43
YSU mines state of Youngstown for recruits
By Charles grove
youngstown
Youngstown State’s football program has 19 new athletes as players from Youngstown to Minnesota signed letters of intent to suit up for the Penguins the next four years.
“I thought we made our football team better,” YSU head coach Bo Pelini said Wednesday.
The scholarships went to nine athletes from Ohio and three from Pennsylvania. Pelini said keeping the roster fresh with local talent is a goal of the program.
Local athletes include Ray Anderson (Cardinal Mooney), Braxton Chapman (Farrell, Pa.), Jake Coates (Warren JFK), Chris Durkin (Ursuline/Virginia Tech), Donovan Turney (Boardman), Yianni Koullias (Campbell), Jake Cummings (Canfield), Jaylen Hewlett (Cardinal Mooney), Darrell Jackson (Cardinal Mooney), Noah Bayus (Champion) and Taymer Graham (South Range).
“We want to represent local kids and we want good representation of local kids in this program,” Pelini said. “Way back when, when [former YSU] coach [Jim] Tressel talked about the state of Youngstown, that’s the way we want to go.”
Three names YSU had high up on their recruiting boards the Penguins signed. Out are Jody Webb and Martin Ruiz and in come Chapman from Farrell and Christian Turner from Cincinnati.
“We targeted those two guys early on and we got both of them so we feel good about that,” Pelini said.
Another one of those locals was Anderson, who verbally committed to Navy before changing his mind a couple of days ago. Anderson signed his letter of intent wearing a YSU football shirt with the phrase “I’m staying home” on it.
“I had the opportunity to stay home,” Anderson said. “Going anywhere I know I’d have to work my butt off but being home it’s going to make the transition to college a lot easier for me since I won’t have to worry about being homesick.
“I love my family, I love my Mooney family and I love the people I’m around so that was big for me.”
YSU’s playoff run was a bit of a double-edged sword in terms of recruiting. On one hand, the Penguins got a lot of national attention during their run to the FCS National Championship Game, but at the same time it left the coaching staff with just 25 days to focus solely on recruiting.
“I think [the playoff run] had an impact of all of [the recruits],” Pelini said. “It makes people take notice when you make a run like that. [But] it really shortens your window, which makes it hard. We maybe would’ve gotten closer to our scholarship limit had we a little bit more time. We only had three weekends to bring kids in but that’s part of the deal.
“I hope we’re in this situation every year.”
Pelini said while there’s still a few more openings remaining, he hopes to fill those positions with junior college athletes or transfers.
The recruiting process was not only sped up for the YSU coaches, but the recruits themselves. Linebacker Terray Bryant from Georgia did the entire process in about a week.
“YSU contacted me about a week ago,” Bryant said. “So the process had to go by fast. I visited this past weekend and I saw the campus and really liked it.
“Coach [Richard] McNutt came to my school looking for players. They showed him my film and they really liked me and then I got my official visit.”
With rumors of a second signing day being proposed for December in the future, Pelini said he wished the hoopla of signing day would end altogether.
“I wish there wasn’t a signing day,” Pelini said. “I don’t understand the reason behind it other than people are going to make money on it. To me if someone makes an offer and someone makes a commitment you sign that day.
“I don’t even put the TV on during signing day anymore because I don’t want to see a bunch of kids put on shirts or hats or do all that type of stuff. To me, that’s not what it’s all about.”
So what’s next for YSU? A short break.
“We’ll take a little time off. These coaches haven’t had much time off so we’ll relax a little bit,” Pelini said. “We’ll start spring ball and have three practices a week for four weeks.”
YSU’s spring practices will begin on Feb. 27 and the spring game will be on April 7.