The Kent State football team won’t take the field for an official game until late August, but football fans will have the opportunity to get a special look at the 2013 Flashes four months before the regular season begins.

The Flashes will cap off their spring practices when they hold their annual Spring Game at 6 p.m. Saturday at Dix Stadium. The game is free to the public and will also feature a free youth football clinic prior to the game starting at 4:30 p.m.

The intra-squad scrimmage will have the first-team offense and defense competing against the rest of the roster with the first half lasting 12 minutes and the second half running 10 minutes. While unofficial, this will be the Flashes’ first organized game since the GoDaddy.com Bowl on Jan. 6 and their first under new head coach Paul Haynes.

Haynes said the team voted against holding a pre-game draft to select players for each team, but he believes the game will still be competitive even with the current starters set to play against the reserves.

“With the No. 1 offense and No. 1 defense on one side, you would think that the game would go a certain way,” Haynes said. “It’ll be interesting to see what happens. We will put on a show for everyone who comes out, and hopefully we can get a good crowd for these kids.”

Senior running back Dri Archer feels the game will be fun for players and fans alike, while also giving the opportunity for some of the younger players to get noticed and make an impact on the team early on.

“We have a lot of new faces, but our young guys are learning really fast,” Archer said. “We hope the fans will come out to get a glimpse of some of the same things we showed them last season, and some of what they are going to see next season.”

Archer, who led the Flashes in rushing, receiving and kickoff returns last season, has been expanding on his game throughout the spring practices in April, and will likely be the main punt returner for one of the squads in addition to his usual duties on offense.

It is unlikely that any particular position battle will be decided after the game, but fans can expect to see a competition at the quarterback spot between senior David Fisher and redshirt freshman Colin Reardon. Haynes and the rest of the coaching staff are taking their time with evaluating both Fisher and Reardon, and the starting quarterback for the upcoming season will more likely be determined during training camp in August.

There are also some spots of interest at the wide receiver position, with Kent State losing last season’s starting receivers Matt Hurdle and Eric Adeyemi to graduation. Junior Chris Humphrey, sophomore Josh Boyle and redshirt freshman William Woods will be among the wideouts seeing action Saturday.

For senior safety Luke Wollet, the spring game is a way for the Flashes to keep the fans actively engaged and involved with the team as it looks to carry the success it reached in the 2012 season into the next few years.

“Hopefully we will put a good product on the field in 2013 and get more support to keep building this Kent State football program,” Wollet said. “The fans were a huge part of our success last year. We want them to come out on Saturday and preview this new football team that is trying to be even better than last year’s team.”

Contact Tim Dorst at [email protected].