The unofficial online home for fans of the Kent State University Golden Flashes. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

We are now better on defense than we were last season. May not be saying much but I like the idea of starting with the defense rebuild. We may be nearly strong enough on offense to compete if the defense is strong. I want to be optimistic.

More D. Maryland transfer:

https://umterps.com/sports/football/rost...ylor/10287

Tyler Baylor, OLB Maryland

https://umterps.com/sports/football/rost...ylor/10287

(01-09-2023 03:27 PM)GFlash68 Wrote:  We are now better on defense than we were last season. May not be saying much but I like the idea of starting with the defense rebuild. We may be nearly strong enough on offense to compete if the defense is strong. I want to be optimistic.

I hope so but quality over quantity matters. We lost a starting DB to West Virginia and signed a bunch of depth players that didn’t seem to have a significant impact this season prior to jumping into the portal. We’ve grabbed many transfers over the past few years that didn’t have much impact, how many of these will plug right in as starters?

Defense inbound
+CB Naim Muhammad (West Virginia) (5 games played 5 tackles)
+LB Nick Giacalone (NMSU) (11 games played 16 tackles 1.5 TFL)
+DT Javier Duran (Tarleton State) FCS (8 games played 11 tackles 2 sacks 4 TFL)
+DT Eric Weaver (VMI) FCS (6 games played 11 tackles 1 sack 1 TFL)
+DB Dallas Craddieth (Iowa) (4 games played 2 tackles)
+DB Lemuel Watley-Neely (Indiana) (7 games played 9 tackles)
+DE Matheus Carroll (Virginia Tech) (0 games played 0 tackles)
+DL Marcus Winfield (Delaware State) FCS (7 games played 11 tackles 3 sacks 4.5 TFL)
+DB Jalani Williams (Missouri) (12 games played 11 tackles 1 INT)
+DL Bryce Sisak, (Marist) FCS (DNP)
+LB Tyler Baylor (Maryland) (9 games played 7 tackles)
FBS totals 7 players (48 games played 50 tackles 1.5 TFL 1 INT)
FCS totals 4 players (21 games played 33 tackles 6 sacks 9.5 TFL)

Defense outbound
-DB Montre Miller (West Virginia U.) (12 games played 40 tackles)
-S Gage Michael (9 games played 7 tackles)
-CB Emon Hill (1 game played 0 tackles)
-S Dean Clark (Fresno State) (4 games played 7 tackles)
-S JoJo Evans (Florida International)(11 games played 83 tackles)
-DL Adin Huntington (5 games played 5 tackles)

Offense inbound
+Jaren Lewis QB (Kansas State)
2019 DNP
2020 DNP
2021 (12-23) 154 yards 1 TD & 2 INTs
2022 DNP

+Ali Fisher WR (Buffalo)
2022 DNP

+Treymon Echols WR
2021 (Butler Community College) (7 games played 15 catches 130 yards 1 TD)
2022 (Hutchinson Community College) (11 games played 14 catches 209 yards 2 TDs)

+Ky Thomas RB
2020 (Minnesota) redshirt
2021 (Minnesota) (9 games played 166-824 6 TDs)
2022 (Kansas) (9 games played 53-162 2 TDs)


Offense outbound
-QB Collin Schlee (UCLA)
-RB Marquez Cooper (BallsTate)
-WR Dante Cephas (Penn State)
-OT Savion Washington (Colorado)
-OL Marcellus Marshall (UCF)
-RB Shakhi Carson (Stony Brook)
-RB Daniel Bangura
-WR Marcus Harris
-WR Devontez Walker (North Carolina)
-WR Ja'Shaun Poke (West Virginia U.)

Jalani Williams, DB (Missouri)

https://www.espn.com/college-football/pl...i-williams

(01-10-2023 10:33 PM)Polish Hammer Wrote:  Jalani Williams, DB (Missouri)

https://www.espn.com/college-football/pl...i-williams

Just looked at his recruiting profile out of HS. Had 25 offers from a who’s who, including Georgia, Alabama, Ohio St, etc.

Bryce Sisak, DL (Marist) - just noticed the PWO in the photo which might explain this a little better as he did not play at a non-scholarship Pioneer League program.

https://goredfoxes.com/sports/football/r...isak/14498

(01-10-2023 11:19 PM)goldenflash99 Wrote:  

(01-10-2023 10:33 PM)Polish Hammer Wrote:  Jalani Williams, DB (Missouri)

https://www.espn.com/college-football/pl...i-williams

Just looked at his recruiting profile out of HS. Had 25 offers from a who’s who, including Georgia, Alabama, Ohio St, etc.

My guess is, across the board, a lot of these 'defensive' transfers could be switching over to offense. In transitions like Kent is going through a lot of coaches will put defensive guys on offense for no other reason than establishing 'toughness'. Not saying this improves the W-L totals early on, but it does set a tone.

(01-11-2023 07:17 PM)cleveland Wrote:  My guess is, across the board, a lot of these 'defensive' transfers could be switching over to offense. In transitions like Kent is going through a lot of coaches will put defensive guys on offense for no other reason than establishing 'toughness'. Not saying this improves the W-L totals early on, but it does set a tone.

I hope so, hope there’s some sort of plan and not just taking who is taking you up on your offers. Recruiting a high school kid playing both ways and choosing which side of the ball to use them on is understandable, but taking a college transfer you may not have watched nearly as much recently and envisioning such a switch is odd. Wonder if the players are aware of the position changes? And couldn’t you just have grabbed offensive players in the portal and kept them in their positions? Everything since Lewis’ departure has been puzzling.

So, because the head coach leaves to become an assistant elsewhere, in the space of two months the program has descended to one just taking whatever it can get and hoping to just set a "tone"?

(01-11-2023 07:17 PM)cleveland Wrote:  

(01-10-2023 11:19 PM)goldenflash99 Wrote:  

(01-10-2023 10:33 PM)Polish Hammer Wrote:  Jalani Williams, DB (Missouri)

https://www.espn.com/college-football/pl...i-williams

Just looked at his recruiting profile out of HS. Had 25 offers from a who’s who, including Georgia, Alabama, Ohio St, etc.

My guess is, across the board, a lot of these 'defensive' transfers could be switching over to offense. In transitions like Kent is going through a lot of coaches will put defensive guys on offense for no other reason than establishing 'toughness'. Not saying this improves the W-L totals early on, but it does set a tone.

I’m not familiar with this happening. Do you have any examples?

(01-11-2023 08:30 PM)goldenflash99 Wrote:  

(01-11-2023 07:17 PM)cleveland Wrote:  

(01-10-2023 11:19 PM)goldenflash99 Wrote:  

(01-10-2023 10:33 PM)Polish Hammer Wrote:  Jalani Williams, DB (Missouri)

https://www.espn.com/college-football/pl...i-williams

Just looked at his recruiting profile out of HS. Had 25 offers from a who’s who, including Georgia, Alabama, Ohio St, etc.

My guess is, across the board, a lot of these 'defensive' transfers could be switching over to offense. In transitions like Kent is going through a lot of coaches will put defensive guys on offense for no other reason than establishing 'toughness'. Not saying this improves the W-L totals early on, but it does set a tone.

I’m not familiar with this happening. Do you have any examples?

You see this with ol/dl and vice verse, also with wr/db ... not saying this is going to be a roster-wide swap, just saying it does happen and this is one reason why with teams in transition.

(01-11-2023 10:42 PM)cleveland Wrote:  

(01-11-2023 08:30 PM)goldenflash99 Wrote:  

(01-11-2023 07:17 PM)cleveland Wrote:  

(01-10-2023 11:19 PM)goldenflash99 Wrote:  

(01-10-2023 10:33 PM)Polish Hammer Wrote:  Jalani Williams, DB (Missouri)

https://www.espn.com/college-football/pl...i-williams

Just looked at his recruiting profile out of HS. Had 25 offers from a who’s who, including Georgia, Alabama, Ohio St, etc.

My guess is, across the board, a lot of these 'defensive' transfers could be switching over to offense. In transitions like Kent is going through a lot of coaches will put defensive guys on offense for no other reason than establishing 'toughness'. Not saying this improves the W-L totals early on, but it does set a tone.

I’m not familiar with this happening. Do you have any examples?

You see this with ol/dl and vice verse, also with wr/db ... not saying this is going to be a roster-wide swap, just saying it does happen and this is one reason why with teams in transition.

Some of these kids have been in college 3+ years, regardless of what athleticism they may possess it doesn't really make sense to switch them over to a position they've had zero proper coaching at. A college DB that played WR & DB could have flown by defenses in high school based of pure athleticism and lack of opposition. It's why many are slow to get going early in their college careers, they need to be taught proper technique, and you can't afford to break it down to the basics and build back up for a guy in their 20s with only a season or two of eligibility.

Just sniped a recruit that was committed to Alabama…no, not that one, but North Alabama, a program that was 1-10 in FCS last season (lone win over a 2-9 D2 school).

https://247sports.com/player/curtis-douglas-46133928/

Ali Fisher (WR) Buffalo, DNP

https://ubbulls.com/sports/football/rost...isher/6295

Matthew Beyer (OL) Butler Community College

Anyone else think this Kent Grit graphic they're using for all the recruits is pretty lame? I guess it's supposed to be a generic player (not the recruit) pretending the ball is a gun pointing it at the camera? Cool.

(01-15-2023 12:27 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  Anyone else think this Kent Grit graphic they're using for all the recruits is pretty lame? I guess it's supposed to be a generic player (not the recruit) pretending the ball is a gun pointing it at the camera? Cool.

Yes. I also thought so when Coach Lewis and his staff started with their slogans and trying to pump up every announcement on social media. But that was kind of their thing and then now the new crew comes in and seems to be trying to emulate them, but it just seems weak to me, kind of like fake generated hype. Other schools at least use graphics layered over a picture of the commit from the Photo Booth from when they visited. We’re low budget, we’ll just use the same pic and plug the name in down below.

(01-15-2023 12:54 PM)Polish Hammer Wrote:  

(01-15-2023 12:27 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  Anyone else think this Kent Grit graphic they're using for all the recruits is pretty lame? I guess it's supposed to be a generic player (not the recruit) pretending the ball is a gun pointing it at the camera? Cool.

Yes. I also thought so when Coach Lewis and his staff started with their slogans and trying to pump up every announcement on social media. But that was kind of their thing and then now the new crew comes in and seems to be trying to emulate them, but it just seems weak to me, kind of like fake generated hype. Other schools at least use graphics layered over a picture of the commit from the Photo Booth from when they visited. We’re low budget, we’ll just use the same pic and plug the name in down below.

Agree, and agree.

(01-15-2023 12:27 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  Anyone else think this Kent Grit graphic they're using for all the recruits is pretty lame? I guess it's supposed to be a generic player (not the recruit) pretending the ball is a gun pointing it at the camera? Cool.

It is OK by me. Just get some talent with it. D1 talent that is.