The 2023 Kent State football season was a difficult one to watch for Golden Flash Football fans. There’s no other way around it. After a five-year FlashFast whirlwind with Sean Lewis at the helm, Lewis was gone and so were many players. The transfer portal and graduation hit the program among the hardest in the country, and it saw impact players all over the field leave to go elsewhere.
Year Zero under Kenni Burns wasn’t easy on the eyes or in statistical packages, most notably wins. But Burns and his staff are looking for motivation in any place they can find to remind his players of the past, but also build for the future so a season like last season doesn’t happen again. Burns is even looking to his wardrobe to motivate. Burns was seen wearing a hooded sweatshirt this offseason with the Flashes 1-11 record at the top and a “133” at the bottom of the sweatshirt, as in the rank of 133 in FBS Football last year, dead last.
“That was a hoodie that I wore, I didn’t know that it was going to get out but it did with social media and other stuff but what that was, was just about ownership,” Burns said. “ We couldn’t run away from what we had done previously. We had to own it and it starts with me as the head coach owning it, owning where our deficiencies were last year, where we fell short and understanding we were ranked 133, last team in the country and it is what it is.”
The sweatshirt, which first appeared on social media, was also a topic on the local message boards. Burns is hoping between the guys he has coming back who are bigger, faster and more experienced with what is hopefully a massive chip on their shoulder, combined with guys who transferred in from lower levels with a “crack” on their shoulder, will light the spark for 2024.
Burns also is bringing in a recruiting class with guys who did a lot of winning in high school, hoping to change the narrative at Kent State and make them a consistent player in the Mid-American Conference.
Burns is hoping the sweatshirt serves as motivation and inspiration, and a constant reminder.
“But you can’t run away from that as a competitor, you got to learn from it and grow from it and constantly be reminded daily that we don’t want to go there again. We’ve got enough talent I believe to not be there again. It was more a motivation not just for the team but myself as well to be consistent in my coaching and to teach and demand and they gotta play and perform, but also letting them know that even know we’re getting better as a football team, don’t forget our past and we gotta embrace our past and create our future. We embraced it, the guys took it and weren’t embarrassed by it, they learned from it. We were constantly reminded of last year and how we don’t want to go down that road again. So when guys were struggling to get motivated, they found ways to get inspired by my sweatshirt and I thought the guys really embraced it.”
Kent State wrapped up spring practice last Friday with Flash Bowl and will now gear up for fall camp which is set to begin in early August. The Flashes open the season August 31 at Pittsburgh and MAC Media Day is set for July 19 at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
PIZZA, PUNTS & PINTS: Burns will be at Bellacino’s Pizza and Grinders on Monday, May 13 at 6:00pm to discuss all things Kent State football. Pizza and soft drinks will be included with your ticket and a cash bar will be available.
2025 COMMIT: Kent State picked up their first verbal commit for the class of 2025. TaRyan Martin is a 5-8, 185 pound running back from East Saint Louis, Illinois and East Saint Louis High School. Martin had offers from Indiana, West Virginia, Louisville and several MAC schools.