Ready for some football

It's the eve of the season opener for Kent State football and there is plenty of buzz around the athletic department in anticipation of tomorrow's 6 p.m. kickoff with Liberty.

Technically, that kick will take place at 6:04.

I was in the ticket office earlier this morning and the staff there was pretty busy. They asked me to remind fans to get tickets today to save a little money. General admission seats are $10 through today, then jump to $15 on game day.

With the way ticket sales are tracking at the moment, the expectation is for a crowd in excess of 20,000.

If you haven't already, take some time to listen to the Paul Haynes Show, which airs every Monday on WHLO 640 AM and is replayed regularly online on iHeartRadio's Golden Flashes Radio station. Ty Linder, Rob Polinsky and I talked at length with coach Haynes about preseason camp, how some position battles turned out, whether or not some perceived holes have been filled ... and only just a little about tomorrow's opener with Liberty.

The simple fact is that Haynes doesn't know all that much about the Flames because Liberty's coaches refused to exchange film with Kent State. Of course, coaches always have ways of calling in favors and getting their hands on some old game tapes through other avenues. 

I'm looking forward to watching the offensive line and the linebacking corps at tomorrow's game. Those units had the biggest question marks coming into this season. 

Ty Linder and I talked the other day about how hard it is to judge different position groups in camp because of the nature of camp. Usually the defense is always a little ahead because they usually know what play is coming just as well as the offensive players as they both line up.

This year was a little different, however. Despite the fact that Kent State's defensive line is as strong as ever with the return of Roosevelt Nix and the emergence of run-stuffers like Nate Terhune and Chris Fairchild, the Golden Flashes offesnive line did a nice job opening holes for the running game on the days I was able to watch camp. 

Terrell Johnson at left tackle and Anthony Pruitt at right guard are both settling in after making the switch from defensive line earlier in their Kent State careers. Both are athletic at 302 and 315 pounds, respectively. Jason Bitsko will see his first college action on Saturday as the starter at right tackle, and he looks better and better. There is still no word as to the availability of injured senior Pat McShane at left guard. If he can't play, Wayne Scott would likely start if McShane can't go.

The lack of experience at the linebacking spot is actually pretty interesting when you consider some changes to the defense in 2013. The Flashes have added the "star" position with defensive back Jordan Italiano starting and filling a hybrid safety-linebacker position. Essentially, the Flashes will be in their version of a nickel about 75-percent of the time. Nickel is essentially their base, and that means Kent State will only have two true linebackers on the field for most of every game. While junior De'Vante Strickland is listed as the starter at the Will linebacker and sophomore Matt Dellinger is the starter at the Mike, the Flashes left camp believing they had five linebackers who were ready to contribute. Senior Danny Gress, freshman Darius Redmond and junior-college transfer Jake Houts are also listed on the depth chart at linebacker. With only two of those five on the field at a time, that hides some of the lack of depth and experience. 

I'm also excited to see what redshirt freshman Colin Reardon does in his first game at quarterback. I've seen enough of him in practice last year and in camp this year to believe he is ready for the challenge.

I've been so busy with the Heisman Trophy campaign and getting FlashFan Rewards ready for its debut, that I haven't had much time to blog or compile "the Newsstand" in the last week. That changes now. I'll be blogging live from Thursday's game starting almost an hour before kickoff. If anyone has questions during the game, I'll do my best to find out the answers. So stop back.

Here's the news about Kent State athletics on the internet in today's Newsstand:

• A great story by Elton Alexander in today's Plain Dealer and on Cleveland.com about Dri Archer and how his speed is igniting Heisman talk at Kent State.
• George Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal takes a look at several storylines in the MAC East race, including Kent State proving its worth.
• Chris Lang of the News & Advance in Lynchburg has a notebook from Liberty's press conference, including news that tight end Brandon Apon has recovered from a shoulder injury and will play against Kent State.