YSU picked 6th in MVFC poll
Eight Penguins garner preseason honors
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YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State was picked sixth in the annual Missouri Valley Football Conference Preseason Poll, while eight Penguins earned Preseason All-MVFC honors.
The poll and preseason teams were released ahead of Tuesday's virtual media day, during which MVFC commissioner Patty Viverito and all MVFC head coaches met with the media via Zoom.
South Dakota State, the reigning national champion, was slated first and garnered all but one first-place vote. North Dakota State, picked second, had one first-place vote.
Northern Iowa was picked third, North Dakota was slated fourth and Southern Illinois was tabbed fifth ahead of YSU.
With the Penguins at sixth, Illinois State was slated seventh, Missouri State was eighth, South Dakota was picked ninth and Indiana State projected 10th. MVFC newcomer Murray State was picked 11th, while Western Illinois, which departs the league after this season, was picked 12th.
On the MVFC Preseason teams, receiver Bryce Oliver, offensive lineman Jaison WIlliams and defensive lineman Dylan Wudke earned First Team honors, while defensive lineman Chris Fitzgerald and long snapper Sam Merryman were on the Second Team. Linebacker Greg Benton, fullback Jake Benio and defensive back Quincy Lenton received honorable mentions.
Here are other notes from YSU coach Doug Phillips' and Viverito's availabilities:
-- With the departure of center Mike McAllister, a former walk-on who signed as an undrafted free agent with the Los Angeles Rams after graduating, Phillips noted that Aidan Parker has shifted to the center role from left guard, and left tackle David Metzler has shifted into Parker's left guard role. The left tackle spot is up for grabs.
-- Phillips also discussed the return of receiver CJ Charleston, who missed the entire 2022 campaign with an Achilles injury. Phillips noted Charleston made a diving, 50-yard catch Tuesday and has "looked great" since returning. He added that Charleston is on a snap count right now, but he expects the junior to factor into YSU's plans.
Phillips noted, "For us, it's about what players need to touch the ball, what formations we need to put them in, and what plays we're going to run. CJ needs to touch the football. So does Max (Tomczak), so does Latrell Fordham, and then we have to make sure Bryce (Oliver) gets his share of the touches, too."
-- In discussing recruiting in the age of the transfer portal, Phillips noted that YSU remains a "developmental program" and that with MAC programs such as Kent State or Akron focusing more and more on transfers, it's allowed YSU to target a higher level of high school recruits. That's also been boosted by YSU's ability to retain players from season to season.
"I think retaining those players keeps you out of there," Phillips said. "And the one thing that's happening here (at YSU) because of the portal, there's a lot better high school athletes available for you. We've seen that with the high school athletes we're getting in our program, before they probably would have been at MAC schools. Those kids are getting overlooked."
-- While highlighting the Valley's annual postseason successes, Viverito took some aim at the 2022 selection committee. The Missouri Valley had only three teams selected to the playoffs: national champion South Dakota State, runner-up North Dakota State, as well as North Dakota.
"We did have only three teams in the playoffs, which fell short of our expectations and was especially disappointing because at least two others, probably more, were playoff-caliber and certainly capable of winning in the postseason," she said, likely in reference to YSU and Northern Iowa.
-- Viverito discussed the metrics and polls which the selection committee uses, and noted that a discussion was held to expand the tools used to select the field.
"We talked with the FCS committee about expanding their tools for defining strength of schedule," Viverito said. "We need to use more metrics and more polls than we currently use. It's really frustrating when you see 9-2 teams and 8-3 teams with perhaps glossy records, but no strength of schedule to support the selection at-large. Let's just say that we've had 7-4 teams and even 6-5 teams that I firmly believe were more worthy of selection at-large, and we're hoping that this expanding toolkit for the committee to analyze strength of schedule will help us."
-- She also took aim at the committee's "departure from its long-standing bidding and hosting protocols. North Dakota was sent on the road to Weber State in the opening round of the postseason, despite outbidding WSU for a home game. UND's bid of $127,500 was passed over for a Weber State bid of just under $42,000, according to Tom Miller, a sportswriter for the Grand Forks Herald who filed public records requests on the bids.
-- To that end, Viverito noted changes likely are on the way. FCS-level leadership met and, probably beginning in 2024, teams 1-16 will be seeded, with teams 1-8 receiving first-round byes and teams 9-16 hosting first-round games, rather than running exclusively on a bidding process that also factors in geography. She did note that the first-round matchups still would factor in geography as best as possible to be "fiscally responsible."
She added, "That would solve a host of bidding and hosting problems, and also be the right thing to do to make this more of a national championship than a regional championship."
The NCAA put all championship enhancements on hold for 2023 for financial reasons, but, Viverito said, "We do expect this to happen, hopefully as early as the following season."