Pelini on cat: I never saw it before

Faux’s feline: YSU coach Bo Pelini became a social media sensation at last year’s Nebraska spring game when he entered the stadium holding a cat, an homage to his fake Twitter account, FauxPelini, which features a (Photoshopped) picture of Pelini snuggling with a cat. When asked if they specifically chose a cat that wouldn’t get spooked by 60,000 screaming fans, Pelini said, “The first time I laid eyes on that cat was that day. We walked out and these people were going [nuts] and I thought, ‘This thing’s gonna scratch my eyes out.’ It didn’t. I think it was a little freaked out, as I was.” How did he manage to trust that the cat would behave itself? “Trust me, I didn’t,” he said. “It wasn’t declawed, either, I can tell you that.”

YSU spring game: The Penguins will hold their spring game on Friday night at 7:30 at Stambaugh Stadium. It will have a starters vs. starters/backups vs. backups format. “It gives guys a chance to play in front of a crowd and see how they respond,” Pelini said. “I’m hoping we get a pretty decent crowd here. Hopefully it will be a nice day and we’ll give the fans that are interested a chance to see what the guys are doing and what we’re doing as a program.”

Mountain moment: Youngstown State sophomore linebacker Lee Wright hails from York, S.C., which is about 45 minutes southwest of Charlotte, N.C. While he has a southern accent, it’s nothing like he heard at Appalachian State, which is two hours north of York in the mountains of Boone, N.C. “It’s a bunch of hippies and mountains,” said Wright, who spent one season at ASU before transferring to YSU last summer. “It’s different, but you learn to like it. You learn to enjoy aspects of it.” Junior teammate Derek Rivers is YSU’s only North Carolina native, but he grew up in Kinston, N.C., which is less than an hour from the coast and more than four hours from Boone. “Trust me, it’s two different kinds of country,” Rivers said. “My side of the state is a different kind of country. Them [those in Boone] are the people you see on TV, the moonshiners and stuff.”

Versatile role: Rivers set YSU’s regular season sack record last fall, setting up exclusively at defensive end in a three-point stance. But Rivers spent time standing up during Saturday’s practice in what Pelini calls a “spinner front,” where Rivers can either blitz or drop into coverage. Pelini has been using the scheme since his time in the NFL in the 1990s. It’s designed to confuse offenses by disguising coverages and pressures. “Having the athletic defensive ends and guys that can stand up and do those things gives a lot of versatility,” said Pelini, who also plans to use ends Terrell Williams and Avery Moss in that role. “It’s been a really good package for us. We’ve used it mainly on third down, but we get that stuff on the early downs, too.”

Joe Scalzo