Youngstown State’s QBs tread water in latest scrimmage of preseason camp

By BRIAN DZENIS

bdzenis@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Anyone looking for answers about Youngstown State’s offense has to keep waiting.

The Penguins conducted their second scrimmage on Saturday in full pads and just have one more full week of practice before they start thinking about the Aug. 24 season opener against Samford. The offense seemed to be on its back foot no matter who was quarterback.

“Did anybody stand out more than the other guy? I don’t think so,” said head coach Bo Pelini of the ongoing quarterback battle between Nathan Mays and Joe Craycraft. “I’ll get a better handle on it when I see the film, but I saw them both make mistakes and I saw them do good things as well. It was like that for a lot of the positions.”

Pelini has been coy about picking a starting quarterback throughout fall camp, but his assessment that neither stood out from each other was correct.

While the pair took turns with first-team personnel, neither QB threw a touchdown pass, but each scored once with their legs. Mays was intercepted on the first drive of the scrimmage with safety Kyle Hegedus tipping a pass to defensive end Justus Reed. Craycraft avoided turnovers while going 5 for 14 for 67 yards. Mays was 6 for 17 for 57 yards to go with his pick.

Mistakes weren’t just limited to the quarterbacks. Senior wideout Kendric Mallory got to open space only to have a Craycraft pass bounce off his hands. Center Matt Jones sent a snap over Mays’ head and false-start penalties on the offensive line stalled the proceedings. Seven of eight total penalties in the scrimmage were assessed to the offense for 55 yards.

“On both sides of the football, there was a lot of good things, but there was a lot that wasn’t up to standard,” Pelini said. “There were some positives. There was physicality of both sides and I think we only had one ball on the ground — maybe two — we just needed to be more efficient offensively. Defensively, there were communication errors. There were missed assignments.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

A bright spot for the offense was redshirt junior running back London Pearson. He led all backs in carries with 15 and he made the most of it, going for 134 yards and two touchdowns. One of his scoring runs went for 73 yards while running with the first-team offense.

“It just came down to the o-line,” Pearson said. “I can’t do anything without them and they did good today.”

He stood out from the other two backs who had first-team action. Christian Turner took nine carries for 30 yards and Braxton Chapman had 36 yards on 11 carries. Pelini said he liked Pearson’s outing and his camp so far, but wants more consistency. It’s a sentiment that Pearson shares.

“I think there’s some days where I’m not in it and I need to fix that,” Pearson said.

The only quarterback to find the end zone by air was Girard graduate Mark Waid. The true freshman found Canfield’s Jake Cummings for a 30-yard TD pass.

“Aw, man, points are points. It doesn’t matter how we do it,” Cummings said.

Defensively, d-lineman DeMarko Craig Jr. and James Jackson, safety Zaire Jones and linebacker Cash Mitchell tied for the team lead in tackles with six. Mitchell had five solo stops.

On special teams, redshirt freshman kicker Grant Gonya did some drills, but sat out the main events with a minor leg injury. Redshirt sophomore Colten McFadden made two field goals and had a third blocked.