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Crist says YSU offense is showing progress
Girard’s Waid competing at QB
By Greg Gulas
BEAVER TOWNSHIP
Brian Crist, the Youngstown State University football team’s offensive coordinator, has utilized spring practice drills to find an offensive identity.
Crist heads into his second season for the Penguins who are coming off a disappointing 4-7 season.
“We used the spring to shore up some philosophical things we had questions with and established our toughness, things we can hang out hats on after the spring,” Crist told the Curbstone Coaches during Monday’s weekly meeting at Avion Banquet Center. “We weren’t worried about game-planning as much as we were about getting better each practice.
“I feel like we accomplished that goal.”
The Penguins scored 254 points last season, an average of 23.1 per game. They ran 786 plays (89 more than the opposition) and put up 4,205 yards of total offense, an average of 382.3 yards per outing.
When summer drills commence, Nathan Mays, Joe Craycraft and Mark Waid (Girard) are the quarterbacks Crist will rely on to improve those numbers.
“Nate had leg surgery, participated this spring but wasn’t involved in contact drills,” Crist said. “Joe and Mark took all of the team reps and both had a nice spring.
“We’re thin and inexperienced up front though,” Crist said. “Center Jacob Zinni had a nice spring and so did left tackle Dan Becker but he hurt his knee.”
Crist and his offensive staff spent a lot of time working with the run game.
“We wanted to establish the run game, so we can be more effective,” Crist said. “I thought we did that and accomplished the goals that we set prior to spring drills.”
He said running backs Christian Turner, Joe Alessi (South Range), Braxton Chapman and London Pearson did well during the spring camp.
“Christian ran better between the tackles, Joe finally got a chance for more reps while Braxton and London also improved over the course of spring drills,” Crist said.
The receiving corps might be the part of Crist’s offense set to make the most noise this fall.
“Tight ends Miles Joiner, Josh Burgett and Jake Benio were three freshmen last season who saw playing time,” Crist said. “They’re a year older, a year stronger and each improved from beginning to end this spring.
“Wide receivers Kendric Mallory, Jermiah Braswell, Sam St. Surin and Tay Payne are players to keep an eye on when the season begins.”
Negative plays hurt the Penguins last season as they incurred 305 yards in losses in the running game.
“After what we went through last year, we just need to get better and be more productive,” he said. “We had way too many negative plays and we need to eliminate those.”
YSU will open against Samford in the Guardian Credit Union FCS Kick-off on Aug. 24 in Montgomery, Ala.
“The goal is to stay healthy and get in enough work to stay fresh early,” Crist said. “We already have some pieces in place but need to gain confidence early.”
YSU’s first home game is Sept. 7 against Howard University.