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BEAVER TOWNSHIP - A year ago, national publications ranked the YSU basketball team as high as second and as low as sixth with their preseason Horizon League prognostications.
Head coach Jerrod Calhoun, who heads into his seventh season at the helm, guided his team to a 24-10 overall mark last year - it was the first 20-win season for the Penguins since going 22-7 in 1976-77 - winning the league's regular season title after posting a 15-5 ledger en route to their first ever conference crown.
This year, those same prognosticators have taken note that 12 newcomers now dot the Penguins' 15-man roster, ranking them as high as third but as low as fifth in those same publications and polls.
Speaking to the Curbstone Coaches during Monday's weekly meeting at Avion Banquet Center, Calhoun remains confident that his team can make another title run in the league with hopes of securing the program's first ever Division I tournament appearance.
"It has been a good offseason, I have no complaints," Calhoun said. "I would say since being at YSU, I feel confident that we can play up to 10 or 11 players. I had one other team that was similar to this one and that was my national runner-up team at Fairmont State where we played nine or 10 guys. It has been a good balance, I think we've kind of found the formula for success here at YSU with getting old but then also developing guys inside our program so it has been a really good mix over the last couple years."
The three returnees include Brandon Rush, John Lovelace, Jr. and former Boardman standout Tommy Fryda.
This year's roster turnover now includes five, fifth-year players, a true senior, one junior, four sophomores and four freshmen.
"Obviously, Brandon and Johnny know the system well," Calhoun added. "Brandon was an all-league performer and Johnny was one of the most talented freshmen in the conference last year so it was a great starting point. We lost a lot of key seniors so inside the portal and with this class we wanted to get old and stay old and I think we were able to do that with our recruiting.
"We had a summer trip to Spain which was very good for this group because we got in 10 practices and three games, building the chemistry and camaraderie with so many guys so it was a great time for the foreign trip. You are allowed to do those trips every four years and I think that trip really helped this group. They learned how we want to play and really got acclimated with one another."
The five, fifth-year players are Rush, Ziggy Reid (Merrimack College), Brett Thompson (Tennessee Tech), Bryson Langdon (Northern Kentucky) and D.J. Burns (Murray State) while the lone senior is Jaylen Bates (Florida A&M).
E.J. Farmer (Toledo) is the sole junior, David Wilkerson (Spartanburg Methodist), Imanuel Zorgvol (Northern Kentucky), Lovelace and Fryda comprise the sophomore contingent while the freshmen class includes Christian Kirkland, Dante DePante, Anthony Breland and Gabe Dynes.
Dynes at 7-foot-33 and Zorgvol, also a 7-footer, are the first two 7-foot players in program history.
"The nice thing is that both players are young, Gabe being a true freshman and Imanuel a sophomore," Calhoun stated. "Both players have done an exceptional job of trying to pick up weight and developing their bodies. Each player gives us something at our level that most teams do not have and they are going to be able to protect the rim area with their length, size and really help our defense. They are both developing offensively so it's definitely one of the deepest, most athletic and biggest teams that I have coached."
NIL (name, image and likeness) continues to change the collegiate landscape in all men's and women's sports.
"I think all sports at Youngstown State University, being the only show in town, we are in a city that cares about the Penguins so these kids are getting a chance to really meet some different businesspeople, interact with different businesses and I think it's a really good thing for all of our sports teams," Calhoun noted. "The Penguin Collective has been very active and I think it has been a great learning tool for these student-athletes to understand that there is life outside basketball.
"They are making real connections and I think football and women's basketball, our team and all of the sports have done a really good job of getting their teams out in the community over the years and it is starting to pay off."
The Penguins open their season on November 6 when they travel to Lafayette, Louisiana to take on the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns of the Sun Belt Conference.
Next Monday, Bob Hannon, play-by-play voice of the YSU football team for the past 35 years, will serve as guest speaker.
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