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FRIENDLY RIVALRY
Potential YSU quarterbacks both want the job, but they’re ‘all buddies’
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LISA-ANN ISHIHARA | THE VINDICATOR.YSU Kurt Hess (14) during practice, Tuesday March 30, 2010
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LISA-ANN ISHIHARA | THE VINDICATOR -- Quarterback Marc Kanetsky (19) at practice, Wednesday March 31, 2010
By Joe Scalzo
Youngstown
The summer before Kurt Hess’ sophomore year of high school, he went to a football camp at the University of Toledo, where he roomed with a junior-to-be named Marc Kanetsky.
Their camp counselor was a Rocket quarterback named Brandon Summers.
Almost four years later, Hess and Kanetsky are vying for the starting quarterback position at YSU, a position Summers held the past two years after transferring.
You can call them friendly rivals, with the emphasis on friendly.
“Marc and I are great friends,” said Hess, a redshirt freshman from Dayton Chaminade-Julienne. “We both love the game of football, we love YSU and we love to come out here and just give it all we got.
“We know the overall goal is just to win games this season.”
Hess and Kanetsky have emerged as the top two candidates to start at quarterback, with redshirt freshman Gannon Hulea and true freshman Meiko Locksley competing for the third spot.
Although Kanetsky is the only one with college experience — he saw limited time behind Summers the past two years — offensive coordinator Shane Montgomery said neither player has a clear edge right now.
“I don’t think we’ll come out of the spring [practice] and name a starter,” he said. “I’d be surprised if we would.”
Added head coach Eric Wolford, “We’re going to keep it wide open until someone significantly steps up.”
All four players are still trying to learn Montgomery’s system, which (he hopes) will be an up-tempo, no-huddle spread attack. Although quarterback competitions can sometimes get a little tense, Montgomery said that’s not the case here.
“I was in that position 20 years ago in college,” said Montgomery, who was a three-year starter at North Carolina State in the late 1980s. “I think a lot of people from the outside ... think those guys are at each other’s throats. That’s probably the furthest away from the truth.”
Added Kanetsky, “It’s not cutthroat. It’s not like you’re paying guys to take out his knee or anything.
“We’re all buddies.”
Because the Penguins don’t have an established starter, Montgomery said it’s possible the staff will look to bring in a transfer this summer.
“I think that’s something we’ve got to look at,” he said. “We would look at that at any position if we felt that was a guy who could help our program.
“You have to make sure if you do take a transfer, you’re taking the right kind of transfer. We want to make sure if we do bring a guy in that he can fit in and help our football team.”
Wolford’s staff is heavy on Division I-A experience, which seems to make a transfer from that level more likely than a junior college transfer. Montgomery said he expects the staff to be contacted after other teams complete their spring practices and could use a transfer to help to build depth.
“It seems like the last four or five years [of my coaching career], we’ve played at least two quarterbacks a year,” said Montgomery, who was the offensive coordinator at Akron last fall when the Zips’ depth chart was decimated at that position.
“If you’re first or second string, you have to prepare like you’re a starter.”
That preparation isn’t just for spring and fall, either. One of the criticisms about Summers last year was his decision to stay home in the summer during voluntary workouts.
That won’t be a problem this summer.
“This new coaching staff is stressing it,” said Kanetsky, a former standout at Hubbard. “You have to be here and if you’re not, you’re falling behind. You’re letting your guys down, pretty much.
“Obviously there’s guys [who live] far away and they’re going to have to take a little time but we expect everybody to be here when we’re putting stuff in. We’re working hard in the summer. Right now, summer is when you win and lose games.”
When asked about Summers’ decision, Wolford said, “I’m convinced we won’t have that problem here.
“I don’t think there’s a program in the country where the quarterback’s not there every day. I think that’s instrumental. That’s the leader of your offense.”
Coaches can’t meet with players until training camp begins, which puts the responsibility to attend voluntary workouts squarely on the players’ shoulders. But Wolford believes his team is behind schedule and is expecting a large turnout for those voluntary practices.
“What we do finishing here in spring ball and over the course of the summer is going to be huge,” he said. “We have a lot of things we need to do this summer to give us a chance to compete in the fall. That’s going to be up to the players, they’re on their own.
“They’ve got to come in and give the commitment we need.”