Correspondent file photo / Robert Hayes. Youngstown State running back Jaleel McLaughlin points to the sky following a touchdown earlier this season against South Dakota. The senior is nearing the NCAA all-time rushing record.
YOUNGSTOWN — It’s 5 o’clock on a weekday morning in the Mahoning Valley, and Youngstown State football coach Doug Phillips is arriving to Stambaugh Stadium.
As Phillips heads into the football offices underneath the home side of the facility, tailback Jaleel McLaughlin is returning to the locker room after an individual training session up on Beede Field. That precedes a day of lifting, film and practice, but it’s almost routine for McLaughlin at this point.
“People don’t understand the amount of time he spends on the football field — even when we’re not practicing — what he does in the weight room, his strength and all that training,” Phillips said. “It’s definitely something the young guys look up to, and hopefully they’ll follow in his footsteps.”
The hard work is paying off, as Youngstown State’s star rusher is nearing the NCAA record books. With 7,855 career yards after Saturday’s 95-yard performance at Illinois State, he stands just 219 yards away from becoming the NCAA’s all-time rushing leader across all divisions.
Nate Kmic holds the record at 8,074 yards. Kmic’s Mount Union career spanned from 2005 to 2008.
“That’ll be something big to accomplish — definitely something I want to accomplish, not only for myself, but also for everyone around me that’s putting into the offense,” the 5-foot-9, 183-pound tailback said. “The tight ends and receivers blocking downfield, the quarterbacks and coaches, and just for the city of Youngstown. I think that’d be something great to achieve for them. I’m just going to keep working, and I can’t wait to get there.”
While his on-field speed is evident every Saturday, it’s that work-first mentality that his coaching staff says separates him as a tailback. In addition to those early-morning ladder drills and individual workouts, it was commonplace for Phillips to hear that McLaughlin was in the stadium running the stairs at midnight the night before.
The trick early on, Phillips noted, was getting McLaughlin to slow down — or at least scale back.
“So you really had to say, ‘Hey, we have to take care of our body. We have to feed it with nutrients and rest,’” Phillip said. “But he truly believes that work ethic, or going on the field and doing a walkthrough, going through each and every play and the footwork … he truly believes those are the things that help him become successful.”
Phillips added, “He’s trimmed back a little, but (Tuesday) morning, I came into work at 5 a.m., and he’s here walking out a door, and I’m wondering what he’s leaving to go do. Is he going to run a mile? I don’t know, but that’s what Jaleel does.”
That drive and motivation goes back to McLaughlin’s years in middle and high school, the senior said. McLaughlin and his family battled homelessness when he was in seventh grade, and at one point lived in a car.
“It gave me a bunch of motivation, just to be able to actually see my mom smile and see my mom happy now and see my family happy and bring my family together,” McLaughlin said. “Everything that we went through, I think that’s why I try to work as hard as I can, so I’m able to see them in the stands happy, see them in the stands smiling.”
He added, “We did go through hard times together, but those times don’t last forever. I just want to show my mom and show everything that may go through the same trials, that we went through that, but you can make it. You can do whatever you put your mind to. … You can do whatever you want no matter where you come from, no matter the background, no matter how rich, how poor — none of that matters as long as you put your head down and start grinding.”
It’s also the same mentality that served McLaughlin as he went under-recruited as a three-sport athlete out of Forest Hills High School, about a 40-minute drive southeast from Charlotte. He also played basketball and ran track.
What offers he did garner, he said, were to play in the secondary. Only one program — Notre Dame College up in Euclid — offered him as a tailback. So on a Friday night after a basketball game, McLaughlin and his mother made the nine-hour drive from Marshville to Euclid, and McLaughlin found his new home.
The decision certainly paid off. In his two seasons at Notre Dame College, McLaughlin ran for 4,737 yards and 52 touchdowns. He led the NCAA in rushing in 2018, and led Division II a year later.
But, as it was for so many athletes across the country, COVID-19 forced a change in plans. With schools in Notre Dame’s conference getting shut down, and with a desire to compete against the best competition possible, McLaughlin hit the transfer portal.
It wasn’t long before Phillips and his staff were interested.
“You just had to watch maybe a minute of highlights, and then when you got to learn who is he is as a person … we knew at the time we needed a program-changer,” Phillips said. “I think Jaleel brought such a competitive edge into the program, not only in the running back room, but when he stepped foot on the practice field — to have that leadership and to be able to demonstrate that daily, whether it was in the weight room or on the practice field and be able to show it… When you talk about program-changers, he really gave us a lift when we needed it.”
On McLaughlin’s end, he saw the opportunity to compete in the FCS’ toughest conference, and saw that YSU was building a tight-knit culture. He also had interest from programs such as Duke, but said staying in Ohio was something he wanted to do.
The impact for YSU was immediate.
In the 2021 spring season, McLaughlin earned All-Missouri Valley Football Conference Second Team honors after rushing for 691 yards and five touchdowns in seven games. That fall, he picked up Third-Team All-American honors from The Associated Press and Hero Sports after rushing for 1,139 yards and 12 touchdowns.
This season, he’s up to 1,277 yards and 10 touchdowns.
In addition to the home-run speed McLaughlin possesses, offensive coordinator Troy Rothenbuhler says McLaughlin’s toughness, vision and versatility set him apart.
“Everybody’s paying attention on the other side of the ball, because at any point he could get one handed to him, and 80 yards later he’s in the end zone and you don’t even have time to take a breath because he’s gone.
“The big thing about him is he’s just so determined and allows us to use him in many, many ways. He’s more than willing to pick up a blitz. If you need him to, he’s more than willing to pick up an edge guy, all those kinds of things. He’s just a blast to coach.”
While the on-field accolades continue to rack up, Phillips also said he’s seen growth from McLaughlin in the locker room.
“It’s been fun getting him out of his bubble and seeing his personality grow as he’s been here,” Phillips said. “To see his humor and see how he now hangs out with our guys — before, he was very to himself. He would tell you, what does he do on weekends? I think he said once he stares at four walls and waits for practice or the weight room on Mondays. To see him come out of that shell and to see him prosper — whether it’s with fans, business leaders, the general public — he’s the one going around and shaking hands and introducing himself and saying thank you. Just to see him grow, it’s been a treat.”
McLaughlin says it’s those off-field relationships he treasures most.
“I’ve built relationships here that I think I’ll have for a lifetime. That’s what makes it special for me — being able to go on Friday nights and spend time together with all the guys, laugh and joke, watch people play Madden and video games and watch games together. Things like that are really the things I’ll remember,” McLaughlin said.
Before he dons the red and white for the last time and departs from Youngstown, though, McLaughlin has one major thing left on his to-do list.
“Definitely making the playoffs and having that playoff experience with my brothers,” he said. “I wrote a whole bunch of goals down at the beginning of the year, and that was definitely on there. And I just want to keep working so that we’re able to do that.”
The Penguins’ quest for that postseason berth took a step forward with Saturday’s 19-17 win at Illinois State, and continues Saturday at Missouri State.
jwhetzel@tribtoday.com
