From today's Vindy:
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Saturday, January 14, 2017
27°
Penguins’ recent success paying off
Recruits eager to join program
Published: 1/14/17 @ 12:08
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By Charles Grove
cgrove@vindy.com
The team isn’t practicing and there’s no more games, but the Youngstown State football coaching staff is hitting the recruiting trail.
New players will be joining the team this summer and a few have been taking visits to campus recently, getting a feel for what being a football player at YSU is going to be like.
Incoming defensive end Antoine Cook from McKeesport, Pa. took his official visit yesterday after taking some unofficial ones earlier in his recruiting process. He said it was obvious he was high on YSU’s radar.
“I just wanted to know who wanted me the most,” Cook said. “I had other offers with schools very close to me but as soon as [YSU] offered me it was like they wanted me part of their family.”
Cook, a three-star recruit according to Rivals.com had offers from Kent State, Duquesne, Maine, Mississippi Valley State, Robert Morris, St. Francis and Stony Brook. He said the level of interest the YSU coaches seemed to take in their current players made his choice easier.
“The coaches are very caring,” Cook said. “They’re very honest with their players. Educationally they have study tables going on and there’s a lot they’re doing for the players.”
Daniel Becker, who played linebacker and defensive end for Indian Hills High School in Cincinnati, echoed the sentiment of the personal attention the coaching staff gave him as the biggest reason he chose YSU.
“Coach Pelini and his staff treated me very well,” Becker said. “There was a couple week period where I was receiving hand-written letters from their coaching staff. I could tell I was wanted and a priority for them.”
For incoming tight end Miles Joiner, the name recognition of the coaches and president were big selling points for the Vandalia Butler senior, who hails from just north of Dayton.
“I think [YSU] is a great fit for me,” Joiner said. “It’s close to home so my family can come to games and I like the coaching staff. I like how Jim Tressel turned the program around and now there’s a former Big 10 coach who’s helping the program.
“I think it’s one of the best FCS schools you can go to. It has a winning tradition and it feels like home.”
Joiner only played two years of high school football, but said he learned a lot from attending camp at YSU.
“I went to their camp to work on my routes and they said if I performed well at the camp they’d offer me,” Joiner said. “After the camp I got the call and they offered me.”
No matter who you speak to, the Watson and Tressel Training Site is a huge selling point for recruits.
“I can’t think of any other school I visited that had the same type of facility that YSU had,” Becker said.
Cook compared the WATTS to an FBS level facility.
“YSU to me is built like a [Mid-American Conference] school,” Cook said. “It’s better than some MAC schools. I’ve been to the WATTS, I’ve been to the weight room and the facilities are very nice.”
The deep playoff run the Penguins had and exposure on ESPN didn’t hurt recruiting either.
“I was watching all the games on the playoff run and the [Eastern Washington] game was definitely amazing,” Cook said. “Who wouldn’t want to go to YSU after a game like that.
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