YOUNGSTOWN — Heading into his fifth and final season at Youngstown State, Beau Brungard has some “unfinished business” to attend to.
When the Penguins’ quarterback announced his decision to return to YSU in December, he felt like he and the team had “left so much out there” last year, especially after the season-ending loss to Yale in the first round of the FCS playoffs.
“I’m just so excited to get back to work and just empty the tank and not let regret or doubt get into our minds of the work we’re going to put in this year,” Brungard said after winning the Walter Payton Award last year. “We’re just going to lay it all out there for one more year.”
That desire and motivation to end his college career on a high note and deliver for the City of Youngstown fueled Brungard throughout the offseason.
Now in his third season as YSU’s starting quarterback, Brungard hopes to put it all together in his second year in offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich’s system, as the Penguins set their sights on a return trip to the postseason.
“It’s just building blocks, taking what you’ve learned in the past and taking the experiences from last year and building upon them and growing,” Brungard said after YSU’s second scrimmage of fall camp on Saturday. “Building chemistry with these new guys, having a daily hunger and not having complacency — that’s been the main focus for me this offseason, to get these guys going and just make sure every single day we’re ready to play football and that we don’t have any complacency whatsoever.”
When Yurcich was hired after the 2024 season, he helped revitalize YSU’s offense and brought out the best in Brungard last year.
With a year of experience in the system, running it is almost second nature now for Brungard.
“He’s just a wealth of knowledge, and I just keep digging for more. I just see how much football knowledge I can gain from him and just try to be a sponge around him,” Brungard said of Yurcich. “I’ve been so fortunate to have him as a coach. He pushes me every day with his intensity and his passion for the game. The way he’s elevated my game, I’m forever thankful.”
Brungard’s familiarity and comfort-level in the offense has even allowed Yurcich to expand the scheme and add new things to the Penguins’ playbook.
“I’ve just built upon every experience I’ve had with him,” Brungard said. “We’ve built this offseason greatly with the playbook. New stuff — he’s always got new schemes going in, so it’s awesome to be around him.”
However, even after Brungard’s eye-popping offensive production last season, there’s always room for improvement. If there was one thing Yurcich tried to instill in Brungard this offseason, it’s that he doesn’t have to do everything himself.
“He’s always going to look for ways to improve. He’s just a very competitive guy,” Yurcich said. “I think what’s really important is he has to understand it’s not all on his shoulders. He doesn’t have to do everything in this offense. He has to do his job, and then anything extracurricular on top of that is a bonus.
“He’s gotta make sure that doesn’t have the heaviness of the weight of the world on you. We have to win as an offensive unit, as a team offense, and that’s how we build it. If one particular player — and I don’t care who it is — if it’s one particular player that has an off day, we should still compensate for that with the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the offense as a whole. So if he doesn’t have a great day, we should still win the game, in my opinion, because we’re a well-balanced offensive system.”
With returners at tailback, tight end and on the offensive line, the outside expectations are high for Brungard and the rest of YSU’s offense this fall.
But Brungard is taking Yurcich’s message to heart as the Penguins prepare to open the season next week.
“We don’t really focus on that. We just try to do our job every single play,” Brungard said. “Every guy on offense does his own job, his own responsibility. And when 11 guys play as one heartbeat, good things happen. We don’t get ahead of ourselves with big astronomical crazy goals. It’s one play at a time, one game at a time, one day at a time. We play a team game, so our defense helping out, special teams, it all comes together and we just do what we do, one play at a time.”
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