The quarterback from Little Rock, Ark., has met every challenge put in front of him at Kent State.
Kent State QB Spencer Keith has stood tall in the pocket this season, even when he had not pocketed the starting job.
Rich Schultz, Associated Press
No. 25 Kent State at Bowling Green
When: Noon today.
Where: Doyt Perry Stadium, Bowling Green, Ohio.
TV/radio: WEWS Channel 5; WHLO AM/640.
KENT, Ohio — Kent State quarterback Spencer Keith is clearly "The Survivor." Time will tell if he leads the Golden Flashes to the island of champions.
To find his name on any list of Mid-American Conference quarterbacks, one would have to look from the bottom up. And it still might not be there. As a QB, he is the ugly duckling in a league of flamethrower arms with artful-dodger feet.
Yet as the season winds down, look who is the swan leading one of the most exciting offensive teams in the MAC -- Spencer Keith. He leads No. 25 Kent State (9-1, 6-0) today against host Bowling Green (7-3, 5-1), and a Golden Flashes victory would secure a MAC East Division championship.
"It is satisfying," the 6-2, 215-pound Keith said. "I think that's due to preparation and more focus than before."
"And I have been trying to lead more than I have in the past."
No question, Keith has earned his feeling of satisfaction. Kent's brain trust brought in junior-college quarterback David Fisher last spring and said the starting job was up for grabs. The Flashes added freshman Colin Reardon to the challengers list at the start of preseason drills, and said the job was still up for grabs.
Coach Darrell Hazell said a starting QB would be picked after the first 10 days of camp . . . then after the first scrimmage . . . then after the final scrimmage . . . then before the opener. Every step of the way, Keith was the answer. Yet it appeared Kent was trying not to put the job back into the three-year starter's hands.
"I tried to block it out," Keith said. "But the competition has helped, bringing in those two guys. I mean, we've had our ups and downs this season, too. A couple of struggles early on. But we've all done a really good job of getting past those."
And still, Hazell kept looking. Three games into the season, the starting job was back on the table again. Keith came out on top again. The fact the product of Little Rock, Ark., won every challenge spoke volumes of Keith's ability to focus and handle the pressure of what is winding down to a possible championship season.
"Take it one practice at a time, not think about the circumstances, just think about the performance," Keith said. "That has helped me not go crazy about everything.
"It happened. And it has worked to our advantage. Fighting through controversy, being able to handle tough times when they come, that has definitely helped me out as a player. It's been a lot more fun to win, more exciting than the last couple of seasons we've been in."
Now 10 contests into the season, leading the MAC's East Division and amid a second-half gantlet of games that could have turned KSU's season back to .500, there is no question of Keith's standing.
"He's my quarterback," Hazell said in a private moment. "And you know, I probably haven't said that enough, publicly."
"We looked [at other QBs], but we put a whoa on it. Spencer gives us a confidence level, and the other guys are still trying to figure it all out. We feel good about Spencer."
Keith brings something to the table that makes him special.
He is a premed/biology major with a minor in mathematics. Keith has a 3.79 GPA and was the only quarterback named on the recent academic all-district team, which automatically puts him on the ballot for academic All-American.
"His game is right above the shoulders," Hazell said. "He knows that, and that's what he gets away with. He is what he is. And he still has to make a play or two for us. But we don't talk about it."
For player and coach, Keith's intellect helps him see plays perhaps his arm can't deliver and the coach can't call. The challenge for both is to fight the urge to force it.
Keith was lightly recruited out of high school with only a preferred walk-on offer from Vanderbilt in his hands before Kent. As a freshman, he had a shoulder injury, which raised more doubt about his arm strength. Add in the loss this season of Keith's favorite receiver -- Tyshon Goode (hamstring) -- to an average at best receiving corps, and the passing game Keith and Hazell clearly want in their arsenal has to be selective, not imposed.
"I think there is a common knowledge in the room that doesn't have to be said. This is what your [physical] strength is. This is what your running capabilities are, but this is where your intellect is, and that's through the roof," Hazell said, moving his hands higher and higher above his head at each step.
Kent's signature win to date came at then-No. 18 Rutgers, on Homecoming Day for the Scarlet Knights. Six turnovers forced by KSU's defense were the catalyst. As for offense, Hazell said, that 35-23 win was completely in Keith's hands.
"We could be aggressive with our play calls, because Spencer is so smart to change us to something else if it's not there," Hazell said. "It was close a lot of times [against Rutgers] but the play clock only got him once changing plays. And I'll tell you, three of our touchdowns against Rutgers came off of checks by Spencer, including the pass to Josh Boyle.
"You got to have something about you to do that, against that level of talent, in that environment. He's playing with so much more confidence right now. He's talking, and he never used to talk."
Keith is also running, albeit haltingly, keeping the ball himself because the lanes are open as more and more teams key on stopping the thunder and lightning ground attack from Trayion Durham and Dri Archer.
"I don't mind running, but if the pass is there, I always think pass first," Keith said. "On a couple of zone reads, I pull the ball and try to get as many yards as I can. I try to focus on that the whole game."
In the comeback win against rival Akron, he tucked the ball close on third-and-long and came close enough for the first down that Kent went for it on fourth to lock up the victory. Against Miami (Ohio), it was Keith's 28-yard touchdown run that helped give Kent a 35-10 halftime lead en route to a 48-32 win.
"I'm for whatever works," Keith said. "I threw a lot in high school and the first part of college. But I'd rather win."
And winning is an earmark of most survivors.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: ealexander@plaind.com, 216-999-4253