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PENGUINS FOOTBALL More news & notes
SPECIAL TEAMS ON NOTICE
Youngstown State’s football team is not doing so hot in the foot department.
Head coach Bo Pelini confirmed that he benched punter Mark Schuler in last week’s 36-7 loss to South Dakota State. He was replaced by kicker Zak Kennedy.
“It was bad. We shanked the ball out of bounds. We weren’t hitting the ball well, so I put in a new punter,” Pelini said. “[Kennedy] was the only other punter I had on the roster.”
Schuler, a Springfield High School graduate, averaged 36.5 yards and down the ball inside the 20 twice on four punts before he was yanked last week. For the season, he’s averaging 37.5 yards per punt, which is the lowest in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
There’s some irony to Kennedy replacing Schuler in that he was asked to do someone else’s job while struggling in his own. After going 0 for 2 last week — including a blocked kick — Kennedy is 5 for 12 on field goal attempts. YSU and Nicholls State are tied for the most botched field goals with eight and Kennedy his the lowest FG percentage in the nation among kickers with at least 10 attempts at 41 percent.
“Obviously, he’s frustrated by it,” Pelini said. “We’ll see what Saturday brings.”
CARL IN CHARGE
Pelini said he hasn’t spoken to his older brother, Carl Pelini, since he became the interim head coach at Bowling Green over the weekend.
Carl was in his first year as the defensive coordinator with the Falcons under Mike Jinks after leaving YSU at the end of last season. Jinks was fired after starting the season 1-6 and was 7-24 through two and a half seasons in charge.
Bo Pelini had a one-game stint as an interim head coach when Frank Solich was fired as Nebraska’s head coach in 2003 following a 9-3 season.
“I’ve been in that position before and it’s not fun. It’s not easy. It’s something you never want,” Pelini said. “He took the job because he liked the gentleman he was working for. You do what you have to do and that’s not an easy situation.”
INJURY UPDATE
Linebacker Christiaan Randall-Posey is expected to be better after getting stretchered off the field last week after getting hit in the neck. He went to a hospital in South Dakota where he was diagnosed with a neck sprain. He’s received more testing back testing back home.
“He’s doing fine and I think he’s going to be better. They did a precautionary MRI and we should get the results [on Tuesday],” Pelini said. “When I got off the bus at the airport he was waiting for me and smiling.
“Anytime you have anything you get hit in the neck area and there’s some numbness, they’re not going to play around with it and they shouldn’t.”