Nearly 100 female football fans took part in a second annual Women's Football Clinic held by the Youngstown State coaching staff on Thursday night at Stambaugh Stadium. All proceeds from the event go to the Rich Center for Autism.
Overall, the coaching staff had assistance from more than 30 volunteers in the crowd during a very face paced and entertaining evening and Mrs. Helen Stambaugh, who the Stadium is named after, was recognized for attending the event.
The first highlight of the night was the uniform demonstration. Youngstown State football players D.J. Main, Lamar Mady, John Sasson, Adaris Bellamy and Allen Jones all took part in the display and some showed better modeling skills then others.
Sasson hammed it up pretty good swinging his jacket over his shoulder and tossing his chin in the air. Bellamy and Jones received some nice applause showing off the Penguins' Under Armour compression gear.
The defense went first in giving the crowd insight into not only YSU football, but the game in general.
Defensive Coordinator Rick Kravitz opened by discussing defensive terms and talked about three and four-man fronts and well as nickel packages and some of YSU's philosophies.
Coach Rollen Smith followed by describing the duties of secondary. Smith selected four members from the audience to participate. He walked them through techniques and spacing and received some good laughs from the crowd.
Linebackers coach Frank Buffano started the contact portion of the evening. Buffano, who coaches YSU's middle and will linebackers had assistance from two volunteers in working on proper tackling form. YSU Ticket Office assistant Cheryl Traylor and Karen Cooper showed some solid form a Buffano held the bag and provided instruction.
Coach Ron Stoops, who works with outside linebackers (SAM), kept that position going. He joked about some of the questions his students at Boardman High School asked him and that got a good laugh. Stoops had assistance from YSU TE Carson Sharbaugh's mother and showed how a SAM linebacker reads the offensive line as to whether the offense is running or throwing the football. He showed how to fill a running lane or retreat on a passing attempt.
Defensive line Coach Tom Sims, always a crowd favorite, was the final defense coach to go. Sims had four helpers who were at last year's clinic. He lined up the four ladies and told them to step forward. Then he announced "That's what we do!" as the crowd roared. Then Sims brought out a tackling dummy to teach a pass rush move, slap and rip. He had one volunteer and told her that defensive linemen need swagger and are like tigers in a cage. Once he approved she slapped the bag over with her right hand.
Sims wasn't finished. He brought four mother's up whose son's play on the YSU defensive line for Sims. They worked on the pursuit drill. Sims told them to follow the football and then tossed it to YSU Athletics Administrative Assistant Cher Marshall. The four mom's ran to Cher, who tossed the ball away before changing directions to follow the ball.
The coaching staff broke the group up and took them on a tour of the facilities in the Stadium. Areas of note were the office suite, meeting rooms, locker room, training room and academics center.
The group then sat in the team meeting room as Melinda Wolford, wife of Head Coach Eric Wolford, took part in a question and answer session. Joining Melinda was Bonnie Stoops, wife of Ron Stoops, and Tracey Cochran, wife of strength consultant and former YSU football player Mike Cochran. They discussed what it is like being a coaches wife and shared some neat stories.
Once reconvening upstairs, the offense took over.
Offensive Coordinator Shane Montgomery took time discussing a variety of topics.
Montgomery brought up five volunteers to be his offensive line and then discussed the line of scrimmage. He added a tight end and wide receivers to the mix to talk about eligible receivers and talked about why ineligible receiver downfield is called. He made sure to mention that seven players on offense need to be at the line of scrimmage when the ball is snapped. He also moved the volunteers around to show them unbalanced formations.
Lastly, he talked about quarterback play. He discussed how to hold a football, spoke about arm technique, footwork and body positioning.
Offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo, who helped organize the clinic along with football secretary Lynn Cadle, talked about how his unit is a key part of the team. He had two volunteers and told them that offensive lineman move similar to dancers. He taught them a pass protection stance and when he pointed to the left, he had them shuffle left, when he pointed to the right, had them shuffle right.
Running backs coach Louie Matsakis had former YSU student assistant Jessica Giblin help him with some ball security drills. Giblin held a football and Matsakis showed the crowd how to protect it from the defense. Giblin then held a ball that was tied with a string and Matsakis tried to wrestle it away from her. Finally, Matsakis had Giblin work on footwork, but jumping over block pads that were placed on the floor.
Tight Ends Coach Mauro Monz, the newest member of the staff, had two volunteers involved in some receiving drills. He had one on offense and one defense. At first, his volunteer on offense jumped offside so she was assessed a five-yard penalty. That received a good laugh from the audience. Then she made up for the penalty with a nice catch. Finally, Monz got the crowd fired up for the final route and hit his receiver.
Wide receivers coach Andre Coleman kept the ball in the air. He worked with her on her stance and how to release from the line of scrimmage and come off the snap fast. He taught her a one step release and a two-step release. They then worked on a two-step fake out move before moving on to catching the football. He taught his volunteer how to look through her hands and keep her eye on the ball. Then he lofted a pass about five yards and she made the grab.
Following the offense presentation, more than 30 prizes raffle winners were announced.
The evening concluded with Coach Wolford addressing the audience. He thanked them for their continued support in the program and said the future of the program is very strong. He said he had a first-class staff and that announcement received one of the loudest ovations of the evening.
Wolford said the third annual Women's Coaching Clinic will be held in the WATTS next spring and is looking forward to seeing the crowd grow even more. In year one, YSU had 25 participants to 90 in the second year.
He said he looks forward to seeing all the Penguins fans in the fall is excited to open fall camp, which starts on August 6.
