YSU’s Barnes continues to excel — as expected

By Joe Scalzo

scalzo@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

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Dominique Barnes

In a scrimmage dominated by defense, YSU senior receiver Dominique Barnes may have been the best player on the field Saturday.

Barnes finished with eight catches for 166 yards and three TDs, picking up where he left off after a fall season that saw him lead the Missouri Valley Football Conference with eight touchdown catches.

“In this conference, average’s not going to get it, so we still got a lot of work to do,” Barnes said. “It’s still early.”

Barnes has had a rocky relationship at times with the Penguins’ new coaching staff, which may explain why Coach Eric Wolford tempered his praise of Barnes’ performance Saturday.

“He needed to [excel],” Wolford said. “I think Dominique understands now you’re not grandfathered in anywhere around here.

“We’re going to hold guys accountable for doing things right, knowing their place [on the field], catching the ball, getting north and south, securing it and all those type of things.

“We’re making some progress there. Sometimes when you’ve been a guy around here, you might have had a long leash. Well, these guys are on a short lease nowadays.”

When asked about his transition, Barnes said he just needed time.

“Just learning a whole new system, a new coaching staff ... it took me a minute to get adjusted to it,” he said.

Barnes started the scrimmage with the second-team offense, although the YSU coaches mixed and matched liberally, particularly in the second hour. Junior Marc Kanetsky and redshift freshman Kurt Hess got most of the snaps at quarterback.

“We’re looking to find one of those guys to separate himself,” Wolford said.

“The offense still has a lot of work to do,” added Barnes. “We made a couple big plays but we’re not there yet offensively.”

If Barnes can get out of the coaches’ doghouse, he could emerge as one of the team’s biggest playmakers.

But Barnes said he expects a lot of younger players to step up, too.

“I feel like a lot of players on this team can be impact players,” he said. “Even though they didn’t play a lot last year they still have experience.”

Running backs Jamaine Cook and Torrian Pace seem to have solidified themselves as the top two rushing threats but the Penguins’ poor performance in short-yardage situations on Saturday concerned Wolford.

“The first group wasn’t very good on third-and-one, which is just attitude,” he said. “That means we need to get a lot more physical and tougher up front.

“We’ve got some work to do.”