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Durden finally on field for Penguins
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
The most talented cornerback on Youngstown State’s roster no longer has to watch from the sidelines.
After sitting out last season because South Florida wouldn’t approve his transfer, senior Kenneth Durden was in the starting lineup for the Penguins’ first scrimmage of the Bo Pelini era on Saturday.
“All I’m doing is trying to get better,” Durden said. “It’s go hard or go home for me.”
Durden, a Georgia native, spent his first three seasons at USF and started 11 of 12 games at cornerback in 2013. But he was arrested for felony marijuana possession in January of 2014 and suspended from the Bulls indefinitely.
Former YSU defensive backs coach Glenn Davis — who played and coached at USF — brought Durden to Youngstown last summer, believing he would be able to play immediately. But for FBS transfers to be eligible, the previous school has to sign off on the move. South Florida didn’t, although it wasn’t for lack of trying on YSU’s part.
“As the season went on and they wouldn’t release it [the transfer] after three or four games, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to play,” said Durden, who now only has one year of eligibility remaining. “But I kept my head on straight and tried to help the guys.”
Durden (6-0, 180) would have almost certainly started last season — people at YSU still talk about the leaping, one-handed interception he made in the back of the end zone during a scrimmage last summer — and he has some obvious physical gifts, starting with long arms and hands easily big enough to palm a basketball.
“He’s a talented kid and a tremendous competitor,” Pelini said. “He just needs to fine-tune some details. Some fundamentals and techniques that are going to allow for that talent to come out. He has a couple bad habits but overall he’s had a good spring.”
Said Durden: “They’re teaching me to work on my feet and my hands and work on my eyes, so I’m driving to my guy and not looking into the backfield when the ball is thrown.”
Durden certainly has experience adapting to different schemes and techniques. He’s played for four head coaches during his college career — Skip Holtz and Willie Taggart at USF, Eric Wolford and Pelini at YSU — as well as four defensive backs coaches, including his current one, former Ohio State player/assistant Richard McNutt.
“The new coaching staff, I really like it,” he said. “I’m just taking it all in, working with my teammates and trying to get better every day.”
While his college career hasn’t gone as scripted, he still has one year left. Pelini wants him to make the most of it.
“I told him, ‘For the good players to become great, they’ve got to really get into the technique aspect of things,’” Pelini said. “You can only rely on your talent so much. The way that talent is really going to come out and separate from other people is by playing the right way.
“For the most part, he’s really hungry to be a good player and he wants to learn. As long as that attitude continues, he’ll be fine.”