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VanGorder enjoys lone season at YSU
Transfer quarterback thrust back into starting lineup mix
By Brian Dzenis
YOUNGSTOWN
The football season hasn’t gone the way Montgomery VanGorder envisioned, but he still wouldn’t trade his lone season in a Penguins uniform.
“I hoped for a few more wins, but that’s how the season went with its ups and downs. I feel fortunate to have spent a year here,” the Youngstown State quarterback said Tuesday. “Hopefully we can finish it the right way for these guys.
“The past couple weeks have been really fun. That’s what we missed at the beginning of the season.”
VanGorder, who came to Youngstown (4-6, 3-4 Missouri Valley Football Conference) this year after spending the previous four at Notre Dame, has found himself back as the starting quarterback after Nathan Mays suffered a leg injury during a 17-7 loss to North Dakota State on Nov. 3.
Head coach Bo Pelini said that while Mays was healthy enough to play in last week’s 31-10 victory against Northern Iowa, he didn’t return to practice with much time to prepare, leaving VanGorder as the starter.
Pelini was coy about who could start in the season finale at Illinois State on Saturday, but either one could do the job.
“It gives you some flexibility and the nice thing is we don’t change our offense much regardless of who’s in there at quarterback,” Pelini said. “We may lean towards a couple things for each quarterback, but it isn’t much.”
In one year, VanGorder has experienced everything a home-grown Penguin QB experiences: breakout games, injuries, a benching and being asked to enter a game off the bench.
He started the first eight games before being pulled near the end of a 43-17 loss to Indiana State on Oct. 27. He threw for 209 yards, a touchdown and an interception last week.
He was 144 for 264 for 1,911 yards, 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions while appearing in every game on the season.
“I stayed prepared as if I was starting, but it was good to step back and get the stress off my plate for a week and regroup,” VanGorder said of being benched. “I thought it was a good situation and obviously, last week went pretty well offensively and that was good to see.”
While the Penguins are getting hot at the end of the year, the Redbirds (5-5, 2-5) are stumbling, mired in a four-game losing streak. Illinois State ended YSU’s playoff hopes with a 35-0 victory.
“It was like how it was [against Indiana State this year],” Pelini said of rewatching the film of that game. “We had missed opportunities early and we just didn’t play well last year.”
Pelini liked having VanGorder for this year.
“I’ve enjoyed being around him since meeting him last year and after this game he wants to go into coaching and I think he has a bright future in the profession,” Pelini said.
While he supports VanGorder in his future endeavors, he joked that he doesn’t recommend going into coaching.
“It shortens your life a little bit,” Pelini said.