After the Kent State Football team was defeated for the fourth time this year Saturday, the quarterback roles will look different for the rest of the season.
Before week one’s game against the University of Pittsburgh, coach Kenni Burns announced junior Devin Kargman would be taking the snaps for the Flashes’ offense.
That will not be the case going forward due to an injury sustained in the Flashes’ 56-0 loss to Penn State,
“Dev will be out for the season – he had a hip injury,” Burns said. “He got it fixed, and he is ready to begin the rehabilitation process. He had surgery yesterday. We hope to get him back in Kent here shortly.”
Kargman injured his hip on the second play of the game against PSU, and Burns decided to go with freshman JD Sherrod once Kargman exited.
Sherrod also suffered a season-ending injury during the same game.
“JD Sherrod will be out for the season, as well, with an achilles injury,” Burns said. “He will be a guy rehabbing, as well. We’re excited to get him healthy and back around the team.”
The next man up on the depth chart will be junior Tommy Ulatowski, who started for Kent State in the back half of last season.
“Tommy is our starter,” Burns said. “We kept Tommy out a couple weeks to make sure he was healthy by the time we got to conference play. We just have to keep him upright and make sure he can have the time and ability to do what he does.”
Last season, Ulatowski appeared in 10 games and went 60-121 with 737 yards, seven touchdowns, two interceptions and a rushing touchdown. The Flashes did not win any games Ulatowski started last season.
With a couple quarterbacks out, Burns appointed freshman Ruel Tomlinson as Ulatowski’s backup going forward.
“Ruel Tomlinson will be the backup,” Burns said. “He’s very talented, just young, but he got a lot of reps today. I’m impressed with what he did in practice today. He’ll go into the game as the backup. He’s an athletic kid and a guy that can sling the ball around.”
Ulatowski will look to turn around one of the nation’s worst offenses as starter.
The Kent State offense has stumbled out of the gate, as the team has scored 41 points in four games, including two shutouts.
The offense is last in the nation or close to the bottom of the nation in many categories including:
- Third down conversion percentage – 133rd out of 133 teams (15.1% conversion rate)
- Passing yards per game – 129th (114.8 yards per game)
- Red zone offense – 133rd (percentage of time a team scores a touchdown/field goal when being in the opponent’s 19-yard line or closer – 40%)
- Rushing yards per game – 133rd (53 yards per game)
- Scoring offense – 132nd (10.2 points per game)
- Total offense – 133rd (167.8 total yards per game)
Ulatowski’s first test as starter this season will be against Eastern Michigan at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Dix Stadium.
“Everything is about gradual growth right now for our football team,” Burns said. “Throw records out the window. I don’t think it matters. The teams are very equal in talent.”
John Hilber is sports editor. Contact him at [email protected].
