With two of its three quarterbacks holding at least three years
of eligibility, Kent State can be very selective when it comes to recruiting
the position in 2010.

This fall, senior Anthony Magazu will battle redshirt sophomore
Giorgio Morgan for the starting position while both sophomore Sal
Battles and incoming freshman Spencer Keith have the ability
to compete for playing time.

While that depth offers Kent State the opportunity to recruit a project,
or a high school senior that might need a few years to develop the skills
to play at the next level, the Golden Flashes' coaching staff has been
aggressive in its recruiting efforts.

They extended scholarship offers to four-star prospects Andrew
Hendrix and Spencer Ware as well as a handful of three star signal callers.
Hendrix, out of Moeller High School in Cincinnati, has verbally committed
to Notre Dame and it looks like Ware, a Cincinnati Princeton senior, could
be making a switch to defense to play at a BCS conference school.

The Flashes also missed out on Middletown, Ohio two-star prospect Caleb
Watkins, a Bowling Green commitment.

But, the Golden Flashes are still very much in the mix for several talented
quarterbacks.

First on the list is Gabriel Henderson of Raleigh, N.C. The three-star
prospect visited Kent State on July 16 and now is set to announce his college
choice on Friday, July 25. He listed his three favorites as Buffalo, Georgia
Tech and Kent State. Georgia Tech has yet to offer and Henderson has not
visited Buffalo.

Should Henderson choose Buffalo, or a Georgia Tech offer complicates Henderson's
decision, the Flashes have a good chance at landing both Verlon
Reed and Jerry Lovelocke.

Reed, a 6-foot-2, 185-pounder from Marion-Franklin High School in Columbus,
Ohio, holds offers from Bowling Green and Kent State. Bowling Green already
has a commitment from Watkins, giving Kent State an edge. But, Reed has discussed
with other college coaches the possibility of playing safety. An offer from
a BCS school might be too difficult for him to pass on.

Lovelocke is in a similar position. The 6-foot-4, 200-pound three-star prospect
from Baltimore, Md., holds offers from Akron, Central Michigan, Kent State,
Temple and Towson. All but Kent State and Towson already have quarterbacks
verbally committed.

Another option for the Flashes is Tyler Brause, a 6-foot-4, 220-pound
three-star prospect from Bucyrus, Ohio. Brause's ranking likely comes
from his ability to play on the defensive side of the ball, where most of
the BCS colleges that have offered are recruiting him to play. Brause has
visited Kent, but like with the others above, a BCS offer could prove to
be too difficult to pass up.

The good news is Kent State has several big-time options when it comes to
a 2010 quarterback recruit. That's also the bad news. Should the Flashes
receive the verbal commitment from one of their top choices at the position,
they'll spend the next several months-all the way up to signing
day in February 2010-fighting off bigger schools for that prospect.
That's not an unfamiliar position for the Golden Flashes. Almost every
recruiting cycle during head coach Doug Martin's tenure the
Golden Flashes have lost a committed prospect to a BCS conference school.
With their success in recruiting over the last few years, it's a position
they'll find themselves in a lot more often.