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Kent State head coach Kenni Burns began his first season with the Golden Flashes last Thursday after spending the past five years at Minnesota as the team’s running backs coach and assistant head coach.

A former running back himself, Burns was a three-year letter winner at Indiana from 2003-06.

The Golden Flashes’ head coach had a tall task in front of him when he was hired on Dec. 14, as an overwhelming amount of players on both sides of the ball entered the transfer portal during the offseason. In Week 1, Central Florida dismantled Kent State with a dominant 56-6 victory.

Last season, Kent State finished the year with a 5-7 overall record including a 4-4 mark in the Mid-American Conference. In their two games against Power Five competition, the Golden Flashes lost 33-3 to Oklahoma and 39-22 against Georgia.

Here is everything Burns had to say about Arkansas ahead of Saturday’s game with at Reynolds Razorback Stadium iN Fayetteville, which is slated to kick off at 3:00 p.m. CT and will be available to watch on SECN:

Burns: “Looking at Arkansas, really impressive football team. They won last week obviously big against Western Carolina. They’ve got a really disciplined football team. They play really hard and play together. They’ve done a great job of building this thing up.

“It starts on the offensive side obviously with their quarterback. He’s a phenomenal player, KJ Jefferson. He’s big. He’s strong. He’s got a big arm. He’s a guy that we’ve got to bring down and really suffocate him and really put some pressure on him. If you let him sit back there and do what he does, he’ll eat you alive. But a really good player in the SEC.

“And then their running back, Raheim Sanders, is another really good player. He’s a guy that we’ve got to do a good job of tackling and getting him down in space. If we don’t, he’s a guy that can have a big day as well.

“They’ve got a couple of linemen that really anchor it down. Their center Beaux and then their left guard, Brady, are really good players as well. You can see how physical they are, how big they are, and how they also make this thing go.”

Burns: “He’s a guy that we’ve got to do a good job getting down and we’ve got to make sure we suffocate him along with the quarterback and make it hard for him. But it’s not just a first-drive thing. He’s a back that as the game goes on, I think he gets better and better and better.

“With that being known, as a defense, you’ve got to make sure you are always on your Ps and Qs from the start. Starting fast, accelerating in the middle then finishing strong to make sure he doesn’t take advantage of you and create explosive plays.”

Burns: “When you look at the defensive side of the ball, I think it starts with their strong safety, No. 8 [Jayden Johnson]. He’s all over the place when it comes to where they put him. But he’s a guy that obviously jumps out at you on tape. He does a good job tackling and getting to the ball. And then he kind of rotates with No. 17 [Hudson Clark]. They both play all over the field.

“Then up front you can see they’re anchored down by their defensive end, Landon Jackson, a captain. A guy that plays the game the way it should be played. He plays hard, he plays physical, and he does a really good job.

“The other guy that stands out on defense is their corner, Dwight [McGlothern], who is also a really good player and a guy who has played a lot of football for them and has done a great job.”

Burns: “You know, I think that’s a very hidden stat, the rushing yards. I think they still want to run the ball. I think they were attempting to see, maybe fix what they think might be some weaknesses. They obviously have a very good slot receiver who could play for anybody in the country, but I think what Western Carolina did was they loaded the box up and they made them kind of throw the ball, which is part of it.

“I know Dan Enos is there. I think he’s .. he’s been around for a long time. I was at ND State and I kind of followed him when he was at North Dakota State. You can see a lot of the stuff they did at Maryland he’s doing there right now.

“But I think they’re a good offense. They can run the ball. I think if they had wanted to run the ball more I think they could have last week. But I think they were trying to become more of a balanced offense with what they’re doing.”

Burns: “Sam Pittman probably doesn’t remember me. I was being recruited by Northern Illinois in high school and Sam Pittman was one of the coaches there, I believe. I thought I ran into him there. But no, his reputation is well known. He’s been known to build some of the best offensive lines in the country and he’s done a great job so far at Arkansas.

“I’ve got a ton of respect for him. But I’ve got a ton of respect for how his football teams play. We’re attempting to play how they play, with a tremendous amount of effort and energy. And they love what they do and do it well. Got a ton of respect for Coach Pittman and look forward to meet with him before the game.”

Burns: “He was at Wisconsin as an assistant and I was coming out of high school at Sacred Heart Griffin High School in Springfield, Ill., and I took a couple of visits up there, and he was a guy who recruited me. He did a great job. I ended up going to Indiana, because [Wisconsin] never offered, by the way.

“When I got into coaching, he became someone that was a friend, and I think he’s done well. I was at North Dakota State coaching and our offensive staff went there and visited with those guys and we did a lot of similar things.

“He’s just always treated me well. And when I’d gotten into coaching, I was at Minnesota and an opportunity opened up at Illinois to go there and we talked a little bit about that opportunity, but it didn’t work itself out. But he’s just always been a good person and a good man, and I love the style of play that he has. He’s done a great job at Illinois. Obviously he was [at Arkansas], so he’s got a ton of experience with that atmosphere that’s down there.”

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