2012 Mid-Season Report: Kent State Golden Flashes (3-3) - EvanRG's Dynasty

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2012 Mid-Season Report: Kent State Golden Flashes (3-3)

Posted on July 16, 2012 at 11:51 AM.

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KENT, OH � The Kent State football team has had it's fair share of adversity in the first half of the 2012 football season.

After seeing their starting running back Trayion Durham break his ribs in week three, the injuries began to pile up for the Flashes, with starting quarterback Spencer Keith and wide receiver Eric Adeyemi going out for six and 10 weeks respectively.

Confounding the problems further, second string running back Anthony Meray broke his fibula in week three and is out for the season. This left Kent State's offense seemingly decimated with three starters out and the team down to it's third string running back and second string quarterback. In stepped true freshman running back Julian Durden, who has shown and incredible skill-set and ability for the run-heavy Flashes offense, averaging just over 5 yards a carry and scoring 5 touchdowns with almost 700 yards rushed in just four games, including a 226 yard performance against Army in which the Philadelphia native ran the ball 41 times.

The Kent State football team faced early hardships after starting the season 2-1, going on a two game losing streak in which it was outscored 65-21, included a 30-0 drubbing against ECU.

Still, spirits remain optimistic in Kent after the Flashes gutted out a defensive 19-16 win against the option attack of Army.

Starting Quarterback Spencer Keith is back from injury and will start in week eight against Western Michigan (4-3) and team anchor, sophomore running back Trayion Durham will join the team in week 10 against the #7 team in the nation, undefeated Notre Dame.

Kent State has work to do in the Mac East, sitting in 4th with a 1-2 conference mark and trailing the Ohio Bobcats (6-1, 3-0) by two games with five conference games remaining.

At 3-3 however, Kent State is putting itself in great position to potentially go to its first bowl game in over 40 years.

In some promising news on the early season recruiting trail, Kent State has received commitments from three star running back, Simon Ward, who has scouts in awe of his all around ability and deadly juke. Junior college center Jonathon Jones, another Ohio prospect and Kent State commitment, has also impressed Kent State scouts considerably, jumping up the boards immensely in recent weeks after being projected as just a one star talent.

Some other notable news from the first six games of 2012:

Julian Durden is currently 10th in the nation with 690 yards rushing. Middle Linebacker Luke Batton, has taken it one step further, leading the nation outright with 31 solo tackles. Kent State has work to do on special teams, with place kicker Frank Cortez's connecting on just 5 of 8 attempts with a long of just 30 yards.