The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Kenneally chooses Youngstown football
Ever since he got the offer from Youngstown State University, former Holy Name and Elyria Catholic wide receiver Jack Kenneally wanted to go there.
“From the start, since they started recruiting me, (Youngstown State) has been in my mind as No. 1,” Kenneally says after signing his letter of intent to play for the Penguins on Dec. 15. “The coach, the coaching staff, even the environment and the distance (from home) all ties together.”
Kenneally, the two-sport athlete in football and basketball who stands 6-foot-7, caught 50 balls for 904 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns for the Panthers this season was a season to remember. Knowing he’s a talented basketball player as well, he elected to play football.
“I started playing basketball before football, so basketball was my first love,” Kenneally said. “I think over time, me taking my ability and my size for football and more I can do on the field is really what took me over. Transferring (from Holy Name) to (Elyria Catholic) with Coach Fox took me away and I was committed to (football).”
Kenneally transferred from Holy Name as a dualsport athlete. He was on their 2020 district championship basketball team that had their season sadly cut off from the COVID-19 pandemic before becoming a Panther. He believes the transfer experience will help his transition to the college level.
“I think will be easy,” he says. “I’ve been a people person. I like communicating. I’m already friends with most of the kids on the team right now.”
From a football standpoint, his football coach Brian Fox believes, he has what it takes to success in the next level.
“As you jump to the next level, in any situation. The level of talent difference gets thinner and thinner,” Fox says. “Everyone at the next level has talent. Everyone has that body, speed, frame and all that good stuff. It’s the ones that work at it will be the ones that stick. You see he’s bought into the thought that greatness is a 24/7 thing.
The 2021 Panthers had a season for the ages, including themselves with some of the best Elyria Catholic teams of all time. They reached their first regional final since 1987 with a 11-3 record, 3-1 in Great Lakes Conference.
“The legacy (Kenneally) truly has left, will be seen in the next couple of years,“Fox said in his speech. “You look at everybody (saying) we were a year away. We had only a couple of returning Seniors… And off of a sudden, what was to be that we were one year away, became to ‘this could have been our year. Everything that we did came from (Kenneally’s) dedication.”
Kenneally was part of a dynamic offense with running back Levi Ellis leading the ground game. Kenneally posed a threat down the field through the air using his height advantage to beat defenders, which led to him leading the team in receiving yards and receptions as quarterback Brady Cook’s favorite option.
Joining him is former Panthers’ tight end Nate Damron, who played for them in the 2019 season. He led the teams with seven receiving touchdowns in Elyria Catholic’s 7-4 season.
“You have a lot of kids that want to be coached and you have very few kids who are demanding their coaching and he (has) that next level mindset,” Fox describes Damron.
“(Uniting with Damron) is awesome,” Kenneally said. I played against him in basketball and football. That Elyria Catholic connection going to Youngstown is great.”
He went to play JUCO at the infamous Independence Community College that was once featured on Netflix series “Last Chance U.”
There, Damron caught 7 passes in his freshman year for 69 yards and 3 touchdowns for Independence that went 8-2 and was ranked 14th nationally in the 2021 NJCAA Division I Football Poll for Week 12.