GAME 1: Kennesaw State (0-0) at East Tennessee State (0-0)
DATE: Thursday, Sept. 3 at 7:30 p.m.
LOCATION: Kermit-Tipton Stadium | Johnson City, Tenn.
LISTEN: Audio | Brian Giffin (PxP) | Tutan Reyes (Analyst) | Art Eckman (Sideline)
LINKS: SoCON Digital Network | Live Stats | Game Notes (KSU) | Twitter | #WitnessKSU
MEDIA: Media Center | Information Guide | Roster | Owls Insight Podcast
SERIES HISTORY: Inaugural Game
LAST MEETING: First Meeting
MEDIA STORIES: NCAA.Com Feature | Atlanta Journal-Constitution | KSU Broadcast Schedule Release




OPENING HISTORY: History will be made in Johnson, City, Tenn. when the Kennesaw State football team visits East Tennessee State for its inaugural game on Thursday (Sept. 3). Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
 
The contest will mark a rare occasion where both teams are start-up programs. Kennesaw State will be playing its first football game in school history while East Tennessee State is re-instituting the sport after suspending football following the 2003 season.
 
BOHANNON MAKES HEAD COACHING DEBUT: Brian Bohannon will make his head coaching debut on Thursday after being hired as head coach on March 22, 2013. Bohannon spent the previous five seasons as quarterbacks/B-backs coach at Georgia Tech.
 
BOHANNON ON FIRST GAME: "Obviously there has been a lot of exciting times here at this University but this is the one we have been shooting for. It's amazing the last two and a half years for me how fast this has gone by. I remember on our TV screens in our weight room and offices it said 400 days before we play and I walked out of my office and it said six today. That is kind of a surreal moment for us as a program and everything that has gone on. It's really what we have been working towards, is this first game. I can't tell you how excited our kids are, they're tired of practicing, they're tired of hitting each other, and they're ready to go play somebody else…The same with our staff."
 
OWLS TO PLAY AT FCS LEVEL: Kennesaw State will play at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level. KSU joined the Big South Conference as an associate member on Sept. 4, 2013.
 
A LOOK AHEAD: The Owls will make their home debut on Saturday, Sept. 12 when they host Edward Waters at Fifth Third Bank Stadium. The game is sold out and fans unable to attend will have an opportunity to watch the historic first game on TV as Atlanta's CW69 will air the game live.
 
NEW IN 2015: Kennesaw State and East Tennessee State are two of four institutions who will debut football in 2015. Finlandia University, located in Hancock, Mich. will compete at the NCAA Division III level, while Lyon College in Batesville, Ark., returned to the gridiron last Saturday following a 64-year hiatus, and will play at the NAIA level.
 
HOW IT WAS BUILT: A documentary on how the Kennesaw State football program was built will air on WUPA-TV Atlanta's CW69 on Saturday (Sept. 5) at 4 p.m. The one-hour show takes an in-depth behind-the-scene look into the building of the program.
 
A LOOK AT EAST TENNESSEE STATE: The Buccaneers are coached by Carl Torbush, who was named head coach on June 21, 2013. Torbush has previous head coaching experience at Louisiana Tech (1987) and North Carolina (1997-2000), and has an overall record of 20-26 (.435) in five seasons. Redshirt freshman Austin Herink, a transfer from Middle Tennessee State, is listed on the Buccaneers' two-deep as the starting quarterback. 
 
EAST TENNESSEE STATE CONNECTIONS: Kennesaw State offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Grant Chesnut has family ties to East Tennessee State. His father, Greg, was an All-Ohio Valley Conference selection for the Buccaneers during his four-year (1967-70) career at ETSU. During his junior season, Chesnut was part of a Buccaneers team that went 10-0-1 and defeated a Terry Bradshaw-led Louisiana Tech team, 34-14, in the Grantland Rice Bowl in Baton, Rouge, La.
 
LEGENDARY INPUT: Both Kennesaw State and East Tennessee State have had legendary input during their building process. College Football Hall of Fame Coach Vince Dooley, the former head coach and athletics director at the University of Georgia was named chair of a 33-member Exploratory Committee in 2009 that looked into the feasibility of Kennesaw State adding a football program. He has continued to remain involved with KSU, serving as a valuable resource.
 
Meanwhile former University of Tennessee head coach and College Football Hall of Fame inductee Phillip Fulmer has served as a special assistant to the athletic director at East Tennessee State.
 
THE VIEW FROM THE SIDELINE: Head coach Brian Bohannon, who spent most of his career as an assistant coach in the press box on game day, will move down from the coaches' booth to the sideline in 2015. Bohannon last coached a game from the sideline during his final season at Georgia Southern in 2001.
 
IN THE BOOTH: Offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Grant Chesnut, quarterbacks coach Cody Worley, defensive line coach Kevin Downing and defensive backs coach Chris Bland will be positioned in the booth.
 
A LOOK AT THE ROSTER: As a startup program, Kennesaw State will feature a young team that is dominated by freshmen and redshirt freshmen. Of the 105 players listed on the Owls roster, 73 are either true freshmen (20) or redhsirt freshmen (53). The roster also includes 11 sophomores, 16 juniors and five seniors.
 
THE SENIORS: The five seniors on the Kennesaw State roster include Chaz Cheeks (DL, Gainesville, Ga. / Georgia Tech), Brett Gillespie (OL, Kennesaw, Ga. / North Greenville), Ryan Godhigh (RB, Acworth, Ga. / Harrison HS), Mason Harris (DL, Fort Oglethorpe, Ga. / South Carolina) and Prentice Stone (Marietta, Ga. / Eastern Kentucky). 
 
TWO-DEEP BREAKDOWN: Head coach Brian Bohannon released the Kennesaw State two-deep on Friday (Aug. 28) and 27 players are either freshmen or redshirt freshmen. On offense, there are 15 freshmen or redshirt freshmen listed, including seven as starters. Defensively, 12 players fall into the above categories, with six being starters.
 
TRYOUT TO THE TWO-DEEP: A handful of players who took part in tryouts over the last year and a half, have made significant impressions on the coaching staff and earned their way onto the two-deep. Redshirt junior defensive lineman Nick Perrotta, redshirt sophomore linebacker Izzy Sam and redshirt senior Ryan Godhigh were part of the initial tryout on March 22, 2014. Additionally, redshirt senior PJ Stone (wide receiver) and redshirt freshman defensive back Shawn Reynolds have gone from tryout hopefuls to earning spots on the Owls two-deep.
 
THE QUARTERBACK POSITION: Redshirt junior quarterback Trey White is listed as the starting quarterback and backed up by redshirt freshman Jake McKenzie. White, a transfer from The Citadel, prepped at St. Pius X Catholic High School in Atlanta. When White finally takes the field at ETSU, it will mark his first game action since 2011 when he was a high school senior. McKenzie is a former all-state player from Monroe Academy in Monroeville, Ala.
 
LEADING THE WAY: Redshirt freshman quarterback Chandler Burks (Douglasville, Ga. / South Paulding HS) was the first recruit to verbally commit to Kennesaw State when he let head coach Brian Bohannon know of his intentions to attend KSU in the summer of 2013. He also was the first signee after inking his name to a National Letter-of-Intent on Feb. 5, 2014. Burks was one of 29 players who were part of the initial signing class.
 
RECRUITING GEORGIA: When head coach Brian Bohannon assumed the challenge of building a program, he said he was committed to recruiting the state of Georgia. He and his staff have stayed true to that plan as 92 of the 105 players on the roster are from Georgia. There are three players each from Alabama and Florida, two from Texas, and one each from California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee.
 
A GLANCE AT THE SCHEDULE: Kennesaw State will face a challenging schedule during its inaugural season. Six of the Owls' 10 opponents posted winning records in 2014, including five of six Big South Conference teams. Non-conference foe Dayton (8-3), along with Big South rivals Liberty (9-5), Monmouth (6-5), Charleston Southern (8-4), Coastal Carolina (12-2) and Presbyterian (6-5) all were on the plus side of the win-loss ledger a year ago.
 
SCOUTING THE BIG SOUTH CONFERENCE: The Big South Conference has earned a reputation as one of the top NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) conferences in the country. According to HERO Sports, the Big South Conference is ranked second among the 13 conferences, behind only the Missouri Valley Conference, home to four-time defending national champion North Dakota State. STATS FCS has listed the Big South as the fourth-best conference, trailing the Missouri Valley, Colonial Athletic Association and Big Sky Conference. The Big South Conference has had two teams advance to the FCS playoffs in each of the last three seasons.
 
FLYING HIGH: The inaugural 2015 season can be labeled the "Year of the Bird". In addition to the Kennesaw State Owls, five opponents on KSU's schedule have a type of bird as part of their mascot. Those teams include Shorter (Hawks), Point (Skyhawks), Monmouth (Hawks), Coastal Carolina (Chanticleers) and Liberty. Although Liberty's, nickname is the Flames, it also has "Sparky the Eagle", who was introduced on campus in 2006.
 
KENNESAW STATE-ALABAMA STATE AGREE TO 4-YEAR SERIES:
Kennesaw State and Alabama State jointly announced on Monday (Aug. 31) an agreement on a four-year series that will begin in 2017 and run through 2020. The two teams will meet for the first time on Sept. 16, 2017 at Fifth Third Bank Stadium before switching venues to The New ASU Stadium on Sept. 15, 2018. The remaining two games will be played Sept. 14, 2019 in Kennesaw before wrapping up the current agreement on Sept. 19, 2020 in Montgomery, Ala. 

OWLS INSIGHT -- EPISODE 5: The time is finally here. BELIEVE! Believe that kickoff is just around the corner for Kennesaw State and its historic inaugural season. And with that being said, Tutan Reyes – Color Analyst, KSU Owls Radio – spoke with Brian Newberry before the team heads to East Tennessee State for a clash against the Buccaneers. Reyes and Newberry talk defense, starting from the ground up, what it was like playing at Baylor and how that has helped him and much, much more! You can listen to the link by CLICKING HERE!

Fifth Third Bank is the Official Bank of Kennesaw State Athletics. Fifth Third Bank Stadium is the home of women's soccer, women's lacrosse and football, which will play its inaugural season in 2015.

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