Kent State will start true freshmen Elijah Williams at Center in the season opener against the ACC’’s Pittsburgh Panthers Kent State Head Coach Kenni Burns announced Monday at his press conference. Williams brings youth to an O-line that will also feature veterans on it this year after taking some bumps and bruises last year. Burns said they will be shuffling guys in and out, trying to find the best combination of five.
Williams will start as a freshman after a storied career at tradition-rich Toledo Central Catholic, and fits the mold in recruiting of Burns and his staff identifying players from winning programs. At 6-2, 300 pounds, Williams wearing #66 certainly has the size to compete right away. Burns spoke about Williams Monday at his press conference.
“The name that’s going to shock some people I think, we’re going to see him out there, is Elijah Williams. Elijah Williams will be our starting center. He’s a true freshman out of Toledo that you’re going to notice right away that he belongs. He is a physical, physical specimen and he plays hard, and he plays the way we want to play football and it didn’t take us long as coaches to identify that, then we put him in that role he ran away with it. He didn’t look back. I tell you what he’s just a competitor and excited about him to see what he can do against the talent he’s going to be playing against but that allowed us to be flexible with moving some guys around other positions and we’re just excited about the O-line and their growth.”
Between recruiting, the portal and development, Kent State was able to add much needed depth to a unit that was severely young, undersized, and without experience and competition last year.
“We definitely have more depth than we had last year, is it where I want to be? Probably not, not quite yet, but we’re a year better, I think that will show right away, we’ve got guys who played together for a while,” Burns said. “I think we’re still trying to find out who the top five guys are and I think that’ll go into this game. We’ve got competition, and I think last year at the offensive line position we didn’t have competition. I think this year you’re going to see guys rotating in because there’s some battles going on up to today where guys are coming out and competing really hard so I think we’ve got about seven or eight guys that can play for us, and I think those guys are all going to go out and compete.”
One other name that’s solidified in addition to Williams will be senior Cam Golden.
“I think the guy set in stone is a guy like Cam Golden,” Burns said. “I think he’s played a lot of football. He’s got the respect of his team. He’s gotten stronger, he’s playing more physical than he’s ever played here before. He’s playing confident and that’s exciting for Cam. I think he’s where a senior should be, playing his best football in his last year.”
Other names that figure to be in the mix include sophomore Chris Farrell, Akron transfer Tony Georges, and junior Jimto Obidegwu.
They’ll pave the way for QB Devin Kargman and the vertical passing game that he will need time to execute, as well as the change up that is Tommy Ulatowski. Backs Ky Thomas, Curtis Douglas and Marcus Hicks will be asked to step up with the loss of Gavin Garcia to a season ending knee injury.
Burns spoke through the offseason how some scheme changes with new offensive coordinator Mark Carney have helped everyone involved.
Kent State’s front five on the O-line will get their first chance to show improvement Saturday in Pittsburgh.