BEAVER TOWNSHIP – With their 31-28, come from behind victory over Towson State last Saturday safely tucked away, YSU head coach Doug Phillips’ squad will use their off week now to prepare for the start of conference play.

The Penguins will host South Dakota State on October 4 at 6 p.m., entertaining a Jackrabbit squad that has won two of the last three FCS national championships.

For the first time during Phillips’ tenure as head coach, the Penguins will enter league action 3-1 with a solid showing against Big Ten Conference foe Michigan State to their credit while riding the momentum of their win over the Tigers.

The buzz around the team and their success thus far can be attributed to upperclass leadership.

“It starts with having a bevy of fourth-year guys,” Phillips told the Curbstone Coaches during Monday’s weekly meeting at Avion Banquet Center. “There’s great leadership with that group, which includes Beau Brungard, Mike Wells and Desmeal Leigh, among others. When you throw in fifth-year guys like Max Tomczak, you have quality leadership in our team room and locker room.”

According to Phillips, the Penguin offense is still a work in progress but pointed in the right direction.

“I still think we are learning. We have a new offensive coordinator, a new offense and each week is like a new beginning to see where we can get better,” Phillips said. “I feel like we left some yardage and points out there against Michigan State so we are always striving for perfection in that area. It’s practice execution to become game reality and I think we have guys that can become explosive for us, some you may not even know or heard of.

“We have Fresh Walters, who we think is going to help us as he learns the system and there is Ky ‘Flash’ Wilson, who had that explosive touchdown against Michigan State. Luke Hensley has been out and we are going to get him back shortly. Mike Solomon is coming into his own, then there’s our running backs. I was happy to see Jaden Gilbert finally do what we know he can do, showing that explosiveness plus we have other running backs that we want to get involved, and we’ve been doing that.

“If you would have told me coming out of camp that I wouldn’t have my starting tight end the first three weeks of the season, I would have been a little worried. Colt Sechrest hasn’t played and we expect him to play after the bye week, so we have had to rely on our depth at tight end in Alex McDonald while Micheal Manna has stepped up to that challenge, too.”

Defense and special teams have also performed well thus far.

“Defensively, there are some old faces and some new faces,” Phillips said. “We knew we needed to get bigger up front and that is what we did. After spring ball, we went out and found about 1,200 pounds of defensive linemen, some good ones in Thomas Jolly, Collin Vaughn, Cam Cunningham and Parker Jacobs. You tie them in with Michael Wells, who we moved as a kind of rush end with Michael Voitus and it keeps blockers off Carston Marshall and Preston Zandier, who can now use their athletic and tackling ability to make those tackles. I’m very happy with the safety play of Dayne Hodge, Makai Shahid and Dathan Hickey.

“On special teams, we have a threat in Brendon Kilpatrick and placekicker Andrew Lastovka, guys who have been around. We had to find a long snapper and got Byron Floyd, who has played at Pitt and Buffalo so here’s a journeyman who came in this fall and has really done an excellent job with snaps.

“We are playing a lot of young guys. We took about 15 freshmen and redshirt freshmen to the Michigan State game, which I can say we have never taken that many young kids before, but I give credit to our coaching staff who have recruited really well the last two years. You don’t know their names yet but they are playing on their special teams and are going to be excellent football players for us in the future.”

As YSU prepares for their conference slate, all eyes will be on North Dakota State, last year’s FCS national champion and winners of 10 titles overall since 2011, and the Jackrabbits, who also have a runner-up finish in 2020 to their credit.

“It’s a strong group of teams once again in the Missouri Valley Football Conference,” Phillips said. “We just finished a third of our season and what have we learned from it to get ready for conference play? I always say pressure is a privilege because if there is pressure then somebody has expectations on you. You play 12 guaranteed games and for us to be a contender we have to go on the road and win a game. If you want to be competitive, you must win on the road.

“So far, the league belongs to North Dakota State and South Dakota State. They remain the cream of the crop in the league and until someone knocks them off their throne, they are the ones leading the way. Until then, everything goes through them.”

Phillips has coached three players currently on an NFL roster, including Jaleel McLaughlin who is with the Denver Broncos, Andrew Ogletree of the Indianapolis Colts and Bryce Oliver, who is a Tennessee Titan.

“We currently have three players on NFL rosters and I am proud of each one,” Phillips said. “What is great to see is Bryce Oliver, who had an off weekend about three weeks ago, hanging out in Youngstown and being around the players and our practice facility. To see those guys when they have time off, coming back and being around us is very important. Same for Andrew Ogletree and Jaleel.

“If you have the opportunity to visit our lobby, you will see that we redid the area heading into the football office with a testimonial there for Jaleel, who is the all-time leading rusher in NCAA history. In Bryce, Andrew and Jaleel, they give our kids hope that guess what, you can be found here, too.

“We’ve had NFL Scouts at every practice. Last week alone we had four or five scouts, just because they feel we have guys that can compete at the next level.”

Next week, Anthony Agresta, Sebring McKinley head football coach, will speak on teams that play 8-man football in the state of Ohio.

On October 6, YSU graduate Sonny Vaccaro, the innovative leader who pioneered sneaker endorsements for college and professional teams and players, and on whom the movie Air (released in 2023) starring Matt Damon was based, will serve as guest speaker.