Last year was a year of growing pains for the Kent State football team.
In the 2015 season, the Flashes limped to a 3-9 (2-6 Mid-American Conference) finish, which warranted the team a fifth place finish in the MAC East.
The Flashes were a young team last year, sporting only 13 graduating seniors. This led to some struggles: the team averaged 68.9 penalty yards per game, which was the 13th highest such total in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision.
Despite these challenges, the Flashes' youth movement had some serious positives as it gave playing time to young talented players such as Antwan Dixon, George Bollas, Raekwon James and Myles Washington, whom were all freshman last year.