Marty Gordon
NRVsports@ourvalley.org
Just a week after announcing he would attend Fork Union Military Academy as a post-graduate, Blacksburg High School football star Tiquest Terry announced, instead, he will play this fall at Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio.
His high school coach, Eddie Sloss, confirmed the decision on Friday.
Youngstown’s offensive coordinator, Brian Crist, is familiar with the Blacksburg program. His dad coached the school for a number of years.
Youngstown State University is a public institution founded in 1908 and has a total undergraduate enrollment of 11,386 says its USNews.com Overview. The school plays in the Missouri Valley Football Conference and is a member of the NCAA Division 1 ranks, formerly known as the Subdivision in football.
A broken hand limited Terry’s playing time last season, but his most productive year was 2016 as a sophomore when he caught 70 passes for 1,165 yards to rush for 494 yards.
This spring, the speeding receiver showed off his talents on the track finishing in the Class 4 rank’s Top-5 of the 100-meters and second in the high jump.
The University of Virginia had been Terry’s top pursuer. He mentioned them as a possible destination after a year at Fork Union.
Wake Forest, with assistant coach and former Radford High School connection, Wayne Lineburg, had also expressed interest in Terry.
But Youngstown coach Mark Anthony “Bo” Pelini, formerly at Nebraska, has been one of the most successful college coaches at the highest level, guiding the YSU program to the Division I National Championship Game in just his second season in 2016.
It was the program’s first appearance in the title game since 1999 and the seventh in school history.
Pelini began his duties as the seventh head coach in Youngstown State history in 2014, bringing with him an impressive 21 years of coaching experience.
In his four seasons with the Penguins, Pelini owns a 27-22 record. Last season, YSU was 4-8 including a loss to West Virginia.
Terry is expected to play receiver at the next level.
The Youngstown State football team will open its home slate on Sept. 5 against Akron at Univeersity of Akron’s InfoCision Stadium.
Youngstown State is set to play 12 games for the 2019 campaign starting on August 24 when the Penguins play Samford University in the Guardian Credit Union FCS Kickoff in Montgomery, Alabama.