Dri4Heisman getting some national pub

The Dri4Heisman campaign made some national news on day one with stories online by both Sports Illustrated and CBS Sports.

I loved the opening to the Q&A with Dri in Sports Illustrated when Martin Rickman brought up the coming digital comic strip by Chuck Ayers:

The Funky Winkerbean guy is seriously making a web comic for Kent State's versatile playmaker. Think about that for a second, and see if you can top it, AJ McCarron.

That's the kind of reaction we were hoping to get.

We are meeting today to talk about ways to get the comic out to the fans beyond just posting them online at www.kentstatesports.com and the Dri4Heisman Facebook and Twitter accounts. Like I mentioned in my earlier blog, the six-panel draft of the first comic strip is pretty spectacular.

I also received a few great ideas for some next steps, like this Twitter message from Timothy Spencer:

How great would that be?

Mark Mothersbaugh, are you out there?

We have reached out to some celebrities with Kent State ties, who will be posing with Dri jerseys and penning some endorsements of Dri. 

If any of you have some ideas, I'm willing to pitch them to the powers that be here in the Kent State Athletic Department. 

In the meantime, here's a look at what's out there on the web today in "Kent State Newsstand"

• Here's the link to the Sports Illustrated story by Martin Rickman and the Q&A with Dri.
• Also the story on Dri by Tom Fornelli on CBS Sports.com's Eye on College Football.
• The Sarasota Herald Tribune had a great hometown-kid-makes-good story yesterday by David Hackett, "Former Venice player gets Heisman push." In it, he brings up the point that "coming out of Venice High, Dri Archer wasn't even the most touted player on his football team."
• Saturday Blitz had this story by Kyle Kensing, "Electrifying Kent State All-Purpose Back Dri Archer Gets the Heisman Treatment." Archer mentioned in the same line as Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson? I Love it! And called a "Swiss Army knife-style player? I'm stealing it!
• And Hustle Belt asks "Dri4Heisman: is he really that good?" 
• Locally, in the Record-Courier, Allen Moff has this story, "Kent State welcomes football players,  launches Heisman campaign for Dri Archer."

That last story by Allen brings up a point that had been a bit lost in the excitement surrounding the launch of the new website and the introduction of Dri4Heisman ... the players report today. All 103 of them.

There has been so much work around here to get the website and the campaign ready to go, it was hard at least in our offices in sports information and new media to also wrap our heads around just how close we are to getting started in 2013.

Some dates to remember: a kick scrimmage at 10:30 a.m. on Aug. 10, the jersey scrimmage at 10:30 a.m. on Aug. 17 and a fan appreciation day on Aug. 24 at 5 p.m. ... I'll be at all of those with the exception of the fan appreciation on the 24th – that's my birthday, and you are all welcome to join me at the Grog Shop to see Vintage Trouble.