43
YSU’s QB battle still wide open
Four Penguins are
in the mix to start
By charles grove
YOUNGSTOWN
As the Youngstown State football team attempts to pick up a little bit more of the playbook each day, the offense is still adapting to quarterbacks being switched in and out every few plays during 11-on-11 drills.
Ricky Davis, Hunter Wells, Trent Hosick and Nathan Mays are all still in line for the starting quarterback job and the team isn’t making a quick decision about who the starter will be on Sept. 1 when Duquesne visits Stambaugh Stadium.
“It’s a long camp,” YSU head coach Bo Pelini said. “We’ve got 20-some practices before we play the first game. I think the competition is going to be good for the team.”
The offensive line, which has had many more players to substitute in and out now that the unit as a whole is healthier, has the task of not only learning plays and a new blocking scheme, but is going on different cadences every few plays.
“The voices basically [are the biggest thing],” senior guard Brock Eisenhurth said. “Coach [Shane] Montgomery is always telling us how they do their cadences or sometimes the quarterbacks will even come into our meetings and do their cadences for us. Once you get used to it, it’s fine.”
For those at the ends of the passes, things take a little getting used to as well.
“It’s a little bit weird kind of having those guys getting shuffled though,” senior tight end Jacob Wood said. “They have different cadences, different tendencies and they all throw the ball a little differently. So it’s a little weird, but you just have to get used to it and pay attention to who is in.”
This is while the quarterbacks are trying to impress coaches as a new chapter to the playbook is introduced every day.
“We’re going to keep installing and working plays in,” Wells said. “You’ve got to keep your head on right so you don’t fall behind. I think we’ve been handling it very well so far as jumping right into it.”
Even some members of the defense see themselves as helping vet the four-man race.
“I talk to all the quarterbacks and try to stay on them as much as possible,” senior cornerback David Rivers III said. “The job is open and any of them could step up and take that job.”
But in the event one guy doesn’t step up enough to stand out as the starting quarterback, Pelini said he’s not opposed to splitting time if he feels like he needs to.
“Ideally, we’d like to have one guy but if one guy doesn’t step out and take it then we’ll do what we have to do to win football games,” Pelini said at a Curbstone Coaches luncheon on July 25. “I’m not a guy that says, ‘You have to do this,’ because there’s a lot of different ways to win football games.
“It depends on how it all shakes out so we’ll deal with that when the time comes.”
The coaching staff also has the task of selecting who will get playing time at wide receiver. Andre Stubbs and Andrew Williams, the top two receivers from a year ago, both graduated. The duo averaged 43.5 and 52.3 yards per game respectively and caught eight touchdowns between them.
“We’ve got [Darien] Townsend, [I’Tavious] Harvin and we’ve got Isiah Scott, who is a young guy, plus a couple of transfers,” Pelini said. “It’s a talented group and there’s going to be a lot of competition for playing time at that position.
“There may be guys who don’t have a ton of experience at this level but we have some guys who have some talent.”