YSU coach Bo Pelini explains decision on former Steubenville player

YOUNGSTOWN — YOUNGSTOWN — Ma'lik Richmond has the trust of Youngstown State football coach Bo Pelini – but it comes with a caveat.

"I believe in him, but I told him, 'I'll hold your your feet to the fire,'" Pelini told The Vindicator on Thursday morning in an exclusive interview before the start of the Penguins' first fall practice. "He has to do it better and cleaner than the next guy."

Richmond was involved in one of Ohio high school football's biggest scandals. He was one of two former Steubenville football players found delinquent in the sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl.

Richmond enrolled at YSU as a student last August and walked on to the team in January.

Pelini said he did his own investigation of Richmond's past and the decision to bring him on is his alone. He got a tip from someone in Steubenville that Richmond was on YSU's campus as a student during the 2016 season. He called Richmond's high school coach, Reno Saccoccia, to confirm it.

"(Saccoccia) told be he was (at YSU), but that Ma'lik wasn't looking to play football at the time," Pelini said.

This fall will be the first time he's played football since high school. After Richmond was released from a juvenile detention facility in 2014, he has not pursued a college football career and that was what ultimately convinced Pelini to take him on despite his past.

"The kid is humble and he wants to put it behind him," Pelini said.

Read more abut this developing story on Vindy.com and in Friday's Vindicator sports section.