Kent State Defensive Players To Watch vs. Texas A&M

Kent State brings an experienced defense to College Station looking to pull a massive upset

Matt Galatzan | Sep 1, 2021

Texas A&M opens its 2021 regular season on Saturday against a Kent State Golden Flashes team that is coming off of a solid 2020 campaign, in which they finished 3-1 overall.

Kent State will return a plethora of experience on both sides of the ball this season, including nine on offense, and eight on defense.

The Golden Flashes have also added a handful of division one transfers to bolster their defensive unit, in hopes of taking the next step and compete for a MAC title this season.

As a unit in 2020, the Golden Flashes struggled, for the most part, ranking 113th in the country in scoring defense (38 ppg) and 80th in total defense (424 ypg).

They were particularly susceptible against the run, where they ranked 123rd in the country, giving up 262 yards per game.

Against the pass, however, the Golden Flashes, at least statistically, were one of the best in the country, ranking third in the nation behind West Virginia and Army, giving up just 162 yards per game.

They also finished third in the country in terms of opponents' completion percentage, allowing just 51-percent of passes to be completed against them.

With that in mind, here are a few defensive players to watch when the Golden Flashes head to Kyle Field to take on Texas A&M.

LB Juan Wallace

A transfer from Syracuse, Juan Wallace will have every opportunity to earn playing time for the Golden Flashes in 2021— a defense that ranked 113th in scoring defense in 2020.

CB Antwaine Richardson

A transfer from Maryland, Antwaine Richardson looks to be primed to slide right into a starting spot in the Golden Flashes secondary at the corner spot opposite returning starter, Elvis Hines. The duo could form one of the top corner tandems in the MAC.

LB Dean Clark

Kent State's leading tackles last season, Clark finished the year with 28 total tackles in the team's four games. Clark looks to up that production with a full year in the system.

LB Brandon Coleman

A breakout player for the Golden Flashes last season, freshman Brandon Coleman led the team with three sacks and was second on the team with four tackles for loss in his four games. Coleman also finished with 18 total tackles, which was fourth on the team.

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Published Sep 1, 2021

MATT GALATZAN

Matt Galatzan is the Managing Editor and Publisher of Texas Longhorns On SI and Texas A&M Aggies On SI and a long-time member of the Football Writer’s Association of America. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he studied integrated marketing communications, with minors in journalism and business administration. Galatzan started in the sports journalism industry in 2014 covering the Dallas Mavericks and SMU Mustangs with 247Sports. He then moved to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation network in 2020, eventually being taking over as the Managing Editor and Publisher of the Longhorns and Aggies sites a year later. You can find Galatzan on all major social media channels, including Twitter on @MattGalatzan.