Recordpub.com - Flashes plan to go deep, challenge man coverage

By David Carducci

Record-Courier staff writer

For any Kent State fan who is sick of the short bubble screens and lateral throws that have become the trend in today’s college football passing games, consider making the 200-mile trek south to Athens on Saturday afternoon.

If you do, you will probably be rewarded by seeing the most aggressive, vertical passing attack the Golden Flashes have employed since their last visit to Ohio University.

“Ohio is unique in that they probably play more man-coverage than any team in our league, and they are really good at it,” said KSU head coach Doug Martin.

To attack man-to-man coverage, no matter how good it is, Martin insists you can’t shy away from testing the opposing cornerbacks by throwing the football down the field.

Former KSU quarterback Julian Edelman followed the gameplan to the tee in a 33-25 win in Athens back in 2007. Edelman’s completion percentage wasn’t anything special (12-for-25), but that wasn’t important. What mattered was his ability to identify man-to-man coverage and take his shots deep.

He connected on only one big pass — a 44-yard completion to Shawn Bayes — but his high-arching, seemingly up-for-grabs throws also led to two key pass-interference calls and one defensive-holding penalty.

“As a play-caller and as an offense you have to be willing to take shots when you play teams like this,” said Martin.

“You can’t worry about what your completion percentage is,” Martin said. “What you have to do is create explosion plays and you have to test them deep. If you don’t hit the first one, it doesn’t matter. You have to keep throwing it.”

Kent State’s current personnel is a much better fit for the strategy than it was in 2007. Most of the Flashes’ receivers on the roster two years ago were shorter than 6-foot. In Tyshon Goode, Sam Kirkland, Jameson Konz and Matthew Hurdle, KSU now boasts four members of its receiving corps standing between 6-1 and 6-3. Those bigger receivers could find an advantage as they try to go up and get the football Saturday in one-on-one battles with Ohio cornerbacks who are mostly under 6-feet tall.

“This is the best feeling in college football, being able to go deep and then go up to try to make a catch,” said Goode, a 6-1 true freshman who leads all KSU receivers with 20 catches for 250 yards. “We’ve been working a lot on our chemistry this week, and Spencer (Keith) knows right where I like the football.”

The unusual strategy should help KSU learn even more about what it has in Keith, the true-freshman quarterback who has helped the Flashes (3-4 overall) to a 2-1 conference record.

“This is going to be a good test for Spencer,” said Martin. “He is going to have to not only put us in the right play at times, but he is going to have to be very accurate. His arm strength is going to be tested in this game.”

Keith passed his first test in a vertical passing game last week when KSU played an entire game without throwing a screen to a wide receiver in a 28-6 win over Eastern Michigan. He completed just 10-of-24 passes for 164 yards and threw two interceptions, but one of his two touchdown passes was a perfect strike on a 48-yard touchdown pass to Goode.

“The ball he threw to Tyshon was 52 yards in the air. But it was also across the field, so you can add some yards to that,” said Martin. “Which surprised me. I didn’t see him having that type of arm strength. For some reason, and some kids are like this, he is better in games. He is a good practice player, but he is better in games, and that’s a good thing.

“We are still figuring him out, but I’m comfortable with him throwing the deep ball. And he is really comfortable. I don’t know of any throws he is not comfortable with right now.”

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David Carducci can be contacted at dcarducci@recordpub.com