Kendrick Perry feels the leather trickle off his fingers each time the tightly wound basketball echoed following each bounce off the court. Sometimes it leaves his hands for a well-timed 3-point shot. Other times he’d see the snap of his wrists as the leather sphere perfectly places ...

YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown State athletics department will endure a budget cut of roughly $2 million and see the elimination of 22 positions in response to financial challenges from the coronavirus pandemic. The university announced the budget reductions in a press release Wednesday. ...

YOUNGSTOWN — Not long after Doug Phillips took over as the Youngstown State University football coach in February, he noticed someone during the first few weeks of drills. His name was Antoine Cook. The junior defensive tackle was showing the kind of relentless approach to training that ...

Tammie Kelley looked on from the sidelines, leaning from her coaching spot in front of the team bench toward the action on the floor. She saw her son, Greyson, on the AAU court in front of her playing for the FAB5 team. Shots started to go in for the younger Kelley. His focus in his ...

YOUNGSTOWN — Playing football at Youngstown State University seemed to be a few years away when Dan Becker left Indian Hill High School near Cincinnati. Becker was a star middle linebacker in high school, but at 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds, that position didn’t seem to be the right fit for ...

YOUNGSTOWN — Look up the name Adrian Brown in the Youngstown State University Media Guide, and there will be 88 references to the former football great. Even though the running back retired years ago and has since been selected to the YSU Athletics Hall of Fame, his name could pop up even ...

The younger version of Naz Bohannon had a bird’s-eye view of life, taller than his classmates. Basketballs would fill his hands as the Lorain native learned the basics of playing the interior. Middle school games followed. He was told that it was unlikely he would become 7-feet tall, so ...

YOUNGSTOWN — There has been an evolution of sorts during the quarantine version of Youngstown State’s spring football. The Penguins, like all college football teams, have not been permitted to do in-person workouts or practices, so they’ve used different virtual programs for meetings. ...

The University of Akron cut men’s cross country and golf, along with women’s tennis. Bowling Green State University eliminated its baseball team. Those moves occurred last week. Earlier this month, Western Michigan slashed more than $6 million of its more than $31 millon athletics ...

Earning respect hasn’t always been a given for Colt McFadden. The Poland High School graduate has been a place kicker throughout his football career, and said kickers don’t always garner the same esteem as the rest of the team. Fortunately for McFadden, he isn’t the average ...

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State linebacker Ray Anderson remembers his first meeting with new football coach Doug Phillips quite well. Anderson was already a bit skeptical of Phillips. The junior was more than just recruited by former YSU coach Bo Pelini. He was friends with him. Anderson, a ...

Coach Jerrod Calhoun wants his team to have the best opportunities heading into year four with the Youngstown State University men’s basketball program. The Penguins, coming off an 18-15 season, have solidified two tests in the 11-game non-conference slate — at Virginia Commonwealth ...

Mady Aulbach considers herself luckier than most in quarantine, going through the COVID-19 pandemic. The Youngstown State University women’s basketball freshman guard has her brother Jack, a senior at Blackhawk (Pa.) High School. He’s a distance runner and has signed to run for the ...

Mary Dunn has been busy at her western Pennsylvania home. There’s a concrete surface in her backyard with a basketball hoop nearby. She’s shooting baskets with her brother (Michael) and father (Joseph). She does sprints in front of her house. There’s a hill close to her home. It ...

The last three years Carson Ryan has been a fixture on the Youngstown State University campus, even though he’s been attending Struthers High School. The 6-foot-6, 185-pound Wildcat guard spent time getting to know YSU men’s basketball coach Jerrod Calhoun, who will begin his fourth year ...

YOUNGSTOWN — Former Youngstown State University football player Jermiah Braswell was signed by the Arizona Cardinals as an undrafted free agent on Saturday. Braswell, a 6-foot, 210-pound wide receiver, led the Penguins with 515 receiving yards and seven touchdowns as a senior in 2019. He ...

Brian Gorby knew about two weeks ago that seniors Collin Harden and Jaliyah Elliott were going to win the Joseph F. Malmisur Youngstown State University Female and Male Athletes of the Year awards. The annual awards ceremony was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Gorby, the YSU ...

Jerrod Calhoun sees his wife, Sarah, more often than not these days. His daughters, Kennedy, Kendall and Quinn, you can hear in the background from his Mahoning Valley home. They are sounds Calhoun doesn’t hear that often this time of the year. The Youngstown State University men’s ...

A scholarship roster spot was available. Jerrod Calhoun and his Youngstown State University men’s basketball staff had Plans B, C, D and E in place. Jelani Simmons entered the transfer portal on March 18. By March 20, Wheeling Park (W. Va.) High School’s Alex Vargo verbally committed to ...

YOUNGSTOWN — Life wasn’t working out exactly how Dawan Martin planned soon after he graduated from East High School in 2019. The former standout football player signed a National Letter of Intent to play at Bowling Green State University, but there was a problem with his transcript. A ...