Ending a long-awaited quarterback battle, junior Devin Kargman will open up this season leading the offense, and he will look for success after last season’s 1-11 campaign.

The announcement was first reported on X Monday by an ESPN reporter and was confirmed by the Kent State Athletics department Tuesday.

Kargman’s position as starting quarterback was confirmed for week one, and his first game will be on the road against the University of Pittsburgh Aug. 31.

Kent State’s last win against a Power-Five opponent was in 2007, when the Flashes beat Iowa State on the road to open the season.

Kargman emerged as this year’s front runner after beating out junior Tommy Ulatowski, who started in 10 games for the Flashes last season – Kargman started in three.

Kargman threw for 297 yards and two touchdowns and zero interceptions on 21/40 (53%) passing. Ulatowski threw seven touchdowns, two interceptions and 737 yards on 60/121 (50%) passing.

Neither quarterback recorded a win in their starts last season.

Kargman led the Flashes to victory in his only start of the 2022 season, a 33-27 win against Akron, and he has appeared in nine games for KSU overall.

The team is looking to change its offensive success, as KSU ranked dead-last in scoring offense last season and in the bottom ten nationally in other categories (total offensive yards per game, rushing yards per game, passing yards per game and total touchdowns).

After the 2023 season concluded with a loss to Northern Illinois, coach Kenni Burns said there would be a battle for the starting role in fall camps.

“Devin definitely did some really positive things, and today he definitely helped himself,” Burns said after the game against NIU last season. “Hopefully, he can watch this tape and build off of what he did today and come into the spring ready to compete.”

John Hilber is sports editor. Contact him at [email protected].