FOOTBALL: Delaware State at Kent State Pregame

By David Carducci
Director of New Media

5:30 p.m.

We are hearing that Dri Archer and Roosevelt Nix of the Pittsburgh Steelers are expected to be on the sideline at some point in today's game.

The two former Golden Flashes opened their NFL season on Thursday night in New England – a game that featured five KSU alumni in all with James Harrison, also of the Steelers, and the Patriots' Julian Edelman and Josh Kline.

5:15 p.m.

The Golden Flashes and Hornets are on the field for pregame warmups.

I talked with Paul Haynes during the week and while he was disappointed in the performance at Illinois, he was extremely pleased by how his team escaped almost injury free. In fact, the Flashes hope to get a couple of players back from injury this week with junior tight end Ryan Malone and freshman wide receiver Antwan Dixon.

Haynes hedged a bit on Dixon's return as we got closer to gameday, but we could see him today. I see Dixon's No. 1 on the field during warmups.

Delaware State struggled against the run in a week one loss to Liberty, so look for the Flashes to work hard to establish the running game today. 300-pound Anthony Pruitt is listed No. 1 on the depth chart at right guard today after playing, but not starting, last week at Illinois due to a nagging injury. Having his size against a Delaware State defensive line that has only one of the eight players listed the depth chart weighing over 265 pounds should be an advantage. KSU goes 294, 300, 206, 300 and 290 on the starting offensive line.

Look for the Flashes to play as many as five running backs with Nick Holly, Myles Washington, Miles Hibbler, Trayion Durham and Raekwon James all listed on the depth chart – the most on a KSU two-deep in the last two decades. I'm hoping to see Durham (listed fourth) eventually move back into a feature back role based on his success prior to missing 2014 to injury and the fact that (at 248 pounds) he is different than most backs outside of the power five conferences.

What are your thoughts about today's game?


4:45 p.m. 

If you are not a subscriber to head coach Paul Haynes' newsletter, here's a look at what he wrote to fans yesterday in anticipation of today's home opener with Delaware State.

Dear Kent State fans, This is a new week. We made too many mistakes in the season opener at Illinois. We've made corrections, and now guys are looking forward to getting back on the field. The thing that is tough about football is that you have to wait a whole week to make up for it after a disappointing performance. Everyone wants to win. But you can handle a loss sometimes when you go out and feel like you played to your full potential. We didn't give our best effort at Illinois. The good news is that was week one. Week one is over and now it is on to week two. I've played and coached on a lot of teams where we didn't play the way we wanted to and lost a big game at the start of the season. Two of those teams won national championships.  Our guys are ready to put on a good performance, and they are looking forward to doing it in front of our home crowd. We need your support. We would love to come out on Saturday night against Delaware State and see the student section and our fans going crazy. Our players have been working extremely hard, and they need that support. Delaware State is a good team. In preparation for them, we've been working on several things that didn't go as well as we would have liked. I'm going to be looking specifically for us to do a better job of blocking on the perimeter. We need to run on the perimeter better than we did last week. Defensively, we have to do a better job of not giving up the big play. Three of the touchdowns by Illinois came on one-play drives after turnovers. That's not good enough. I hope to see you at Dix Stadium on Saturday. Kickoff is at 6 p.m. Go Flashes! Sincerely Paul Haynes Head Coach Kent State Football