Feb. 4, 2009

Football: Penguins Sign Youthful Class Featuring Six Local Standouts

    Youngstown – Youngstown State Head Football Coach Jon Heacock announced on Wednesday the addition of 17 student-athletes to the Penguins' program on the first day of National Letter-of-Intent Signing Day. Of those 17, six hail from the area, the most the Guins have inked on a signing day in Heacock's eight-year tenure.

    Currently, defensive end Taylor Hill and cornerback Averick Walker are enrolled at YSU while the other 14 are high school seniors and will join the program in the fall.

    Of the group, 10 hail from within the state of Ohio while a total of six states are represented in the class.
    Just over half of the 14 signees (eight) will be counted on to help on the offensive side of the ball. Of the six newcomers on defense, half were signed as linemen (Hill, Fred Herdman and Theo Barnes).

    Of the 14 high school seniors, seven earned some kind of all-state accolades, including first-teamers Nike Liste (Niles, McKinley), Torrian Pace (Chantilly, Va.) and Kyle Stadelmyer (Girard).
    YSU signed two players from Pennsylvania in Carson Sharbaugh (New Wilmington) and Rob Stupar (State College). Both will represent Pennsylvania's best when it takes on Ohio in the Big 33 contest this summer prior to coming to Youngstown State.

    For the third straight year, the Penguins added a signee from Virginia. This year Pace, a tailback from Chantilly made his commitment to YSU. Pace was named the state's AAA Player of the Year by the Gameday Group.
    YSU lost 16 letterwinners from the 2008 squad.

2009 Signees List | PDF Format