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YSU linebacker Wright making most of his second chance
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
When Lee Wright played outside linebacker at York (S.C.) Comprehensive High, he didn’t worry about gaps or pulling guards.
“It was just see ball, get ball,” he said, smiling.
Wright is now in a much more complicated scheme at Youngstown State, but the same instincts and talent that prompted Appalachian State to offer him a scholarship have impressed Bo Pelini in his first spring with the Penguins.
“He’s really had a good spring,” Pelini said. “What’s impressed me is his natural instincts. He’s still making mistakes and still learning, but he’s a guy who’s got a really good feel in there. Good pop, good strike at the point of attack and really good cover skills.
“He’s picked up our system really easily, so I’m excited about him. I think he’s really going to help us.”
In high school, Wright rushed for more than 1,800 yards as a junior running back, then switched to defense as a senior in 2012, where he had 140 tackles, four sacks and four interceptions. Wright redshirted the 2013 season at Appalachian State, but was kicked off the team for marijuana possession last summer.
“I got in a little trouble at Appalachian State,” he said following Saturday’s scrimmage at Stambaugh Stadium. “As soon as I found out I wasn’t on the team no more, I got hold of my [high school] teammate that goes here [running back Ryan Moore] and within the next three days, I was on a flight up here.”
Wright (6-foot-1, 210 pounds) spent last fall playing scout team safety — “I didn’t practice that much; I mainly watched the defense” — then was moved up to linebacker under Pelini, where he’s shown the ability to blitz off the edge or drop in coverage.
Wright started the spring at weakside linebacker — where senior Dubem Nwadiogbu earned honorable mention all-conference honors last fall — but he’s lately seen time at the strongside spot, too.
“He’s a hybrid,” Pelini said. “He plays really both of those. He played the first nine or so practices exclusively at the WILL [weakside]. Then we moved him to what we call our Buck position — the other outside linebacker position in our base — so he’s kind doing a little bit of both. So he’s doing work in our base personnel and he gets nickel work.”
Regardless of where he lines up, “it’s still linebacker,” Wright said. “You have to learn all of them and know what you’re doing. It’s similar to high school when I played outside linebacker, which is basically the Buck here. At Appalachian State I played outside linebacker which is like the nickel here, but I do a lot more coverage in the nickel here.”
Like senior cornerback Kenneth Durden (who got kicked off South Florida’s team for marijuana possession) and junior defensive end Avery Moss (who was dismissed from Nebraska after being arrested for public indecency), Wright is getting a second chance from Youngstown State.
Pelini said they won’t get a third.
“I do my homework,” Pelini said. “I talk to the guys before [spring practice] and really judge them on [what they’ve done] since they’ve been here.
“They also know that there’s not a tolerance as far as where I come from. It’s pretty black and white what the expectations are and if you want to be part of the program, you’re going to act a certain way.
“Another guy is Dish [tight end Kintrell Disher, who was in Eric Wolford’s doghouse]. I just say, ‘Hey, if you want to come back, these are the ground rules. This is the way it’s going to be. Here’s what the expectations and standards are. Either you live by them or we’ll show you where the door is.’ For the most part, guys have responded the way we’ve wanted them to.”