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Penguins focus on needs with 11 recruits
By Tom Williams
YOUNGSTOWN
Bo Pelini’s first full offseason of recruiting for the Youngstown State University football program produced the smallest class of his head coaching career.
The Penguins announced on Wednesday 11 players who will be joining the team for the 2016 season. Four players are from junior colleges while two others are sons of YSU assistant coaches.
Last year, YSU’s recruiting class had 30 members.
“We didn’t have a lot of scholarship room to work with,” Pelini said of the eight seniors who played their final game on Nov. 21 in a 27-24 loss at Indiana State. “We didn’t have a big senior class.”
Pelini said this group “is probably the smallest amount I’ve worked with since I’ve been a head coach ... so we were very specific in what we went after.
“I think we addressed [certain needs].”
YSU’s class includes two local players: Farrell linebacker Malachi Newell and Cardinal Mooney running back/linebacker Devon McNutt.
Pelini called Newell “a tackling machine.”
Newell (6-foot-1, 195 pounds) helped the Steelers advance to the PIAA Class A state championship game where they lost 35-0 to Bishop Guilfoyle.
“He’s a little undersized, but I’ve played with guys like that a lot,” said Pelini who took over the Penguins’ program on Dec. 17, 2014 after being fired by Nebraska three weeks earlier. “The type of production he brings to the table is something you can’t coach.
“He’s a very instinctive football player and he’s all over the field,” Pelini said. “We’re excited to have him.”
McNutt’s father, Richard, is YSU’s defensive backs coach and recruiting coordinator.
Although YSU lists him as a linebacker, Pelini said he envisions McNutt someday being a short-yardage option for the offense.
“We kind of looking at him as a bigger, short-yardage-type back, a guy who can run in between the tackles, has more size,” Pelini said.
“He has a possibility of ending up on the defensive side.”
Running back London Pearson from Licking Heights High School in Pataskala is the son of Pepe Pearson, YSU’s running backs coach.
“We feel real fortunate, you kind of get a two-for-one [bargain],” Pelini said. Children of YSU employees receive tuition breaks.
“They are good football players and you don’t have to expend [full scholarships] on them,” Pelini said.
Last fall, YSU went 5-6, 3-5 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
The four junior college players include quarterback Trent Hosick from Springfield, Mo., who played two seasons at Arizona Western Community College in Yuma, Ariz.
The dual-threat quarterback has two seasons of eligibility remaining. Last fall, Hosick completed 52 of 101 passes for 787 yards and six touchdowns. He also ran 67 times for 216 yards and two scores.
“He’s a competitor,” said Pelini, adding that he learned about Hosick from when he coached at Nebraska. “The added dimension of being able to run is great.”
Pelini said Hosick will provide competition for returning quarterbacks Ricky Davis and Hunter Wells, both juniors.
The other junior college players are center Vitas Hrynkiewicz (Independence Community College), defensive back Billy Nicoe Hurst (Contra Costa Community College) and wide receiver Stefan Derrick II (Orange Coast College).
Pelini landed defensive lineman Jamal Smith from Hialeah, Fla., from the powerhouse American Senior High. He was one of five classmates who signed scholarship offers Wednesday.