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Brogdon departs YSU men’s team
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
Freshman guard Sheldon Brogdon has left the Youngstown State men’s basketball team, a surprising decision for the Warren Harding High graduate who missed last season while rehabbing from ACL surgery.
“He just said he was unhappy,” said his high school coach, Steve Arnold, who said the decision was not related to Brogdon’s knee injury.
Brogdon came off the bench in the team’s first four games, averaging 3 points in 11.3 minutes while shooting .235 from the field (4 of 17) and .231 from 3-point range (.231).
He quit the team on Thanksgiving, Arnold said, and was not on the bench for the team’s win over St. Francis (Pa.) on Saturday night.
“Sheldon is no longer with us,” Penguins coach Jerry Slocum said Monday.
When asked if there was an official reason, Slocum said, “He’s just not with us anymore. Hope the best for him.”
Brogdon injured his knee in February of his senior year, missing the final half of the Raiders’ season and all of his freshman year with the Penguins. He admitted before this season he was struggling to trust his surgically repaired knee and looked tentative on the floor in the four games, often settling for jump shots rather than looking to drive.
Sophomore post Damian Eargle, a friend and high school teammate of Brogdon’s, said the decision was “between him and the coach.
“I really don’t know what’s going on there,” Eargle said.
Brogdon is the sixth men’s basketball player to leave YSU since the end of last season. Guards Vance Cooksey and Andy Timko and forwards Tom Parks, Eddie D’Haiti and Lamar McKnight left the team last spring.