Watching the Kent State football team take the field in a jam packed major college stadium isn't new for Ben Sirmans. He's done that at least once during each of the past five seasons.

But when he watches the Golden Flashes come through the Spartan Stadium tunnel Saturday September 1, he'll have a totally new feeling. This time the crowd will be on his side.

"It'll be great to have the 70,000 fans rooting for me and not against me," said Sirmans.

The MSU running backs coach will start his first season after spending the last five years mentoring the Kent State runners. "It'll be somewhat odd," said Sirmans, "just in knowing the coaches there, knowing all the players. I've never, throughout my coaching career, experienced a situation where I'm going against a team where I've spent such a long time at coaching. "But once it's time to kick-off and all those things, they're my adversary, so it'll be a football game. I hope they go 10-1," he said flashing a big smile.

His knowledge of the Golden Flashes personnel and the character of the players has been helpful to the Spartan staff in its preparation for the opener, perhaps more helpful than what he knows of their schemes.

It's certainly given head coach John L. Smith's charges a healthy respect for the MAC team, which finished last season with four straight wins. MSU will face a fired up team that believes it can win and will not be intimidated by the Big 10 crowd and atmosphere.

Kent State features an experienced defensive unit that flies around the field with reckless abandon in and finished as the top crew in the MAC conference. MAC teams have upset Big 10 and other BCS conference teams in recent years, and Sirmans' intimate knowledge of the Flashes generate a healthy respect and concern at MSU.

"We're looking at them just as though we were playing Minnesota or Iowa," Sirmans said. Sirmans is excited about the MSU athletic atmosphere on and off the field. He said that he is especially excited about the way the total community seems to get behind the school and its athletic program.

"It's great to see the license plates and MSU things in the stores and around campus." He's just as excited about the level of talent his running backs display on the field. He points out that they group of Jason Teague, Jehuu Caulcrick, Javon Ringer and A.J. Jimmerson provide a blend of experience and talent that can be outstanding.

"It's great to have a chance to coach a lot of guys who have a lot of ability," Sirmans said. He expects Teague and Caulcrick to take most of the snaps. Teague, a 5-9, 193-pound senior, is a blue-collar worker that provides a balance of quickness, power and skill. He's an excellent blocker in pass protection and skillful coming out of the backfield for a pass. He rushed for 688 yards and eight touchdowns last season while catching 28 passes for 218 yards and two touchdowns. He lacks the speed of a true breakaway runner but has the quickness to turn short yardage openings into first-down length gains.

"Jehuu is a bruiser," said Sirmans. "You'll see both of them play. "One guy may run one play better than the other so we'll be putting them in situations where they can have success. "Jehuu is one of those guys who makes the type of plays that gets everybody hyped up."

"I was a little surprised at how good his were for such a big guy. Sometimes I wish he would run with better leverage? When he is able to drop his pads and run with good leverage, he's a hard guy to stop or bring down " said Sirmans. He's displaying stronger leadership in his second season. In practice, he's talking to other players and showing maturity.

Intimately familiar with MSU's history of outstanding running backs having followed the careers of Lorenzo White, Blake Ezor and Tico Duckett while in secondary school and college, Sirmans was not surprised by Spartans talent level.

He was surprised, however, by their level of understanding of the system, objectives, and offensive philosophy. "One thing about them," Sirmans said. "They're pretty sharp in terms of their overall football knowledge. Sirmans' running backs are expected to play a major role in an offense Smith hopes will make the Spartans competitive in the Big 10 conference race. They'll need to be productive to provide the balance needed to make Smith's spread offense work most effectively.

Sirmans knows his backs are expected to get positive yardage, protect the passer, and not turn the ball over. His job is to make certain they meet or exceed those expectations.

That's his main concern as he prepares to take his first trip through a Big 10 stadium tunnel to sounds of 75,000 screaming Spartan fans anxious for an opening day win.

Sexton defenders blocked a punt and grabbed three interceptions as the Big Reds exploded for three second half touchdowns and blanked Waverly, 21-0 to open the 2006 high school football season.
Landon Jones blocked a punt and picked off a pass to pave the way for two of Brandon Dunn's three scores.
Dunn rushed for 185 yards on his way to the tallies. He gave the Reds all the points they needed in the third quarter when he scampered eight yards to score.
Led by DeShon Dedrick's seven and DeMarkus Hadley-King's six tackles, Sexton stifled the Waverly attack.
Waverly held the Reds in check most of the night with Colin Gipson-Tansil recording 13 tackles and Ian McComb nine.
Shutouts were the order of the day as Haslett blanked a young East Lansing team,42-0.