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Penguins’ Kanetsky starts with can, not can’t
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Youngstown State backup quarterback Marc Kanetsky gets ready to throw the ball during football practice Friday at YSU’s Stambaugh Stadium.
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
Whenever you read a story about Youngstown State quarterback Marc Kanetsky, you’re likely to see something about how smart he is.
There are good reasons for this — he might be the smartest player on the team; he has a full academic, not athletic, scholarship; he uses words like “plethora” — but it can sometime feel like a backhanded compliment.
Because, you see, people seem to focus more on what Kanetsky can’t do, rather than what he can. He’s not especially tall (6-foot) or fast and he doesn’t have a great arm. The only physical advantage he seems to have over YSU’s other quarterbacks is his ability to grow a terrific beard.
“My girlfriend has been giving me some crap about it,” Kanetsky said Friday. “She tells me to shave it.”
Here’s the thing, though. Kanetsky was an all-conference player in three sports at Hubbard High. He holds the Eagles’ career passing and TD records. He may not be good enough to play FCS football but, as he points out, he’s never really been given the chance to find out.
“I always thought I was good enough to play here,” he said. “It’s kind of one of the most frustrating things — not knowing if I can even play here.”
Kanetsky started one game — the 2009 season finale against North Dakota State — threw a TD pass and was yanked for senior Brandon Summers after the first quarter. He finished second in a four-man competition at QB last summer, then watched Kurt Hess put together the best freshman season for a QB in YSU history. His lone pass attempt last fall came on a fake field goal attempt. (It was incomplete.)
He’s been one play away for three years. His career might end that way.
“I’ve looked at college football all across the country and seen fourth-string quarterbacks playing for Toledo and Akron holding walk-on tryouts in the middle of the season and I’m here trying for two years and play probably five snaps,” said Kanetsky. “It’s frustrating in that sense. I’m from here, I go to school here, I enjoy it.
“I’m just trying to compete and see what happens. Hopefully I can change somebody’s mind and make them realize I can play here.”
Kanetsky emphasizes that he’s a team player and that he’s friends with the rest of the quarterbacks. He knows his physical limitations — “I don’t bring anything flashy to the table,” he said — but he said the team can count on him to know the plays, make the right reads and get the ball where it needs to go.
On that, YSU coach Eric Wolford agrees. Wolford raves about Kanetsky’s preparation, his consistency, his competitiveness.
“He always finds a way to get things done,” Wolford said. “It’s good to have a guy like that. You never know when you’re going to get your opportunity.
“A lot of times you hear stories about guys being a No. 2 and all the sudden the starter gets hurt and he’s not prepared. That’s one thing we don’t have to worry about with Marc Kanetsky.”
Kanetsky has (so far) held off redshirt freshman Patrick Angle for the backup spot. The coaches haven’t made any hard decisions yet — it’s still April, after all — but you get the sense that while Kanetsky would be their choice in a close game, Angle would probably get the nod if Hess were to get injured early in the year and the Penguins needed someone long-term.
But Kanetsky said he doesn’t feel any extra pressure this spring.
“I’m just going out and playing,” he said. “They know what I can do.
“It’s kind of bad for me in a sense because it’s my fourth year already and I haven’t seen much time. I’m just trying to make some plays and show that I can bring more than what they think I can.”