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Penguin linemen getting grizzly for Bears
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YSU guard Eric Rodemoyer sported a beard during spring practice in April and his fellow linemen have joined him this fall.
2010 YSU 31 - Southern Illinois 28
Gallery
By JOE SCALZO
YOUNGSTOWN
YSU is getting grizzly for the Bears.
A few weeks ago, the YSU offensive linemen got together and, in a show of their growing unity, decided to grow beards and Mohawks.
Then someone looked at the top of Justin Rechichar’s head.
“My hair’s kind of short on the top,” said Rechichar, whose close-cropped hair seems be thinning a bit. “The Mohawks didn’t work out too well, so we had to axe that.”
The beards, however, are coming in just fine. Sort of.
After two weeks Rechichar has pretty good coverage. After almost a month, sophomore tackle D.J. Main doesn’t.
“He barely has any whiskers on his face,” Rechichar said, laughing.
But the other linemen are too nice to bust his chops, right?
“No, we get on him almost every day,” Rechichar said.
Sports beards have a storied past, most notably with the famed NHL “playoff beard,” in which players don’t shave until their team has been eliminated. The tradition has spread to the NFL, the NBA and the MLB. It’s gotten so famous that the playoff beard has earned its own Wikipedia entry.
YSU’s linemen aren’t presumptuous enough to call their whiskers “playoff beards” — it’s only Week 5 after all — but there’s a growing sense that the Penguins have a chance to do something special this year. A big reason for that is chemistry, which starts up front. Four of the five starting offensive linemen live together during the school year
“The offensive line is coming together pretty close,” said Rechichar. “I sense a certain level of confidence [in the offense]. We know we’re going to make the plays that we need to.
“And the offensive line, we always hold each other accountable. We celebrate when do good and we get on each other when we don’t do so good.”
For all the new faces on this year’s team, much of this year’s talent was recruited by Jon Heacock. (Nineteen of the 22 opening-day starters were holdovers.) But the players have said there’s a different vibe to this year’s team. Some of that is because Wolford and his staff have nudged out the nonbelievers, but Rechichar said some of it is due to the players feeling better prepared for games.
“It’s definitely a different atmosphere with the coaching staff,” he said. “They have us well prepared and whenever we go into the game, we know exactly what we’re going to do and when we’re going to do it.
“Everyone is on the same page and so much more prepared and that just gives us confidence to go in there and execute our game plan.”
The beards have spread to other parts of the team, although not necessarily by design. Junior linebacker John Sasson has been growing his beard since the opener against Penn State and had no idea until this week that the offensive linemen had joined in.
“I’m just going to keep it going and see what happens,” said Sasson.
When asked if he thought YSU coach Eric Wolford should grow one, Sasson laughed and said, “Whatever helps us win.”
The Penguins haven’t needed it so far, which is good because Wolford won’t become a wolfman anytime soon.
“I can’t even grow a beard, can’t get a full one in,” said Wolford. “So I just try to stay clean-shaven.”