Kent State Golden Flashes 2018 Football Preview

Kent State Golden Flashes 2018 Football Preview

Opening Statement: A right of passage for any national college football fan is just knowing that year in, year out, Kent State is just going to be awful this fall. I have grown up with it, and Darrell Hazell almost ruined our good time with this fact by making this team a winner before he did us all a favor by leaving for Purdue. Paul Haynes did us a solid by returning them to the gutters of the sport, and in uncertain times, we regained our certainty that Kent State would be awful once more. As Paul Haynes makes his way out of the coaching job at Kent State, I say thanks, Paul, for returning certainty to otherwise crazy days. Sean Lewis is the new coach, as he arrives after 2 years as the OC at Syracuse. Sean, don't blow this man!

Breakdown Offense: The larger question is, what offense? Kent State scored just 12.8 points per game last season, and ranked 129th out of 130 teams in the nation in scoring. Only UTEP was worse. Lewis is known for high scoring offense, but all he has to do is score 2 TDs per game, and that would be improving things. You cannot get much worse.

George Bolls is gone at QB, and that may be addition by subtraction. He was simply terrible last fall, tossing 4 TD passes to 12 INTs, and completing just 48.4% of his passes. The job appears to be in the hands of sophomore Dustin Crum, who was marginally better in limited action. He passed for 232 yards, but still had 2 INTs to his one TD pass. He did manage to complete 53.3% of his passes, so improvements are what they are. There is no QB on the roster that is a junior or senior, with 2 sophomores, and 2 RS freshman. Cross your fingers and hope for the best here.

Justin Rankin returns as the leading rusher, but that is not saying a lot. He rushed for just 490 yards, and led the team with 3 TDs. Yes, that led the team. He also averaged just 3.98 yards per carry, which was again, the team lead for any back with over 50 carries, not including QBs. He averaged just under 41 yards per game, again, the team lead. Will Matthews should be the primary backup, but rushed for just 188 yards, averaging 3.48 yards per carry. Myles Washington was the only other back last fall to rush more than 10 times, with 18 total carries.

Trey Harrell and Mike Carrigan appear to be set as the starting WRs, while Raekwon James will start at the SLOT. Harrell caught just 17 passes last fall, but led the team in yardage with 342. He averaged 19.06 yards per reception, and may be the best "weapon" that this roster has. Carrigan caught 14 passes last fall, James caught just 4 passes in 10 games. Donte Ross and Johnny Woods will try to provide some kind of depth.

Conor Brumfield caught 6 passes last season, and likely starts at TE.

Sophomore Zach Corrigall is trying to win the starting LT job in camp, but that will not be decided upon until the fall. Adam Gregoire (LG), Chase Von Hoef (C), Nate Warnock (RG), and Bryce Gibbs (RT) appear set on the line. There is virtually no depth on the line, and that should be concerning.

Breakdown Defense Theo Eboigbe starts at LDE for the Flashes this fall, and finished with 5 TFLs last fall. Alex Hoag appears set to back him up there after recording 2.5 TFLs. There is a wide open battle at NT, with no real depth, or any front runner candidates to be concerned with until fall camp begins. Theo Majette appears to be the starter at DT, but is severely undersized for the interior at just 251 lbs this spring. He managed 6.5 TFLs last fall. There are also no answers at RDE or the LEO spot that was employed last fall.

Jim Jones led the team with 98 tackles last season, and returns at OLB. His presence should help with a defensive line completely in flux. Sam Thomas and Cepeda Phillips will figure in elsewhere at LB, but again, this is largely a position in flux. Matt Behr is another name to watch.

Elvis Hines and Darryl Marshall return at CB this fall. They were not entirely effective last season as a duo, as they combined for 3 PBUs. KJ Sherald is the 3rd corner. Jamal Parker was the APACH last fall, and still figures into the new secondary under the new staff. Parker was the best DB in the unit last fall, as he finished with 11 PBUs. Juantez McCray and Manny Lawrence-Burke will start at Safety, but this will be a mostly new unit, so expect more bumps in the process. Erik Simpson and Quan Robinson will provide depth.

Breakdown Special Teams: Colton McFadden takes over at PK this season after Steven Hynes largely struggled last fall. McFadden has not kicked in a college game to this point.

Derek Adams returns at Punter, and was solid last season, finishing with 43.63 yards per punt.

Carrigan is the primary kick return man, but averaged just 18 yards per return last fall. Kavious Price returns punts, and averaged 8.14 yards per punt last fall.

Final Analysis: Despite a new coaching staff being in place, there is still a massive talent gap, and that will take a long time to change at a program that has always been know for being a bad place to land. Despite a brief reprieve from all of the losing a few years back, this program has been awful since the days after Don James left, and unfortunately, you should not expect anything different this fall. I wish Lewis and his staff all the luck in the world, seriously, but this place has been a coaching graveyard for decades. Good luck with that.