Football: Hynoski makes room for big plays

Behind the highlight reel runs of Dion Lewis and Ray Graham is a player who doesn’t get nearly the same amount of national recognition.

He’s the player whodoes a lot of the dirty work, creating gaps that Lewis and Graham can slip through, but ask any coach or player on the Pitt football team and they’ll tell you fullback Henry Hynoski is just as important in making the offense go… Behind the highlight reel runs of Dion Lewis and Ray Graham is a player who doesn’t get nearly the same amount of national recognition.

He’s the player whodoes a lot of the dirty work, creating gaps that Lewis and Graham can slip through, but ask any coach or player on the Pitt football team and they’ll tell you fullback Henry Hynoski is just as important in making the offense go.

“He enjoys contact. He enjoys trying to be physical,” running back coach David Walker said. “He’s a big part of anything that we do run-game wise. To have a guy that you can run behind and he can lead the play and he can effectively handle his guys, it’s a very nice feature to have, trust me.”

Hynoski put up some gaudy statistics at Southern Columbia Area High School in Elysburg, Pa., finishing as the seventh-leading rusher in Pennsylvania history with 7,165 yards. As a senior, he rushed for 2,407 yards and 42 touchdowns on 206 carries. That’s 11.7 yards per attempt.

At Pitt, though, Hynoski said his main priority is to be a blocker for Lewis and Graham.

“I’m going in there with everything I’ve got and trying to put someone on their back with every play,” Hynoski said. “Dion and Ray are so talented, they are just going to cut right off me and make big runs. That’s just how it goes.”

Hynoski said that although his role this season will remain similar to last year, he sees himself getting the ball more this year. In 2009, he rushed for 107 yards on 24 attempts — an average of 4.5 yards per carry.

“I can see myself, just by the way summer camp is going and what the coaches have told me, getting more carries out of the backfield and single-back sets with me and Dion both in the game,” he said.

Hynoski said the coaches are also trying to get him more involved in the pass game, just by lining him up as a slot or wide receiver and running certain routes so he can be more versatile.

Although Walker said he doesn’t see Hynoski’s role changing dramatically, he agreed that Hynoski’s touches will increase.

“His primary role will be to block for us,” Walker said. “We’ll increase his touches in terms of getting him some carries and getting him the ball in the pass game probably a little more than we did last year.”

Walker said that Hynoski knows so much that he gives the coaches several different options, saying the redshirt junior can line up anywhere on the field and execute.

“We can do a lot of different things with him because of how football-smart he is,” Walker said. “For example, we can line up at what appears to be a point back formation, put him out as a wide receiver, call a pass route, and he can execute the pass route and catch the ball. Hank can line up anywhere you ask him to on the field and execute.”

Hynoski said he’s excited about the possibility of getting the ball in his hands more this season.

“I’m a player who feels I can do all three things in football: running, blocking and catching,” he said. “A lot of fullbacks can do only one or two of those things, so I feel like that’s a big advantage from an offensive standpoint.”

Offensively, Hynoski said he expects the Pitt offense to be well-balanced this season, because its players have the ability to run the ball but also have opportunities in the pass game with Tino Sunseri at quarterback and wide receivers Jon Baldwin and Mike Shanahan.

“We just have a very stable offense full of athletes, and we have big-play potential,” Hynoski said.

He’s confident that Sunseri is ready to step in for Bill Stull and be a leader for the offense.

“He’s just developed a mentality for the game, and he really knows what he’s doing,” Hynoski said. “A lot of the guys, they view him as the next leader of the offense because of how much he knows.”

Hynoski, too, said he stepped up as a leader after last season, seeing those abilities emerge in spring ball and during the off-season program.

“I feel that a lot of the guys on the team, especially the running backs, view me in that role so it’s just one of those things,” he said. “I’ll get in somebody’s face if I need to, but I’m more of a lead-by-example guy.”

Hynoski leads by example both on and off the field. As a business-marketing major, he’s twice been named to the Big East All-Academic Football Team. He said having a back-up plan after football is a lesson he learned from his parents.

“Only a certain amount of people are lucky enough to move on to the next level and play in the NFL,” he said. “Anything can happen. The next play could be your last play in the NFL.”

It happened to his dad, a former star fullback at Temple. Henry Hynoski, Sr. played one season with the Cleveland Browns before his career was cut short by an injury.

“Then he had to rely on his education,” Hynoski said. “You’ve got to have a back-up plan. That’s something that they instilled in me from day one.”

Hynoski’s intelligence extends to the football field, as well, Walker said.

“One of his biggest strengths is how smart he is, how easy the game comes to him,” Walker said. “He brings a lot to the table, but probably his best attribute is his toughness, his throwback mentality.”