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YSU receivers seem to be catching on
Florida transfer garners praise
Youngstown
While consistency is still a point of emphasis going forward, the Youngstown State wide receivers are showing flashes of what they can bring to the table this fall.
After a few shaky drills that had balls flying through the hands of plenty of the receivers, the group picked up the slack in seven on seven and 11-on-11 drills.
Quarterback Trent Hosick hit Darien Townsend on a deep ball the first play of 11-on-11 and a few plays later Hunter Wells connected with Damoun Patterson for over 20 yards on a fade route Friday.
“I think we’re producing at a much higher level [than a week ago],” Townsend said. “We’re learning things quicker. Our execution needs to go up but we’re giving a lot of effort.”
Although he only participated in individual drills due to a tweaked ankle, University of Florida transfer Alvin Bailey has been performing at a high level, and quarterback Ricky Davis, who was playing today with a tweaked ankle of his own, thinks he’ll be a huge threat for the Penguin attack this fall.
“I’d say Alvin is the most improved,” Davis said. “He is lightning and I’m excited. He’s going to make an immediate impact here.”
Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Shane Montgomery said what’s most important about Bailey is not that he simply comes from UF, but that he saw some playing time.
“People like to say ‘Hey, you’ve got a transfer from Florida.’ But if they didn’t play there or they weren’t in the mix there then there’s not much experience,” Montgomery said. “But he’s had some playing time and got some experience at receiver and with special teams.
“He’s a guy that’s been in some high-quality games and should bring a lot to that receiving core especially physically because he can do a lot of things in terms of speed and running with the football.”
When the ofense wasn’t getting shots down the field, the four quarterbacks of Davis, Hosick, Wells and Nathan Mays were more than willing to check down to their running backs and not force the ball.
“The defense put in Tampa 2 defense today and they’re taking away almost everything we have,” Davis said. “Basically the free safeties are going out to cover two, the corners are sitting in the flats and then the mike linebacker is getting to the middle of the field. So you’ve got to check the ball down.”
In the seven-on-seven and 11-on-11 drills, both the offense and defense had their moments to shine, but during the two-minute drills at the end of practice, the defense refused to break.
Hosick got the offense a first down but sputtered at midfield and Davis ran for a first down himself on a fourth-and-15 before his drive fizzled out.
“It’s more fun [in those live situations] but I wish we could’ve gone totally live with the quarterbacks,” Hosick said. “That’s where a guy like me or Ricky can separate ourselves by making plays when things break down.
“We would’ve liked to have gotten a couple of those two-minute drills but if we would’ve been able to go live things would’ve been different — I promise that.”
YSU has practice today at 10 a.m. and will have a team scrimmage.