mid-American Conference championship game in 2007.

In Kolakowski’s three seasons at Youngstown State, the defense improved every campaign and six members of the 2006 defense — when the Penguins finished 11-3 and reached the NCAA playoff semifinals — were first-team all-conference honorees.

Kolakowski had All-America selections in each of his final two seasons. Jason Perry was a second-team pick in 2006 while Codera Jackson was a second-team selection in 2005 and third-team in 2006.

In 2005, YSU was first in interceptions, first in passing-efficiency defense and second in pass defense in the conference.

In 2004, senior strong safety Mike Bracken was named a first-team All-Gateway pick while Perry was an honorable mention selection.

A former Division II head coach, Kolakowski originally joined the Youngstown State coaching staff in March 2004 after spending a season as the co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach at Cincinnati.

Kolakowski has almost 30 years of coaching experience at the college level. He has spent most of his time at the FCS level (13 seasons) and in the Mid-American Conference (eight years).