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YSU freshman Turner turns heads in debut
By Brian Dzenis
PITTSBURGH
Christian Turner has made a seamless jump from high school to college football. The true freshman running back from Cincinnati La Salle was a bright spot during Youngstown State’s 28-21 overtime loss to Pitt on Saturday.
“In high school, we faced a lot of adversity winning three straight state championships,” Turner said. “The stage wasn’t too big, so I was kind of used to playing in big games and big settings.
“I was nervous in the beginning just because it was my first college game, but as the game went on, I got more comfortable.”
Turner caught five passes for 124 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 32 yards on three carries in his collegiate debut.
Turner did what observers have watched in camp through August. He added another dimension to the offense with catches out of the backfield and the ability to play in space. He’s seized a big role in the offense following the departures of Martin Ruiz and Jody Webb.
“When they recruited me, they told me there was a chance that I could I could compete for a spot because all the running backs were pretty young,” Turner said. “The spot was up for grabs and I competed for it.”
LOCAL SPOTLIGHT
Pitt’s Darrin Hall seemed to be a victim of fickle play-calling, but the Austintown Fitch graduate put in some solid work against his hometown team. The junior running back did the dirty work to set up his teammates for short touchdown runs.
“My job is to make plays. I’m going to continue to make plays and I’m going to make bigger plays,” Hall said. “Whoever scores doesn’t matter as long as we win.”
Hall had 13 carries for 52 yards and caught two passes for 12 yards.
On the game’s opening drive, he had a 10-yard run to put his team at YSU’s 6-yard line and was subbed out for Quadree Ollison, who punched in the TD.
Later in the second quarter, another Hall run put Pitt within two yards of the end zone. He was subbed out for A.J. Davis, who scored. Hall keeps a good attitude about it.
“I like how it is right now. We’re taking turns and we’re making plays and we have to keep it going for next week,” Hall said.
A few other Mahoning Valley denizens played on Saturday. West Branch’s Jacob Zinni started at right guard for the Penguins and Warren JFK’s Jacob Coates fielded two punts — calling for a fair catch on both. From the New Castle area, Neshannock’s Tyler Sear made his first college catch for 10 yards for the Panthers.
A WORD FROM PAT NARDUZZI
Pitt’s head coach and son of former YSU coach Bill Narduzzi admitted he did not use his full playbook on Saturday in an attempt to shield some schemes from future FBS opponents.
“I wouldn’t say it was too basic, but there are some things we wanted to do and we held some stuff to save it,” he said.
His assessment of the Penguins — short version: they’re good — featured a prediction for this year’s FCS championship game.
“Coach [Bo] Pelini’s a great coach. They’ve got a championship-caliber football team,” Narduzzi said. “I expect them to make the championship game again. We played a darn good football team.”