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YSU needs depth in secondary
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
When Youngstown State safety Jameel Smith arrived as a true freshman last summer, he didn’t know his playbook, he didn’t know his assignments and — worst of all — he didn’t know what he didn’t know.
“I was so I anxious to play, I was just like, ‘I know that stuff. I’m ready to play, coach,’ ” he said, smiling. “Then when I got on the [practice] field, I didn’t know anything.”
Midway through the season, coach Eric Wolford asked him if he wanted to pull his redshirt and start playing. Smith said no.
“I felt I wasn’t ready,” said Smith, a Miami (Fla.) native. “I didn’t want to waste a year. I felt I needed more time to learn.”
So, he got in his playbook — and got on the treadmill. Backward.
It’s a technique the coaches use so defenders can work on their backpedal, with strength coach Mike Cochran ratcheting the speed up to almost six miles per hour while the DBs switch between running backward and shuffling sideways.
“How many guys run on the treadmill backward?” Wolford said. “That’s just extra commitment on his behalf. He’s a pretty talented kid and he’s very mature for a redshirt freshman. That’s why he has a chance to have success.”
By the end of spring camp, Smith had earned the starting spot vacated by graduating senior Jeremey Edwards. With the other three starters returning — corners Dale Peterman and Julius Childs and safety Donald D’Alesio — the Penguins entered fall camp believing they finally solved their annual problems in the secondary.
Alas, Peterman (MCL) and D’Alesio (thought to be either a hyperextension or meniscus tear) suffered knee injuries on back-to-back days to start this week. Peterman will likely miss 3-4 weeks while Wolford expects D’Alesio to miss two weeks, although he won’t know for sure until today.
That leaves the pair known as Juju (Childs) and Jabo (Smith) to keep YSU afloat.
“It gives other guys an opportunity,” Wolford said. “As a coach, you prepare like you’re never ever going to have that guy back.”
Childs, a Los Angeles native who transferred from Compton College, made the conference’s all-newcomer team last season as a sophomore after starting every game.
He’s one of the quieter players on the team but he’s earned his teammates’ — and Wolford’s — trust.
“He’s very reliable, very respectful,” Wolford said. “Just a good kid.”
While the defense has struggled all three years under Wolford, particularly in the secondary, the Penguins ended 2012 with three strong games, giving up a total of 23 points over that stretch. They won all three.
“We started playing more as a team again,” Childs said. “At the beginning of the season, we were up and then we got down on ourselves.
“We started to click back late in the season.”
The Penguins haven’t made the playoffs since 2006 and play in the same conference as the two-time defending national champions, but when asked about expectations for this fall, Childs said “championship.”
“That’s all we talk about,” he said. “National championships. League championships.
“That’s the expectation of this school.”
Notebook
Saturday’s scrimmage — the first of the summer — is limited to family and the media. ... Wednesday’s practice was moved to the WATTS due to lightning. It was the seventh of fall camp and was sandwiched between two-a-days on Tuesday and today. “A lot of people think it’s a grind, but it’s nothing compared to the old days,” Wolford said. “We used to go two or three times a day. The kids think they’re tired but they don’t have a clue. I’ll let them know when they’re tired.”