Correspondent file photo / Robert Hayes (left) and YSU Athletics (right) From left, Youngstown State’s Brady Shannon readies to hit during a game against Milwaukee on March 15 at Eastwood Field, and Shannon passes during a Penguins spring football practice on March 11 at Stambaugh Stadium.

YOUNGSTOWN — When former Ursuline star Brady Shannon was still in high school, he had to make a choice between his two passions.

Shannon had multiple offers from various schools to play either football or baseball at the collegiate level. Ultimately, he opted to play baseball at Central Florida, and he spent his freshman season playing for the Knights.

But his love for football still lingered in the back of his mind. So much so that he entered the transfer portal in December 2023 with the intent of playing football once again.

So, Shannon transferred home, landing at Youngstown State to join the football program, where he was one of the Penguins’ backup quarterbacks during the 2024 season.

Then this past winter, after the end of football season, Shannon was given the opportunity to join the YSU baseball team for the 2025 season, allowing him to fulfill his dream of being a dual-sport athlete and play both sports at the Division I level.

“It’s always been a goal of mine to do both,” Shannon said. “I always knew I didn’t want to give up baseball. That was something I told myself, giving up baseball was not an option for me because you put so much time into both sports for your whole life, and when you get the opportunity to do both of them, you can’t pass it up.”

When Shannon first arrived at YSU last year, he wanted to spend his first season focusing on football and adjusting to the speed of college football after not playing for almost two years.

But when the opportunity to play baseball presented itself after he had a season of football under his belt, he jumped at the opportunity.

“I’ve always wanted to do this and play the two sports I love at a high level, and to do it at YSU is a blessing,” Shannon said. “To have all the people in my corner, the football coaches, the baseball coaches, compliance — if they weren’t all a part of it and being understanding and patient with me with all the communication that goes on, I wouldn’t be able to do it without them.”

Thus far this spring, Shannon has played in 19 of YSU’s 22 games and started 16 of them. He’s batting .250 with 10 RBIs and is second on the team with five home runs.

Shannon had a breakout performance for the 4-18 Penguins on March 15 when he had a pair of solo home runs in YSU’s 10-7 victory over Milwaukee at Eastwood Field.

“He brings leadership, he’s the ultimate locker room guy. Everybody loves him. He’s obviously been part of multiple locker rooms on the football and baseball side and he brings everybody together,” YSU baseball head coach Trevor Charpie said. “He’s a hard-nosed kid, so you never have to worry about him being gritty or working hard or playing the game all out. He’s always going to do that.

“Brady Shannon is a baller, not only as a baseball player, not only as a football player, but as a human being. He’s a great example of what you want in an athlete, and I don’t think there could be a better person to represent the Youngstown area.”

After not playing competitive baseball for about a year, it took Shannon some time to get his swing back and get re-adjusted to seeing live pitching. But once he did, he started “hitting the cover off the ball,” according to Charpie.

“Baseball is one of those sports that you have to consistently get reps in,” Charpie said. “So there was, I wouldn’t say a learning curve, but there was a time period where he was getting his swing back in shape. I wasn’t just going to give him a starting job. He had to earn that, and he did. He got his opportunity and he made the most of it.”

On the gridiron, Shannon was one of two quarterbacks left on the roster after two transferred out after the end of the 2024 season.

The Penguins added a pair of freshmen quarterbacks to the roster, but this spring has been an adjustment for both Shannon and returning starter Beau Brungard as YSU brought in new offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich.

With Yurcich’s arrival comes a new offense and playbook, which the quarterbacks are learning and YSU has been working to implement during spring practice.

“It’s always an adjustment learning a new playbook, especially once you get that playbook from before installed in your head,” Shannon said. “But it’s all about reps, film and getting on board with Coach Yurcich. Obviously you gotta juggle a little bit because there’s only so much time in the day with baseball and stuff. But the offense is looking good, it’s looking better every day, and I think we’re definitely headed in the right direction with that.”

With the NCAA time limitations of 20 hours per week, Shannon has to balance games, practices and workouts between both sports, which makes it harder to pick up the offense having less time on the field than some of his football counterparts.

“It’s not easy,” YSU football head coach Doug Phillips said. “You got new language offensively, new plays, so when you only have maybe five hours of football per week compared to someone else, it’s difficult. But we talked about those things in January when he came in and we talked about him having the opportunity to play (baseball) too. So on Tuesdays and Thursdays, he gets as many reps as he can.”

But still, Shannon is making the best of it. He said he’s spending a good deal of time on his own learning and repping things so that he doesn’t fall behind, whether it’s studying plays and film in the baseball team’s hotel or on the bus coming home from a road game.

“I gotta take responsibility and teach myself how to do it,” Shannon said. “The coaches do a great job with making sure I’m staying up to speed with everything and not getting behind. It’s a lot on the plate, but when it’s something you love, you’re going to do it. It’s not a chore.

“It’s been an adjustment, obviously the schedule is really busy being in-season for baseball and then spring football practices. But it’s a good busy. I’m doing two things that I love. … I get to go to football practice and I get to play baseball games, it’s really the best of both worlds.”