FOOTBALL: On the Road with Kent State

By DAVID CADUCEI
Director of New Media

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The first road trip for Kent State Football is about to get underway with team buses leaving Dix Stadium beginning just after 1 pm.

Our sports information team will be bringing you photos and live video from the trip, including a live look in on periscope from the team's walkthrough at Memorial Stadium. That live video from the University of Illinois should hit the air at almost 8 pm.

This should be an interesting trip. The Golden Flashes are that rare (and I think exciting) mix of young and yet experienced.

I'm confident the defense will be solid this season. The secondary is deep, talented, and led by a group of satires (nine on this trip) with high football IQs. The still-young linebacking corps made some strides towards the end of 2014. They should stay clean thanks to a beefed up defensive line fortified by the return of Chris Fairchild.

The offense should also benefit from added strength provided by the return of Wayne Scott up front. His return, along with a more experienced offensive line that has had a chance to play together, should lead to significant improvements in the running game. Trayion Durham's return will help, but Paul Haynes and his staff are very high on the entire stable of running backs. Nick Holley should be a perfect foil for Durham. But there are also four other backs on this trip in Miles Hibbler, Raekwon James, Sam Kukura and Myles Washington. While all could see action and all are capable of running any play in Don Treadwell's playbook, some of the younger backs may cut their teeth early on special teams.

What are you most interested in seeing tomorrow night when Kent State opens the season at Illinois?

Check back throughout the day for more photos, video and news from the travel to to Champaign.