Sunday, August 23, 2015
Penguins impress former ’Husker
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
After spending the last three years playing for Bo Pelini at Nebraska, Youngstown State junior LeRoy Alexander says there’s one big difference between his previous state and his home one.
“Out there, there’s no pro sports, so college football is the only thing they know,” said Alexander, a Toledo Whitmer High graduate. “That’s why it’s so big out there. Here, we have a lot of good Division I and I-AA schools.”
As for the difference between his old roster and his current one?
“Surprisingly, it’s not too far off,” said Alexander, who played in every game for the Cornhuskers in 2013 before sitting out 2014 for undisclosed disciplinary reasons. “From what I see in the D-line, the O-line, linebacker to DB, everybody is almost the same size and they’re flying around. [DE] Derek Rivers could go to Nebraska and start right now along with [DE] Avery [Moss] and [DE] Terrell [Williams].
“It’s a matter of how much we want it. It’s a matter of do we want to buy in or not.”
So far, so good. After giving up a touchdown on Saturday’s opening drive, YSU’s defense controlled most of the second, and final, scrimmage of training camp. The Penguins made three interceptions, including two by inside linebacker Jaylin Kelly off starting quarterback Hunter Wells. Sophomore CB D.J. Thomas had the other interception, returning it 56 yards for a touchdown.
“I just did what the coaches asked me to do,” said Kelly, a junior who started all 12 games last season at Mike [middle] linebacker. “I got into my drop and made the play.”
After Kelly’s interview, Wells yelled over, “Those interceptions were luck, for the record,” then admitted, “It’s on me, 100 percent. They were bad throws. They’ve been playing our offense for three weeks now and they’re really familiar with what we do, but I’ve got to make better decisions.”
Defense was a weak spot under Eric Wolford — although last year’s unit was at least solid, unlike his previous four — but that shouldn’t be an issue this fall. The Penguins have more talent on defense than at any point since the Jon Heacock era and are no longer getting dominated by YSU’s offense in practice.
“I feel like everybody is buying in more to the schemes,” Kelly said, when asked about the difference between this year’s defense and the previous ones. “Everybody is playing together and playing harder. I feel like it’s our attitude. We all want it. We want to be great and we strive to be great in our workouts, our practices and our meetings.”
Although Pelini tempers everything with “we’ve still got a long way to go,” he admitted he’s seen some growth on defense over the past few days.
“I think across the board we’re getting better,” he said. “We’re getting deeper. There’s more guys I feel can line up and play for us. We’ve made a jump as far as understanding the defense and consistency. And we’re playing pretty well on the back end, especially at safety.”
It helps that Alexander already knows the defense, although it’s not exactly the same one Pelini ran at Nebraska. Alexander, who moved into the starting lineup for Saturday’s scrimmage alongside Jameel Smith, said he’s “just trying to do whatever he can for the team.”
“I know the defense pretty well, so I’m trying to help the guys out any way I can,” he said. “Everybody is building confidence, buying into it and flying around to the ball.”