"This is something that you dream about. I've been dreaming about it for a long time", says Youngstown State head coach Eric Wolford.
It's a dream that becomes reality Saturday afternoon for the sixth head coach in YSU history. Just eight months after being hired to rebuild the Penguin program, Eric Wolford's Penguins open up the regular season on the road at nineteenth-ranked Penn State.
Wolford continues, "It's a roller-coaster no matter who you're playing. And, are we able to pick ourself back up off the ground and play the next play and compete, and not throw the towel in, and play sixty minutes? I think you can tell a lot about a football team in how they handle adversity."
"He's ready to show and prove everybody wrong. His biggest message is that there is a small margin of error, when you play a good team. Whether you play Penn State or anybody else", adds senior cornerback Brandian Ross.
Saturday also marks the debut of young quarterback Kurt Hess, who has never taken a snap at the college level. And he'll do so in front of more than 100,000 screaming fans in Happy Valley. Wolford is confident in his freshman quarterback saying, "A lot of time young players will have a bad play and they let that affect them the next two, three, four plays, or even a quarter. Kurt's a mature enough guy, and I have a lot confidence in Kurt that he'll do a good job."
YSU wide receiver Domonique Barnes continues, "He's very mature. To be a freshman, he's very mature. He's doing a good job too. We're all nervous everybody's going in there nervous. But I think he'll be alright."
Wolford concludes, "It's an honor to be the head coach here at Youngstown. It's an honor to represent this University. It's an honor to play Penn State. It's an honor to be on the same field with Joe Paterno, and I feel blessed to have that opportunity."
