Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes. Youngstown State defensive back Jordan Trowers warms up before practice Aug. 21 at Stambaugh Stadium.

YOUNGSTOWN — As the world was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Jordan Trowers was hard at work at Stambaugh Stadium.

Despite restrictions in place — Trowers noted he was frequently kicked off the field — the Youngstown State defensive back was working behind the scenes, looking for any way he could improve his craft.

Now entering his junior season and fifth overall with YSU, the Valley Christian graduate is enjoying the fruits of his labor. A former walk-on, Trowers was put on scholarship during the Spring 2022 season, and has since worked himself into Youngstown State’s starting lineup.

“Honestly, I felt like I could have played a season before I did,” Trowers said. “But the opportunity just didn’t present itself to me. I did play in a couple games on special teams and a couple games (on defense), but going into the (2022) season, I just felt like it was mine for the taking, and I just had to go out and earn it. I felt like my mind and body were in the right place to achieve that.”

As Trowers alluded to, his journey to a starting role wasn’t linear.

He joined the Penguins as a walk-on despite holding an offer from fellow Missouri Valley Football Conference member Indiana State as well as interest from Air Force, among other Division I programs.

“I felt like my best opportunity to produce was to stay home and make a name for myself in my hometown and for Youngstown State,” Trowers said. “As a little kid I came to watch games here, and I just thought it’d be a great opportunity to play in front of my hometown.”

After joining the Penguins, he redshirted his freshman season in 2019, and also didn’t see action in his redshirt freshman season during the spring 2021 campaign. As a sophomore that fall, he played in just two games.

Finally, during spring football in 2022, Trowers got the break he needed.

Following former defensive coordinator Joe Schaeffer’s departure to Texas A&M, Youngstown State brought in Jahmal Brown as its new defensive coordinator. Between that change of leadership and having a full offseason to develop, head coach Doug Phillips says he saw the switch flip in Trowers.

“I think he needed an offseason. He got bigger, he got stronger, and then you get new coaches, and sometimes that breathes fresh air into a program and at his position group,” Phillips said. “He came out of spring ball a year ago and really was in the top four, and then came out of camp last year rotating in there. And really, it’s what you do when you’re given that opportunity — have you prepared for it? And Jordan prepared for it to make the most of that opportunity.”

From Brown’s perspective, it began with Trowers’ effort.

“As a walk-on, he made sure nobody gave greater effort than he did on the field,” Brown said. “That’s where it started — he was giving great effort. If I didn’t know anything else, I knew he was going to give great effort. … And then he just built from there. He was going to give great effort, he was going to make sure he was aligned right and he was going to make sure he was doing his job and playing as hard as he could. He just started to take off.”

It culminated with a scholarship during the spring 2022 season, and then in the fall 2022 campaign, Trowers found his way onto the field frequently, starting in nine of YSU’s 11 games and playing in all of them.

The once unheralded walk-on tied for the team lead in total tackles with 51 and made a team-high 39 solo stops. He broke up five passes, forced a fumble and registered a sack, as well.

That contributed to a total rejuvenation of the Youngstown State defense, which ranked in the bottom tier of the MVFC in 2021 before ranking in the upper half in 2022.

Now, Trowers and the YSU secondary, which is fully intact from a season ago, are looking to take another leap forward.

“The big thing for Jordan, and I think for our secondary, is to be disruptive,” Brown said. “Get hands on footballs, whether that’s generating takeaways with interceptions or pass breakups — just be a little bit more disruptive in the pass game and improve in our coverage.”

All of that, YSU hopes, will aid the program’s push to make a playoff appearance for the first time since 2016’s run to the national championship game.

“We’re all back, and I feel like we’re just hungry,” Trowers said. “We have a bad taste in our mouths from last season. We feel like we kind of got snubbed at the end of last season, and I feel like everybody is trying to do their part on defense to produce and help us win.”

jwhetzel@tribtoday.com