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YSU focuses on finishing this season with victories
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Youngstown State Dominique Barnes catches a 33-yard pass from Penguins quarterback Kurt Hess for a fi rst-quarter touchdown during Saturday’s game against South Dakota State in Brookings, S.D.
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
YSU coach Eric Wolford’s “best player plays” approach won’t change now that the Penguins’ postseason hopes are over.
“It’s not like we’re gonna lay down and say, ‘Guys, this season’s over, we’re gonna keep playing all kind of young guys and build for next year,’” Wolford said. “That’s not the way we operate.”
A four-game losing streak has downgraded YSU’s goals from winning a conference title to building toward next year. But Wolford believes winning the last three games — or at least trying to — will do more for the program than getting younger players experience.
“The best player is still going to play,” Wolford said. “That’s the way we’ll always do it.”
Of course, when you’ve played 13 true freshmen and 18 first-time starters, there’s not that many talented players stuck on the bench. But the Penguins’ starting lineup for the opener at Penn State isn’t much different than the one for this week’s game against Northern Iowa.
Of the changes they have made, several have been injury-related. Sophomore tackle D.J. Main (foot) and senior safety Andre Elliott (shoulder) are out for the year and junior cornerback Randy Louis (shoulder) is out indefinitely. While two starters did lose their jobs to first-year players — sophomore safety Will Shawn has replaced senior Nick Gooden and sophomore DE Obinna Ekweremuba has replaced junior Stephen Meadows — 15 of the 22 opening-day starters remain.
Wolford and his staff may make some changes to the depth chart over the next few weeks, but they won’t make changes just to play someone younger. That’s not fair to the seniors, he said.
“Our seniors have done a lot of great things here,” he said. “They’ve kept this team together. It could have very easily unraveled at some point with all the adversity we’ve had.”
Redshirt freshman quarterback Kurt Hess, one of 19 first-time players, earned the starting position coming out of fall camp and has played well, posting career-highs in attempts (46), completions (26) and yards (263) in last week’s loss to South Dakota State.
He said he’s benefited from the early experience.
“I think the experience of starting eight games and playing eight full games has definitely helped me and it’ll help me in the future,” he said. “I think I have grown.”
Hess is one of six freshman listed atop this week’s depth chart, joining seven seniors (eight if you count senior FB Kyle Banna, whose position has yet to be used at the start of the game), four sophomores and five juniors.
The Penguins will graduate 21 seniors — 18 that have been here for five years — and Wolford credited them for overseeing a big transition since he was hired in December.
“The foundation and culture has been set for a change,” Wolford said. “It’s not acceptable to play average and not do things right.
“We’re going to continue to tuck our shirts in and do things in a manner that people in Youngstown expect us to do.”