4 former Youngstown State football players will be in NFL rookie camps
Mitch Davidson (San Francisco 49ers) and Ryan Johnson (New England Patriots) were given rookie NFL mini-camp invitations over the weekend.
They joined wide receiver Bryce Oliver who signed an undrafted free agent contract with the Tennessee Titans and Marcus Hooker (Indianapolis Colts), who also received a rookie NFL mini-camp invitation.
While at YSU, Oliver broke the school record for career receiving touchdowns. Oliver finished his three-year career with 26 touchdowns in 33 games at YSU. He tied the record against Murray State and broke it in the first round of the NCAA playoffs against Duquesne. The previous mark of 25 had been held by Jim Ferranti since 1979.
For his YSU career, Oliver had 147 receptions for 2,065 yards and 26 scores. He averaged 14 yards per catch and 62 yards a game. In 2023, Oliver had 64 receptions for 978 yards and eight touchdowns. He had at least eight touchdowns in each of his three years at YSU.
Davidson had one of the most productive passing seasons in school history in 2023. Davidson passed for 3,088 yards completing 256-of-368 attempts (69.6 percent) and throwing for 24 touchdowns. His 234.8 yards per game were just behind the record set by Ron Jaworski in 1972 (235.8).
Davidson set school season records for completions, yards, attempts and completion percentage while ranking second in TD passes. He tied the school record for 200-yard passing games in a season (eight) and set a record with four 300-yard games. His 3,156 total offensive yards in 2023 were 54 shy of the school mark set by Jeff Ryan in 1999.
In his YSU career, Davidson was 391-of-598 (65.3 pct.) for 4,978 yards and 40 touchdowns while appearing in 30 games. He passed for more than 200 yards on 13 occasions. He also rushed for nine touchdowns.
Hooker was a member of the program in 2022 and 2023 after transferring from Ohio State. In 2023, he started 12 games for the Penguins and finished with 51 total tackles which ranked third on the squad. He registered 36 solo stops and registered 15 assisted tackles for the campaign. In his two years with the program, he played in 19 games and had 74 tackles.
Johnson was a member of the program for three seasons and started 28 games over the course of his career. He started all 13 games at right guard during the 2023 season.