Kent State head football Coach Kenni Burns begins year two of the Kent Grit era looking to build off his first year at the helm that saw the Flashes go 1-11 overall and 0-8 in the Mid-American Conference.
The Flashes began spring practice last week after an eight week strength and conditioning program. According to Burns, getting everyone in the program on the same page and in alignment with the culture is the main goal and objective of the off-season and spring practice.
“Right when the season ended, we had a team meeting the next day,” Burns said. “I went in there guns blazing, and said if you’re going to stay in this program you got to be all in. You got to show it, do it and there’s no more going against the culture. It’s in place now, you know what it is, now you’ve got to go do it. All those guys came back. They didn’t just came back, they came back with great intention, They went to work and you saw it with how they went about winter conditioning.”
Burns is hoping in year two of the systems on both sides of the ball, his Flashes will be able to be more comfortable in their knowledge, enabling them to compete with confidence.
“Knowledge is power. When you know what you’re doing, you know how to do it, now all of a sudden you can really go compete at it. I thought last year it was hard to compete because we really didn’t know what we were doing or how we were doing it. I think they had an understanding but I still think they were learning the process. That’s why I call it year zero. It’s a year where you throw everything out because everybody’s kind of learning what to do and how to do it at a different level.”
Burns reflected on the biggest things he learned as he enters year two of leading the Golden Flashes program.
“Don’t come down from the standard. The standard is the standard. I think thats the biggest thing. I think at times we stepped away from our standard and what we believe to worry about the transfer portal, who’s going to stay, who’s going to leave. No, you got to keep your standard in place and you got to live with it. Guys either have to come up to it or they have to move on.”
The Flashes will resume spring practice on April 2 after spring break concludes. The spring game is set for April 27. April 6 is fan appreciation day, April 13 is student day and April 20 is kids day.
Kent State opens up the season on August 31 at Pittsburgh.
NEW FACES: Kent State has brought in three new coaches this season. Clay Patterson was named Co-Offensive Coordinator, inside receivers coach and tight ends coach.
“Coach Patterson and I go back a long ways. We were together in Minnesota and had three good seasons there. I’ve always respected his offensive mindset and what he’s done up to this point. He’s also been a head coach at the junior college level so he’s good relationships and he knows how to lead a room.”
Spencer Rymiszewski was hired to coach the cornerbacks. Rymiszewski comes from Wisconsin where he coached the nickels. He was an All-Ivy League performer at Yale at cornerback in his playing days.
Bill Teerlinck comes to Kent as the new defensive line coach with over twenty years of coaching experience in high school, college and professional football. Teerlinck was a graduate assistant at Indiana when Burns played for the Hoosiers.
QB BATTLE: Burns is expecting to have a bit of a quarterback battle between returner Tommy Ulatwoski and newcomer J.D Sherrod, the transfer from Troy.
“Like always, the one I’m really excited to see the battle is the quarterback position as Tommy comes back, we brought in a guy by the name of J.D. Sherrod in as well,” Burns said. “There both doing a really, really good job. Tommy has grown a lot since his last game and got way better and J.D. has come in and been a good wing man for him and those two are really battling well at that QB position.”
BIG PLAY McCRAY IS BACK: Wide Receiver Chrishon McCray is back from his season ending injury and should be ready to roll for the opener at Pittsburgh. Burns and McCray both spoke about how he will be brought along slowly and his participating in some of the spring ball but they are being cautious with him so he can be ready for the season.
KY THOMAS IN BACKFIELD: Running back Ky Thomas will be back this season after sitting out last season as he transferred from Kansas.
“We got Ky Thomas back. He didn’t play last tear, the transfer from Kansas. I was with him at Minnesota. He brings another level of explosion on offense for us.” Thomas rushed for 824 yards and six touchdowns in one season at Minnesota.