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YSU RBs Pace, Bellamy in battle to back up starter Cook
By JOE SCALZO
YOUNGSTOWN
One of the storylines of the Eric Wolford era at Youngstown State has been the number of players who left.
This is a story about someone who stayed.
Running back Torrian Pace was a member of Jon Heacock’s last recruiting class in 2009 and, in Wolford’s first spring game, it was Pace, not Jamaine Cook, who looked like the best back on the field.
But then Adaris Bellamy transferred in (more on him in a second), Cook emerged as the team’s best player and Pace fell back on the depth chart. Over the next last seasons, he totaled just 38 carries.
Pace was known as a good student and a good teammate but Wolford wasn’t sure he was totally committed to football.
“As easy as I can say it, I didn’t pay for his summer school last year,” Wolford said. “And I did it on purpose.
“I knew he could be better. He needed to do some extra things to become a really good football player and as a coach, I needed to hold him accountable to do that.”
At that point, Pace could have transferred to a smaller school and seen more playing time. He chose to stay.
“My parents didn’t teach me that,” Pace said. “They taught me I’m here for education first and foremost. I wasn’t going to say, ‘Hey, I’m third or fourth on the depth chart, so I’m gone.’”
As the team’s biggest back, Pace used the offseason to slim down and improve his quickness and flexibility. He had a strong spring and, with Jordan Thompson no longer on the roster, has a chance to see more playing time this fall.
“I do feel different than last year, especially the flexibility in my hips,” said Pace, whose summer school was paid for this year. “I’ve just been working on the things I need to work on most and I’ve been critiqued by Bellamy and Jamaine.
“And I’ve been able to take the criticism and run with it. I think that’s the huge thing. Whatever you do, you’ve got to be willing to listen to what someone has to say so you can take it and get better.”
Bellamy had to make the same adjustment. As Wolford’s first highly-touted recruit — he originally signed with South Florida before arriving at YSU — he made headlines by saying he wanted to win the Walter Payton Award, given annually to the top player at the FCS level.
“I did have a lot of hype and so I came in with a big head, thinking everything would be given to me,” Bellamy said. “It was the opposite.
“But it made me a better player. It made me work harder.”
Bellamy has shown flashes of his potential — he made the Missouri Valley’s all-newcomer team two years ago and has nearly 900 yards the past two seasons — but he injured his knee at the end of last year and seemed headed for a medical redshirt this fall.
“I kind of thought I would be a redshirt but I just worked hard to be a part of the team,” said Bellamy, who couldn’t practice in the spring. “When you get hurt, you don’t really feel like that.
“Right now, it’s not about starting with me. It’s about being a role player and helping our team reach the goals we have set for us.”