Yancich reminisced with Sweat, an Ohio State recruit, about how maybe this was the plan all along. After all, they used to flash the touchdown signal as they crossed home plate after hitting a home run in baseball. They played against each other in grade school, but were reunited in high school. The best friends will be opponents again in college when Penn State plays Ohio State, which is usually the Lions' most anticipated game of the season.
That thought triggers a debate, and it goes something like this.
Sweat: "Penn State might be better this year, but then Ohio State the next four years."
Yancich: "What?"
Sweat: "We have this running back named Chris Wells."
Yancich: "(Sweat) will be at Penn State with me and I'll be like, 'Sean Lee just intercepted that. Oh is he at the 40, 30, 20, 10, touchdown?' "
Sweat: "Wait (Ohio State junior linebacker James) Laurinaitis, two-time All-American, will be making $60 million in a couple months."
But once the bickering calms down, Sweat puts things into perspective, and Yancich agrees with his philosophy.
"We just live life," Sweat said. "We're just still kids. We don't know what to expect. We just love the game and we play it."
Yancich and Sweat are laid-back and high-strung at the same time. They don't feel the pressure of joining programs with high expectations. Their hyper side comes out when they perform toe-touches to see whose is better and talk really loudly when they get excited about playing in college. But there is a serious side to them, especially Yancich, who, along with Sweat, is expected to lead a Trinity team that hopes to improve upon a 6-4 finish and advance past the first round of the playoffs, where the Hillers' season ended last year.