March 26, 2008

Football: Enthusiastic, Hungry Squad Hits the Field For Spring Workouts

    Youngstown – The Youngstown State football team put forth a strong effort on the first day of Spring practice on Wednesday, head coach Jon Heacock said following the workout.

    The Penguins worked out in helmets and shorts at Stambaugh Stadium for almost two-and-a-half hours as temperatures reached over 50 degrees.
    “I thought it was a great day," said Heacock, who is entering his eighth season. "The sun was shining. It was a good fall afternoon is what it really was. The kids were excited. They put forth a good effort and a good attitude. There was a lot of learning. We’re still working through that process. I thought effort and attitude was excellent.”
    A group of 90-plus players participated, including 23 seniors and 37 letterwinners.
    The quarterbacks drew the most of the attention for the afternoon. Third-year junior Todd Rowan, Toledo transfer Brandon Summers and redshirt freshman Paul Corsaro all had strong outings.
    “I think Todd’s got a little more experience and Paul’s got some handle at least of formations and some quarterback meanings," Heacock said. "Brandon’s obviously the one who hasn’t been through some of that stuff. We’ll just keep feeding them as much as we can and still understand that they are going to make a few mistakes and some of those kinds of things but we just have to keep going.
    "Those guys today, I thought they had a pretty good day today, all three of them.”

    Besides the quarterback spot plenty of position battles will continue throughout the spring and into fall camp.
    Heacock said second-team All-American Brad Samsa is moving back to center, a position he played as a redshirt freshman behind All-American Ryan Jewell in 2005. Samsa played both guard and tackle last fall. Senior Tyler Booth, who suffered a knee injury last spring, was back at practice while Stiles O'Brien was at right tackle and Nhemie Theodore was moved to guard.

    One thing that excited Heacock was that players who were members of the scout teams a year ago are now in the mix for playing time.
    “It’s competitive, it’s exciting, it’s fun," Heacock said. "You just come out here and practice and put the ball down and scrimmage a little bit and teach and learn. There’s a lot of young folks who want a chance to play. You saw it out here today. You see the enthusiasm of guys who were on some scout teams a year ago that are now hungry football players.”