Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Youngstown State sophomore quarterback Mark Waid, right, of Girard hands off to junior Dra Rushton, left, of Liberty during a team session on Wednesday. The Penguins opened training camp for the 2021 season.

YOUNGSTOWN — Whistles were blowing, music was blaring and turf dust was flying at Stambaugh Stadium on Wednesday as the Youngstown State football team began its preseason camp.

The Penguins utilized a split-squad approach for Day 1, with half the team reporting for a morning session at 9 a.m. and the other half at 2 p.m..

That method, head coach Doug Phillips said, is something he picked up from Matt Campbell at Iowa State. Phillips served under Campbell as ISU’s director of player personnel in 2016.

“We really liked it (at Iowa State) because it gave opportunities for younger guys. You jump into camp with 110 (players) and rep just the (first- and second-string players), and a lot of kids don’t get those reps,” Phillips said.

With that, Phillips says the Penguins can both teach and evaluate players better to get started, which will pay dividends later on.

“To have that focus … and have a teaching emphasis and the evaluation part of it, I think will make us better,” he said. “We’re putting in the base offense, base defense and special teams, where every young man has an opportunity to get on the field and get that rep. I think that will benefit us in the long run because we’re a developmental program. We have to recruit and then develop these young men over the next four to five years.”

With that comes an onus for the players to take advantage of the reps. Phillips said he liked what he saw in terms of attitude and effort on Day 1, and that players who take advantage of the reps they may not have had could find themselves moving up the depth chart.

Among the positions up for grabs is quarterback, though Phillips said there will be competition at every other position, too.

“They’re competing,” he said. “The quarterback position is just like the running back position, and everyone wants to talk about it. But someone has to go earn it and take that job. We have a lot of young men battling right now, and whoever can come out of camp in the next 25 days and earn it will take the job.”

Of the practices in general, Phillips said, “I thought all our players had a good day today. So we’ll go into film and then just dig deeper and let them know where they are each and every day. … Just like last year, Jaleel McLaughlin took the running back job, that’s what we’re looking for not just at quarterback, but at all our positions.”

McLaughlin burst onto the scene and was named to the Preseason All-Missouri Valley Football Conference Second Team ahead of this season.

The fall camp is also a welcome change of pace from all of the COVID-19 uncertainty during the spring. Phillips says the Penguins can simply focus on football.

“I think it’s more of a mindset for our kids now that they know the expectation and know the standard for when they come out on the field and go into meetings,” Phillips said. “The COVID-19 and the mask-wearing and all that, the locker room and how we left the field, now it’s practice and we’re focused on one thing — us getting better every day. So tomorrow when we come on the field, I want us to get 1 percent better than we did today, and that’s the focus for the next 25 days.”

He added, “We’re trying to focus on the things we can control, and the things we can control are the preparation and coming out here with our effort and attitude.”

The Penguins open their season Thursday, Sept. 2 at home against Incarnate Word.