{"id":26828,"date":"2019-12-13T17:00:31","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T22:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordoncollegefootball.com\/?p=26828"},"modified":"2020-03-16T19:53:45","modified_gmt":"2020-03-16T23:53:45","slug":"five-improved-youngstown-state-players-in-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2019\/12\/13\/five-improved-youngstown-state-players-in-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Improved Youngstown State Players in 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2019 YSU football season may have been disappointing after the team started off 4-0, and then finished 6-6 (2-6 in MVFC). But there were still some big names who made plays. <\/span>There were many Youngstown State players to choose from, but these five caught the eyes of improvement to the fans and writers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Improved Youngstown State Players in 2019<\/h2>\n

Five of them made the list, so let\u2019s begin and see which five had an outstanding season stats wise, and leadership wise for the Penguins.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 Joe Alessi\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

In his first few years with the program, the South Range graduate <\/span>Joe Alessi<\/b><\/a> was usually known for getting around 11-12 carries on the season.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This year was different as Alessi beat out original starting running back <\/span>Christian Turner<\/b>.\u00a0 Alessi proved to be the right choice at running back, playing in 12 games and rushing for a career high 803 yards on the season.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Alessi would also score five touchdowns on the season and had over 100 yards receiving with one touchdown in 2019.\u00a0 His two biggest games running the ball where against the Robert Morris Colonials and the Western Illinois Leathernecks.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the game against Robert Morris, Alessi accounted for 146 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown in the 45-10 win.\u00a0 Against Western Illinois, he rushed for 156 yards on 13 carries and two touchdowns in the 59-14 victory.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After three straight games against the North Dakota State, South Dakota, and Indiana State in which he was held to a total of 43 yards, Alessi would find his rhythm somewhat again in the final game of the season against the Illinois State Redbirds.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the season finale, he had 18 carries for 103 yards.\u00a0 He did not score a touchdown however. He finishes his career at YSU with 1,355 yards and 12 touchdowns.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 Kyle Hegedus<\/span><\/h3>\n

Kyle Hegedus<\/b><\/a> was looking for a bounce back season as he missed 2018 with a knee injury. The defensive back out of St.\u00a0 Edwards high school finished his senior season with 64 total tackles (41 being solo), two interceptions and two forced fumbles.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hegedus<\/span><\/a> was not only a good player on the roster this season, but in the classroom too, being named CoSIDA Academic All-American Division one first team.\u00a0 He is the eighth to do this since <\/span>Steve Zaborsky<\/b> in 2015.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a Penguin, he finished with 143 total tackles (91 being solo), three interceptions, and three forced fumbles.\u00a0 He was also the place holder for <\/span>Zak Kennedy<\/b>, <\/span>Grant Gonya<\/b>, <\/span>Nate Needham<\/b> and <\/span>Colten McFadden<\/b>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Ma\u2019lik Richmond\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

When allowed on the football team in 2017, there was controversy following <\/span>Ma\u2019lik Richmond<\/b><\/a> ever since the famous 2012 Steubenville incident.\u00a0 Petitions were circulated for him to be kicked off and people were going to alleged to be preparing to protest at one point.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, he stayed. Head coach <\/span>Bo Pelini<\/b> let him on the team and so did President <\/span>Jim Tressel<\/b>.\u00a0 Richmond played a few games in 2017<\/a>, getting his first ever tackle against Central Connecticut State.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He would play in 11 games during the 2018 season where he recorded 22 total tackles\u00a0 (four tackles went for a loss) and a forced fumble. Richmond also recorded two and a half sacks.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2019, it was finally time to have a breakout season and that\u2019s what happened.\u00a0 Richmond had a fumble that bounced off his hand which was recovered by teammate <\/span>Cash Mitchell<\/b> for a touchdown against Samford.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ma\u2019lik finished this season with 47 total tackles, eight sacks, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery in his senior season and was captain for the team.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Nathan Mays\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Nathan Mays<\/b><\/a> was one of the last players to be apart of that 2016 YSU team that made it to the National Championship in Frisco Texas.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mays in 2018 was injured a lot of times and ended up being a backup to <\/span>Montgomery Vangorder<\/b>.\u00a0 This was Mays first season where he had over 1,000 yards passing and scored four touchdowns through the air.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the ground, Mays finished with 311 yards on 88 carries and six touchdowns.\u00a0 However, Nathan\u2019s career was over early after a leg injury against the North Dakota State Bison.\u00a0 He was playing through this injury since they played at the UNI-Dome against Northern Iowa.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mays was not done and put on the uniform one last time against Illinois State.\u00a0 With the help of his teammates, Mays took the last kneel down in the 21-3 victory.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He finished with 990 yards and ten touchdowns on the ground.\u00a0 Through the air, he finished with 2,619 yards and 20 touchdowns.\u00a0 Mays was named MVFC player of the week and was named Academic All-MVFC Honor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Justus Reed<\/span><\/h3>\n

The Florida transfer missed 2018 with an injury and some were wondering how he would bounce back in 2019.\u00a0 In 2017, he played in seven games and was named to the Missouri Valley Football Conference All-Newcomer Team, and now, it was comeback time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Turns out, that <\/span>Reed<\/span><\/a> had a great season at defensive end.\u00a0 Reed was a leader on and off the field, giving his teammates the confidence they need.\u00a0 In the offseason, he was granted with two more years of eligibility. He finished 2019 with 42 total tackles (30 solo, 12 assists), and 12.5 sacks.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He also had 19 tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, and two pass break ups.\u00a0 We will have to see if Reed decides to stay at Youngstown State in 2020, it seems likely, but him being a good NFL prospect, may change and he can possibly declare.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/span><\/h3>\n

There were good players on the Youngstown State Football team this season.\u00a0 These were the few however, that to some, had big impacts whether it would be on the field, in the classroom, or the leadership just around campus in general.\u00a0 Good luck to these players in the future.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2019 YSU football season may have been disappointing after the team started off 4-0, and then finished 6-6 (2-6 in MVFC). But there were still some big names who made plays. There were many Youngstown State players to choose from, but these five caught the eyes of improvement to the fans and writers.\u00a0 Improved […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3128,"featured_media":26853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"This post needs to cover the players that improved and were top in 2019 for Youngstown State Football ","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"905","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8],"tags":[5571,79,5042,4822,4944,5768,5574,4637,5767,4821,126,5769,4974,5766],"class_list":["post-26828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-fbs","tag-cfb150","tag-college-football","tag-colten-mcfadden","tag-joe-alessi","tag-justus-reed","tag-kyle-hegedus","tag-malik-richmond","tag-missouri-valley-conference","tag-nate-needham","tag-nathan-mays","tag-ncaa","tag-penguins","tag-youngstown-state","tag-zak-kennedy"],"modified_by":"Ben Kerr","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3128"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}