By Joe Scalzo
scalzo@vindy.com
YOUNGSTOWN
At 6-foot-6, 315 pounds, Youngstown State junior tackle Andrew Radakovich is one of the Penguins’ two biggest players and his family’s fourth-biggest male.
His older brother Adam is 7 feet tall. His other brother, former YSU football/basketball player Brian Radakovich, is 6-7. So is his dad, Robert.
Being that big isn’t a good thing if you’re trying to take a dorm room shower (the nozzle is too low) or squeeze your frame into an airplane seat, but it’s terrific if you want to go to college for free.
Plus, you can eat whatever you want.
“If I didn’t have a high metabolism, I’d probably weigh 500 pounds with how much I eat,” Radakovich said. “My food bills in a month are pretty ridiculous. I feel bad for my parents.”
The Steubenville native just finished his second year as YSU’s starting left tackle and enters this spring as the most experienced lineman on a unit that lost three senior starters: guards Bobby Coates and Eric Rodemoyer and center Justin Rechichar. All three started every game, as did Radakovich.
Radakovich has tried to make sure the younger linemen around him first understand the game mentally.
“When you understand the game mentally, you can play faster and more physical because you don’t have to worry about overthinking everything,” he said.
He’s impressed Penguins coach Eric Wolford with his approach and his performance.
“I like way Radakovich is coming to work every day,” Wolford said. “It seems like he’s taking the next step.”
Wolford is also high on junior college transfers Mark Pratt (center) and Lamar Mady (right tackle). They’ve been working with the first team and Radakovich said they’ve picked up the team’s scheme faster than anyone expected.
“It’s weird, but they fit right in and we didn’t miss a beat,” Radakovich said. “We’re really starting to congeal and get better as a line.”
Congeal?
“Yeah, I’m smart, too,” he said, laughing.
Last year’s starting right tackle, D.J. Main, is still rehabbing a broken foot that caused him to miss the team’s final four games. (Main is also 6-6, but weighs “just” 300 pounds.)
His injury opened up a spot last fall then-freshman Chris Elkins, who should man one of the guard positions.
There are a host of younger players, including former Mooney All-Ohioan Zach Larson, trying to break into the lineup. Wolford thinks several of them might need more time to develop.
“Normally with offensive linemen, it’s a two-year process,” Wolford said. “I’m on those guys all the time.
“If we get our offensive line around here squared away, I think we’ve got a chance to be special,” Wolford said. “I think we all know what we’ve got behind them.”
After two days in helmets and shorts, the Penguins put on the pads for the first time Saturday, which is actually much safer for the linemen, Radakovich said.
“When we just have helmets on, it’s still full go for us,” he said. “It’s just shoulder injuries waiting to happen, so when we get the pads on, we’re happy.
“It just feels good to hit people again. It’s such a big stress reliever. I finally get to put people on their back. That’s my favorite thing to do.”
