Ready for Dri's next act? I sure am

I covered Kent State sports at the Record-Courier for more than a decade before going to work at the school as the athletic department's director of new media last year.

If you've been with me during that time, you know how lucky we've all been.

We were in on the Joshua Cribbs secret long before the NFL's fans. We knew Antonio Gates as a basketball player before the NFL came calling. We watched Ben Curtis without ever dreaming he'd out-duel Tiger Woods and the rest of the world's best in winning an Open Championship, then again as he validated that title with three more PGA Tour victories and a spot on a winning U.S. Ryder Cup team. 

We knew James Harrison was a game-changer off the edge before he had to prove himself by braving overseas flights (not an easy task for James) to play in NFL Europe.

Now we are about to get the privilege of watching Dri Archer for another season. I actually get paid to do this. 

I keep forcing friends to watch and re-watch the YouTube video of Dri's sideline-to-sideline run at Bowling Green in last year's MAC East clincher. Every time I watch the highlights, I wonder what he will offer as follow-up act.

The pressure will be on for all of the obvious reasons. He's a known quantity now. Opponents have spent the summer thinking of ways to try to slow him down or keep the ball out of his hands. After last year, that was going to happen. But as we debut the new www.kentstatesports.com website today, some fans might wonder if we are turning up even more heat under Dri to perform in his final college season.

"Dri4Heisman" is now live on Twitter and Facebook. Celebrities with Kent State ties from the worlds of sports and entertainment are already endorsing the campaign for Dri to win the Heisman Trophy. 

There is even a comic strip on the way called "The Archer" by Kent State alum Chuck Ayers of Funky Winkerbean and Crankshaft fame. That, by the way, is going to be a whole lot of fun. I've been lucky to be in on some of the planning for the comic, and I think it is going to be something very special … something different than any Heisman campaign we've seen before. 

The first six-panel strip is almost ready for debut with weekly three-panel strips to follow.

So, how will Dri handle the pressure of a Heisman campaign and being imortalized as "The Archer"? 

If he is feeling some additional heat, you'd never know it.

I was with Dri for a little while at Water Street Tavern a week ago during a planning meeting for the new Kent State Sports radio show. I've never seen a more relaxed college athlete. He was smiling and having fun with the idea of the campaign and of seeing himself in comic-strip form for the first time.

Later that day, he was off on a media tour with visits to radio and TV stations in Cleveland. Again, calm and cool.

The real hard work starts in the next week with the start of preseason camp. Dri is going to have to learn how to run behind a revamped line. He has to get used to a new quarterback. He knows he needs to get even better as a receiver and on special teams to impress NFL scouts. He also needs to prove himself as a punt returner. We all remember how teams kicked away from Dri last season on kickoffs. It'll be harder to avoid him on punts. Fielding punts didn't come easy to Dri in practice during his first couple of seasons, but he showed marked improvement during the spring.

So let's get into camp. Let's see what this team can do to build on last year's breakout season. And let's get ready to watch another show by the next in a long line of thrilling student-athletes who have emerged at Kent State.