Archive for March, 2010

 

Goaltenders are wired a little different.  They usually are not the best skaters on the ice and rely on their reflexes to get their jobs done.  Jordan Tibbett and Matt Mahalak are the tandem that the Youngstown Phantoms have been using all season.  Any hockey fan will vouch that a teams defense makes or breaks a goalie.  The more shots faced, the more goals scored, that’s just elementary.  Both Phantoms goalies have done well this season but are very different as individuals.  In the first-ever Paneech.com dual interview, meet the netminders, Jordan Tibbett and Matt Mahalak.

Paneech:  How did you both end up as goaltenders, what was the draw?

Tibbett:  I thought the equipment was cool.  My dad always wanted to play but never did, so he stuck me on the ice.

Mahalak:  For me, when we were playing mytes, we would rotate at goalie.  One game I got in there and played pretty well and never got back out.

Paneech:  Unique situation, you are on the same team, yet you are in competition for starts.  How does that work?  Do you get along even though you are competing or does it get competitive?

Tibbett:  It gets competitive.  Really, through pushing each other we really want the best for each other.  The better he [Mahalak] gets, the better I have to get and I have to push myself.

Mahalak:  I have learned stuff from Jordan every practice, and I just try to pick up things.  We are both going for the same number one job, but we are pushing each other to get better so we can both get to the next level.

Paneech:  Is there a little light in your head that goes off when you are not in and you see your counterpart get scored on three times in a period, is there a response mentally, like, “I could have stopped all of those” ?

Tibbett:  Whenever I see a goal from the bench, I start to brainstorm and ask myself what he could have done differently to stop a shot.  Whenever we get a TV timeout, I can talk to Matt and tell him something I may have noticed.  I’m not over there going,  ‘Oh Yeah! Matt is getting scored on!’

Mahalak:  Same here.  I am looking for something that he might not be doing in that game to hopefully help him keep his head on straight.  We help each other to regroup to finish the game.

Paneech:  How much do both of you rely on the defense in front of you?

Tibbett:  It definitely helps.  If you see ten shots from the corner of the blue line, it makes your job really easy.  If you are seeing ten breakaways a game, it makes your job really difficult.  It varies game-to-game.  They are doing everything they can to help us out.

Paneech:  Why does a coach switch a goalie instead of a defenseman if you are facing forty-plus shots per game?

Mahalak:  Switching the goalie is because you are at a turning point in the game.  If a goalie is getting lit up, whether its his fault or not, the team will switch just to try to give an extra boost, or to create a turning point.

Paneech:  You both have little rituals.  When the puck is on the other side of the ice, Jordan, you like to skate across the goal line to the boards.  Matt, you usually drink water and then depart on your little trip.  What is the reason to leave the crease every dead whistle?

Tibbett:  It’s alot of things.  Whenever I am moving around when the play is at the other end or there is a whistle, it keeps my blood flowing and helps me to stay loose.  At the same time, you are getting mentally prepared.  Alot of goaltending is repitition and when you are doing the same thing before every game, and during every game, you go to a familiar spot that puts your mind and body at ease.

Mahalak:  I listen to the music and just try to relax.  Other times, I try to really get geared up and focus.  There is some superstition mixed in with all of the repitition.  Doing the same things over and over makes it easier.

Paneech:  You clear your head.  When the puck is on the other side of the ice, you guys have the best seat in the house.  You are still somewhat focused, yet you are now at ease a bit.  How often do you guys look around, watch the scoreboard, and take in the atmosphere?

Tibbett:  Whenever the play is stopped, I like to look up and see the replays just to get a different angle as to what is going on.  It helps me to have more knowledge in the back of my head to make better split-second decisions. 

Mahalak:  When you get scored on, the replay is played and you see what happened.  After the replay, you have to put it behind you and move on.  It helps refocus and regain confidence.

Paneech:  I have noticed at these USHL games, there are alot of times an opposing player will be crashing the net, stop on a dime, and spray ice flakes all over the goalie.  How mad do you get, do you put the hit out when someone does that to you?

Tibbett:  Players will do that in hopes of getting you in the eyes so that a puck may have a chance to get by.  It is just part of the game and something you have to play through.

Mahalak:  I don’t get too upset, I remain pretty calm.  Usually it is the defensemen that get upset over that kind of stuff.  I brush the snow off and just get back to what I am doing.  If they are doing that to me, I know they are trying to get in my head, that just means that I am in their head.

One Word Answers

                                                                                                                                                                 Tibbett                                        Mahalak

Favorite Meal:                             Dinner                                      Pre-game meal

Biggest Phobia:                              Heighths                                       Spiders

Best Movie:                                     Goonies                                         Surf’s Up

Best All-Time Goalie:                  Dominic Hasek                        Terry Sawchuck

What On A Pizza:                             Meat Lover’s                              Meat Lover’s

Music:                                     Anything, but Country     Anything, Especially Country

Worst Habit:                              Mumbling                        Sitting Up In My Butterfly

Soft Drink:                                 Root Beer                                     Anything Bottled

Fast Food:                                   Chik-Fil-A                                         Subway

Worst Thing You Ever Did:     

Tibbett: (Laughs)  I had a bunch of stickers of bugs and stuck them everywhere and watched my grandfather try to kill them.  It was pretty cruel.

Mahalak:  I haven’t done anything wrong yet.  I am the golden child.

Paneech:  Jordan, what do you thin is in Matt’s future in the sport of hockey?

Tibbett:  I think he is going to the NHL.  His first game in the NHL will be when he is 22. 

Paneech:  Matt, where does Jordan go?

Mahalak:  I think Jordan should be in college right now.  I don’t know what he is doing messing around.  He has NHL potential and hopefully he can get a scholarship this year.

 

Jordan Tibbett set a team record with 50 saves on Friday night as the Phantoms won a dramatic 3-2 OT thriller. Tibbett faced another 40 Saturday but was on the wrong end of the 3-2 score 24 hours later. To sum it up, Tibbett stopped 90 shots in two games, seemingly too many.

“It looks like a lot of shots, but we did a good job taking away the prime scoring areas.  They [Sioux City] are a team that does not score a lot of goals, and if you look at their shots they were just coming across the blue line and throwing the puck on net”, remarked Coach Curt Carr after the game.

Despite being outshot 17-3 in the first period, the Youngstown Phantoms found themselves in a scoreless game.  Credit  Tibbett for a couple of nice saves in the opening period.

Brett Gensler got Youngstown on the board first with 16:54 left in the second period. Gensler’s 16^th goal, which leads the team, came on a power play. Taylor Holstrom and Tom Serratore picked up assists on the man-advantage tally.

Nick Sorkin snuck the puck past a heavily screened Tibbett with exactly four minutes to go in the second period.  Dan Ford picked up an assist on the game-tying power play goal.  Sorkin fired from in-between the right face off circle and blue line around moving traffic.

Ryan Jasinsky, who was recently hampered with shoulder problems forcing him to miss several games, attempted to stuff the puck in from close range but was denied by Musketeer Goalee Jake Hildebrand. Jefferson Dahl collected the rebound from close range and knocked it in with 12:14 left in the game. Jasinsky was credited with an assist on the even-strength chance.

With 9:38 left, Adam Schmidt tied the game at 2-2 on a power play goal.  Stephan Vigier and Sorkin collected a point each with assists on the goal.

Mitch Zion put the Musketeers ahead 3-2 with 8:09 to go in the game.  The even strength goal gave Sioux City their first lead in the game.  Zion gathered the puck just outside of the goal crease on a rebound and drove it past Tibbett who was shaded left from the save he had just made.  Tommy Olczyk and Matt Paape were credited with assists on the goal.

Time ran out on Youngstown and pulling the goaltender as a last resort neither helped nor hurt the outcome for the Phantoms.  Put it in the books, Sioux City 3, Youngstown 2.

 

Interestingly, Coach Carr opted to start Ty Loney (left) and Dylan Margonari (right), two youngsters who have not been Phantoms very long, over experienced players.  “We are walking a fine line right now because we want to continue to perform and win games, but we also have some young guys who can return next year, so we want to make sure we do what we can to develop them for next season.  Dylan and Ty played hard and earned the ice time that they are getting.”

The Phantoms dropped to 17-33-3 in their inaugural campaign, while Sioux City improved to 21-23-8 on the season.  The Phantoms take to the road next weekend to face Omaha and Sioux City on consecutive nights.  Be sure to tune in to AM-1240 to catch Matt Gajtka as he calls the action from afar.

The Youngstown Phantoms returned home after completing a 1-3-1 road trip. The record on that trip failed to show that the Phantoms were in every game against three very good teams. Friday night, Sioux City rolled into town 20-23-7 and barely alive in the playoff hunt, a win was paramount for the Musketeers to stay alive.

Taylor Holstrom sent the audience home after 65 minutes of hockey and an extended shootout when he beat Sioux City Goaltender Matt Skoff on a five-hole shot.  The shootout goal came in the seventh round of the tiebreaker.  The teams were even at two apiece in the shootout when Brett Gensler tied it up with the last shot setting up Holstrom’s heroics.  The end result was the noisiest 1,300 people I have ever heard and a 4-3 Phantoms win.

Tom Serratore got the Phantoms on the scoreboard just 2:05 into the contest. The unassisted goal gave the Phantoms a lead on a Friday night, a good omen considering Youngstown had not won on a Friday game in eight straight chances. The goal was Serratore’s 14^th of the season.

Jefferson Dahl pushed the Phantoms lead to 2-0 when he beat Sioux City Goaltender Matt Skoff (pictured making a save). For Dahl, it was the 14^th goal on the year. The goal was scored at the 9:17 mark of the first period. Jiri Sekac picked up the assist on the even-strength goal. The Phantoms, who had not won a game at home since January, were playing hard early.

Sioux City got on the board when the Phantoms Adam Berkle picked up a ten-minute major for his role in a fight. The power play opportunity was successful for the Musketeers as Stephan Vigier tallied with assists from Dan Ford and Tommy Olczyk. The goal cut the Phantoms lead to 2-1 and Sioux City kept the one-man advantage because of the major penalty. The Phantoms killed off the remaining six minutes of the Musketeers power play.

With just 1:20 gone in the second period, Sioux City tied the game at two goals apiece. Nick Sorkin scored after taking a pass from Olczyk who picked up his second assist of the game. Richard Zehnal was also given an assist on the game-tying score. The remaining 18:40 of the period went scoreless and the teams remained deadlocked at two goals each.

The Phantoms took a 3-2 lead on Jiri Sekac’s even-strength goal. Dahl and Serratore picked up assists on the go-ahead tally with 13:33 elapsed in the final period. The Sekac goal came amid several flurries in the Musketeer zone over a span of two minutes.

 

Holstrom had a chance to make it a 4-2 game but he fanned at an open net (above).  He would later atone for the whiff and then some.

Vigier snapped in his second power play goal of the evening to tie the game at 3. Vigier beat Jordan Tibbett on a hard-angle wrist shot from the bottom of the right face off circle. Picking up assists on the goal were Adam Schmidt and Sorkin.

At the end of regulation, the teams remained tied at three goals each and overtime would be needed to decide a winner in the contest. After three periods, the Phantoms were out shot by the Musketeers 46-27. Jordan Tibbett made some pretty high-quality saves to keep things tied as the Phantoms who were 2-1 in overtime games this season, pressed onward.

In the overtime session, the Phantoms first since November 27^th at home, nobody scored forcing a shootout.

Ryan Carpenter took the first shot for the Musketeers. Wide Right.

Cody Strang had first crack for Youngstown. Wide Right. 0-0

Alex Krushelnyski beat Tibbett high. 1-0 Musketeers.

Jiri Sekac was next. Backhand shot. 1-1.

Richard Zehnal up for Sioux City. Nope. 1-1.

David Donnellan up for the Phantoms. High and Wide Right. 1-1.

Dan Ford, nope.

Andrew Lamont, nope. 1-1.

Final round, Tommy Olczyk good on a sliding move. 2-1, Sioux City.

Brett Gensler, with a chance to tie it, Good! 2-2.

Final shot, Danny Wurden, nope.

Jefferson Dahl, nope.

Seventh round, Nick Sorkin, denied by Tibbett.

Taylor Holstrom beat Matt Skoff with the backhand, Phantoms win!

What a finish!  These two teams will lock it up again Saturday.

After the game, Coach Curtis Carr was praiseworthy of his team.  “I felt that the guys came out and played really hard.  We have a young team and they were stressing when Sioux City tied it up at two, but to their credit, they rebounded and played a great third period.  Jordan [Tibbett] is a heck of a goaltender and he came up huge when we needed him to.  We were able to regroup which allowed us to come back and win this game.”

Phantoms hero Taylor Holstrom said his game-winning shot was not something he premeditated.  “No, I was watching when the other guys shot and kind of noticed the five-hole was open.  I think we are finally catching on and playing as a team, we are getting our legs back under us.”

B-b-b-benny and the jets.  If Benny lives in Singapore, he might have scored tickets to see Elton John in Youngstown at The Covelli Centre on May 1.  The general sentiment of Youngstown area residents was frustration Friday morning.  At least 100 people who have talked to 100 people who have talked to 100 more have said five hours after the concert was announced sold-out, that nobody was able to buy more than one ticket online. 

The sellout will go down as the fastest in the arena’s four-year history smashing the old mark of seven-and-a-half hours that it took Carrie Underwood to fill all of the Covelli seats.  The Centre, and director Eric Ryan are on fire with pushing the right buttons to draw crowds these days.  The Ringling Brothers – Barnum & Bailey Circus, which was originally scheduled for seven shows, had to add one to meet the demands of the public.

Marketing Director Bridget Wolsonovich said those who could not purchase tickets online were just unlucky.  “When thousands of people all log into Ticketmaster at once to buy tickets for an event like this, many will be unsuccessful.”  When asked why all of the people who have conversed in circles all day were unsuccessful at 10 am,  Wolsonovich was quick to mention that people were successful online and that I just hadn’t come across anyone who did succeed yet.

Joel Hoskins, of Youngstown, was quick to cry foul.  “There were tickets available through brokerages and scalping agencies hours before the on-sale began.  I checked the same sites that had seats listed before the sale started and the information was identical.    I even called a couple of them who said that they did not have the tickets in-hand yet, but was assured that the seat numbers and sections listed on their sites were accurate and that for about double the face value, I could buy tickets.  They sold those tickets ahead of the advertised sale date, isn’t it obvious?”

Melanie Taylor, a Poland resident, claimed Eric Ryan went back on his word.  “Ryan was all over the media yesterday telling people that they would have a better chance online.  I heard that all of the people who went to the Covelli box office got tickets a half hour after the sale started, it is crappy business.”

In fairness, a show of this size creates so much more demand.  Elton John can sell out 100,000 seat arenas in an hour.  Our 7,000 seat venue is fractional in stature to Wembley Stadium.  One must wonder, is this show too big for Youngstown?  Wolsonovich didn’t think so.  “Nothing is too big for Youngstown.” 

Whatever the situation, a big tip of the cap to Eric Ryan and his staff for drawing an act as big as Elton John.  This is a good problem for the Youngstown area to have, demand has not exceeded supply very often here in the past thirty or so years.

Eric Wolford was named the sixth Youngstown State Football Coach in school history.  Wolford replaces Jon Heacock who spent nine years at YSU before resigning in November.  Wolford is already turning heads with an all-star coaching staff, a highly successful recruiting class, and an attitude that just oozes loyalty and pride.  To sit and talk with Coach Wolford was refreshing.  He has goals and aspirations for the football program, but also for the community, stressing more than once how important he feels it is to get the community involved.

Before accepting the Youngstown State position, Wolford was the offensive line coach and running-game coordinator at the University of South Carolina.  Before working for the Gamecocks, he worked under Ron Zook at Illinois for two seasons.  His powerful resume also includes stops at Arizona, Houston, South Florida, Emporia State, Kansas State, and North Texas.  Wolford grew up in Youngstown and attended Ursuline High School before setting off to chase his dream of coaching on the big stage.

Paneech: What are your feelings about these “money beatings”? Where YSU ventures to a huge college football powerhouse stadium to play, in essence, for a check.  Are they good games to be involved in?

Wolford: I don’t have any issues with it.  I understand the way things financially work, but also, I want to put a positive spin on it.  You get to play an elite Big-10 team in Penn State in front of 110,000 people, so it’s not all just about the money, but also an experience in a very special environment.  Kids from Pennsylvania on our team get a chance to play closer to home.

Paneech: Last year, you are coaching football in South Carolina, before that, you were several other places.  Everytime someone got married or died you are booking a plane ride to get back home.  How does it feel to be home and eliminate those kinds of problems?

Wolford: Being here is obviously a great feeling.  I have a great support system in my family.  However, I don’t think I will see any more of them now then I did when I was in South Carolina, except for occasional dinners or those types of things.  I have been gone for 20 years, and this is a special place, very family-oriented, and that is what’s important to me.

Paneech: What makes Youngstown State Football so important to this area?

Wolford: There was a period in time when this community thrived on what took place here on a Saturday.  It was a reason to get together with family and friends and practice fellowship for a good cause.  My staff and I know the expectations are very high here.  We need to make sure our football team knows that.  We need to field a physical football team.  This is a tough town, and the players and staff will be held accountable to do things right, and those are the traits we are trying to instill in the kids.

Paneech: I am sure you have seen a film or two from last season.  You have some proven talent coming back.  Is this a year you put the “rebuilding” label on, or do you go out and immediately try to win?

Wolford: I think that question would be better answered after Spring ball.  I have concerns about depth issues and we really don’t have a proven quarterback.  Without a proven quarterback, throughout history, your chances of winning are not as good.  It is a situation I wonder about daily.  We have four guys going into camp that do not have much experience.  You have got to have a good quarterback to win.  In the early stages they need to show us that they can manage a football game, make good decisions, and do not turn the football over.  I am sure that Coach Montgomery and I will be able to find a person who can do what we want at that position.

Paneech: Two early moves you should be commended for are the hiring of Coach Ron Stoops and Coach Rollen Smith.  They are both very well-respected local coaching legends who came from consistent-winning programs.  Was this a move to assist the harnessing of local talent?

Wolford: I think it may have somewhat of an influence.  I hired Rollen Smith and Ronnie Stoops because of their high-level coaching abilities and their character that they bring to the table.  Initially, I didn’t know how many high school coaches I wanted to hire, but those were two of the top guys on my list from day one.  I hired them because they are great people and great coaches, the recruiting impact was more of an afterthought.

Paneech:  Last year, special teams played a hand in at least three losses.  How much emphasis will you place on the importance of not getting punts and field goals blocked, making good snaps, and containing opponents returners?

Wolford:  Well, Louie Matsakis was the second person on my list of people to hire.  He is a proven successful special teams guy.  We will play starters on special teams, I feel we have to.  I cannot put enough emphasis on special teams.  We have a schedule for the Spring to see who can do what the best.  This large wave of newcomers will have to give us some depth on special teams and maybe even play a little bit.

Paneech:  For a couple of weeks, SID Trevor Parks was sending me e-mails talking about guys you were adding to the staff.  Somehow, you have assembled the Beatles of college football coaching here at Youngstown State.  It’s an incredible staff, top to bottom, how do you sell a smaller-school to someone you are trying to get to join you here?

Wolford: That was probably one of the hardest things that I had to do was to hire a staff and recruit at the same time.  I often found myself in between phone calls recruiting coaches and wives, to recruiting players.  Some of my experiences with rookie coaches was that they sometimes didn’t take the time to hire the right staff people.  You are only as good as your staff.  I have been fortunate that Ron Strollo and the administration have given me the resources to hire a good staff.  I also believe it is a statement to the people of Youngstown that this is a great place to be, and this is also a great place to work.  They [assistant coaching hires] have enough insight as to what can be done here.  We feel we are getting things lined up in the right places to make a run.

Paneech: Looking over your recruits, a recent acquisition of Adaris Bellamy, a running back who was considering becoming a Cincinnati Bearcat, has not been talked about as much as your high school signees.  What can you tell me about him?

Wolford: After we had a chance to look things over as a staff, we came upon the realization that we only have two scholarship running backs on the roster, and one of those was redshirted.  Then we looked at the fact that we signed two kids.  After evaluating last season, we feel like we need four guys who could play.  If you lose one of those four, it could be devastating.  We just felt like we didn’t have enough depth at running back.  Bellamy is very talented, that is very easy to see on film.  He’s got some maturity to him, he has been out of high school for a year, he’s got size as he weighs between 215-220 pounds, and he uses his natural vision to run really well between the tackles.  He is a guy that will come in here and get a chance at the job, and we will see what happens.

One thing I can predict about Wolford, he is a no-nonsense guy when it comes to football.  To sense his passion and love of the game are truly refreshing and has the community buzzing over the potential factor.  He may only be the sixth head coach in Youngstown State Football history, but we might not see number seven for a very long time.

There was not too much to brag about if you followed the Youngstown State Lady Penguins.  Only dressing seven girls for most of the season, minutes were piled on starters and fatigue naturally took its toll on human bodies.  The result was a nightmare of a season, a winless campaign.  One ray of hope was Brandi Brown, the true Freshman from California who posted double-doubles almost every other game.

Brandi Brown was bypassed in the Horizon League awards for Newcomer of The Year honors.  This recognition went to Yar Shayok of Detroit, who just played at Youngstown State last week and had a good game.  This editorial is, by no means, intended to downplay Shayok’s recognition as a great future player for Detroit, but rather to question why she received the award instead of YSU’s Brown.

Brown was the leader in the entire conference in rebounding with a 10.8 RPG average.  THE ENTIRE CONFERENCE, not just the Freshmen.  Shouldn’t that merit her an award to first or second team all-Horizon League?  Dennis Rodman never averaged more than ten points a game in any season, yet was named to the NBA’s All-Star team several times because of his rebounding and defensive presence.  Brandi Brown is not Dennis Rodman, don’t take that analogy out of context, she is actually good on both ends of the floor.

Brown also led all Freshman in scoring with 11.6 points per game.  So she was the leader of the Freshman scoring race, and the Horizon League leader in rebounds and does not garner this award?  Did Yar Shayok play the immunity idol here? 

I am not sure what more the Horizon League wanted Brown to do to prove she was the best Freshman in the league.  Was this a political choice?  Because Detroit played well enough to win some games, the award is defaulted to a Freshman on the team with the best record?

If the choice was made because Youngstown State did not win a game, then the league should consider changing the name of the award to “Best Freshman on A Winning Team with The Best Supporting Cast”.

What made Brandi Brown’s year even more special is that when she got three fouls, she was forced to ease up and play cautiously.  How did she manage to put all of those numbers up playing hurt, tired, and sometimes in foul trouble?

Boo Horizon League.  I don’t care if Youngstown State won a game or not.  This is not a team award, it is an individual accolade, and you robbed the true Newcomer of The Year based on the statistics.  Leading rebounder in the league, top Freshman scorer, obstacle central with no depth, and you managed to keep Youngstown State down, yet again.

The word frustration has been repeatedly used by players, coaches, and fans involved with Youngstown State Basketball this season.  Doesn’t matter which player said it when or which time Coach Slocum dug deep to find a quick answer after a heartbreaking defeat, the word frustration has been mentioned, sometimes more than once.

DeAndre Mays, after the loss to Wright State, went a step further.  “It is beyond frustrating.  Frustrated doesn’t even explain how we feel.  We fight hard and have been staying in every game, we battle to the end, and we catch tough break after tough break.  Seems like we have to play mistake-free to get a win, because we aren’t getting any breaks.”

Mays and the Penguins head North to take a third swing at Green Bay.  The Penguins lost both contests to Green Bay this year and will be playing with a huge chip on their shoulders.  Losers of their last nine in a row, Youngstown State has played well enough to win seven of those games, but just keeps coming up on the short end.  It is remarkable that this team gets back up and fights again.

Corny analogy time…  If a boxer is in a fight until the 12th round four fights in a row and loses all four, his record will not show how tough those fights were, but rather the fact that he lost all four fights.

The Horizon League Tournament, starting tonight, is YSU’s chance to ease some of the frustration of 2010.  To make things worse, the all-conference teams were named on March 1.  Not a single Penguin received any recognition as a first teamer, second teamer, all-defensive teamer, newcomer, or coach.  Individual accolades in a team sport don’t add up to a hill of beans in my book anyway.  Twenty-one players named, and no Penguins.  Sigh.

This team has not played their most complete game of the season yet.  Oddly enough, they are at the end.  Win or go home.  Coach Slocum is a big-game coach and if this team has any miracles up their sleeve, now would be the time to use one.  They have the potential to win this tournament and you can bet that they will not disappear without a fight.  No one wants to face an angry and talented team like YSU, not when they feel they have something to prove.

Former Youngstown State University Penguin Donald Jones is making a good impression at the NFL Scouting Combine.  Jones went South to condition for the combine appearances, and thus far, all of the hard work seems to be paying off.  Under the watchful eye of trainer Mike Gough at the Athletic Edge Sports Facility in Bradenton, Florida, Jones has worked tirelessly to get bigger and faster.

Jones ran a 4.47 40-yard dash.  More impressively, he was able to bench 225 pounds 20 times, tying him for first in that category with all other participants.

Jones was officially measured at 6′ and weighed in at 214 pounds.

 

Earlier this year, Jones participated in the Under Armour Senior Bowl.  He was the first Youngstown State player selected to play in that game since Ron Jaworski was picked in 1972.  Jones’ selection made him only the fifth FBS player named to participate.

In his Senior season, Jones set a record for catches in a season with 77.  Against Missouri State and Southern Illinois, Jones twice tied the YSU all-time record with 11 catches in each game.

You can follow Jones on Twitter, his user name is @DaJones81.

Here is a link to the player profile I ran on Donald Jones during Youngstown State’s most recent football season.