Saturday, August 3, 2013

Smurf turf in Ravenna. Maybe a little bowl prep opportunity?

If you picked up today's Record-Courier, you may have noticed Colin Harris' story about the installation of blue "smurf turf" at Ravenna High School's Portage Coummunity Bank Stadium.

This may actually be a nice thing for Kent State. Remember last year when former head coach Darrell Hazell took his players to Oberlin College to get them used to playing on grass again and to prepare them for the feel of a road trip? Having blue turf just down the road might be a nice practice opportunity should the Golden Flashes ever qualify for the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise.

The Mid-American Conference has a bowl tie-in to the game at Bronco Stadium in Boise, which of course features that odd blue turf. The Golden Flashes thought for quite a while that they may be headed during last year's bowl season.

If that opportunity comes up again, it's a nice little bonus to have a neighbor with blue turf of its own that may be willing to play host a practice or two.

I am glad they Ravenna didn't have that blue turf a few years back, however, when I helped to coach Ravenna's now defunct high school rugby team. While we didn't play our games there, that was where we practiced. The turf is a pretty bright blue. Hurts the eyes a bit.



Most of the Kent State sports news on the web today centers around local product Evan Shimensky, who made a couple of nice catches in practice yesterday. The former Kent Roosevelt star quarterback is trying to find playing time in second season since making the switch to wide receiver.
  • Stephanie Storm of the Akron Beacon Journal on Shimensky's adjustment and some notes from yesterday's first practice of camp.
  • Allen Moff's report on the first day of practice in today's Record-Courier includes an extensive photo gallery. The notebook includes a mention of the return of Tyshon Goode, Paul Haynes' work with the "star" players and the coach's "wardrobe malfunction"
  • This one is actually a few days old, but the New Orleans Times-Picayune's Jim Kleinpeter has a Q&A with the Plain Dealer's Elton Alexander. The topic is Kent State football and it is part of a preseason preview of all of LSU's opponents. 

No comments:

Post a Comment