Kent State Leading Rusher Ruled Out for Pitt Game

Pitt announced its starting running back for the season opener against Kent State this weekend, but the Golden Flashes will be forced to turn to a couple of new running backs this season.

Kent State head coach Kenni Burns said Monday during his weekly press conference that leading rusher Gavin Garcia will miss the Pitt game due to injury.

“He will be out for the season with a knee injury,” Burns said. “Big loss to our football team but he’ll take on a new role as coach Garcia, which we’re excited about.”

Garcia, who starred at Southern Columbia in Catawissa, Pa., racked up 544 yards and two touchdowns in 11 games last season. The junior running back isn’t much of a receiving threat but didn’t have many opportunities in a poor offense last season. It’s a tough break for Garcia, but the Golden Flashes have a committee approach against Pitt.

“Some guys will have to come up and play better, or sooner than we expected, but excited about that. We still have Ky Thomas who is a more than capable back, who’s played a lot in the Big Ten and the Big 12. And then Curtis Douglas had a heckuva fall camp stepping in and excited about him.”

Thomas, a 5-foot-11, 200-pound redshirt senior, has played at Minnesota and Kansas. He broke out as a true freshman with Minnesota in 2021, racking up 824 yards and six touchdowns as the Gophers dealt with injuries. He left for Kansas following his freshman season, serving in a smaller role with the Jayhawks, and transferred to Kent State last winter.

Thomas sat out last season, but the  Topeka, Kan. native is in line for a bigger season with Garcia out for the season. Sophomore running backs Curtis Douglas and Marques Hicks are also in line for carries against Pitt.

Kent State wasn’t a strong rushing offense last season, averaging just 106 yards per game (at 2.9 yards per carry), but Pitt isn’t taking anyone lightly. Pitt, as Nahki Johnson, sucked against the run last season.

“I guess they found out the hard way,” Pat Narduzzi said Thursday at his weekly presser. “I don’t like to find out the hard way. It takes details, and it’s good that Nahki said that, but it’s critical. I think they found out how critical it was. Sometimes you gotta get woken up first. I don’t have to get woken up. You guys heard me for 10 say how important stopping the run and making a team one-dimensional is. We’ve gotta be able to run the ball on offense, and we’ve gotta be able to stop the run, make a team one-dimensional.”

Pitt allowed 150.2 rushing yards per game last season, a far cry from the top units under Narduzzi of late, but the journey back to the Pitt standard begins against Thomas and the Golden Flashes’ running backs.