Mabon against Ohio
Receiving Yards - 139
Kickoff Return Yards - 173
All-Purpose Yards - 312
Touchdowns - 1
After a slow first half on Nov. 17 against Ohio, redshirt junior wider receiver KeVonn Mabon stepped up for the Ball State football team for his best game of the season.
During the football team’s 48-31 loss against Ohio, Mabon finished with 312 all-purpose yards, which is the seventh-highest total by any Division-1 football player this season.
This marks the first time since 2008 that a Cardinal was able to finish with more than 300 all-purpose yards. In this case, it was good enough to account for 54 percent of the team's all-purpose yards.
While Mabon was the leading receiver during the game, what separated him were his 173 kickoff return yards. This was the most out of any Cardinal in a single game this season.
“The return game I played pretty well offensively; I got it going in the second half,” Mabon said.
Already down 14-3 with fewer than two minutes remaining in the first quarter, Ball State began to move the ball downfield.
In his second reception of the night, freshman quarterback Riley Neal was able to find Mabon down the Cardinal sideline for a 36-yard reception.
The catch appeared to move the team into field goal range for freshman kicker Morgan Hagee, who earlier in the quarter hit a career-long 45-yard field goal.
While it was his longest reception of the night, Mabon soon found himself in between two Bobcat defenders, one of which stripped the ball, causing a Cardinal turnover and effectively ending the team’s drive.
“I never fumble, and I fumbled. I felt like I let my team down,” Mabon said. “That’s not who I am. … I usually make plays, so I felt like I had to make plays.”
From that point, Mabon began to make plays.
Neal continued to find the veteran receiver throughout the game. Mabon finished with 10 catches for 139 yards and a touchdown.
This is the second game this season where Mabon was able to finish with more than 100 receiving yards. The last time came from only six receptions against the University of Massachusetts for a total of 150 yards.
Head coach Pete Lembo is well aware of the impact that the veteran receiver can have on the team.
“[Mabon] is a leader on our offense, and he plays with energy,” Lembo said. “When he’s making plays, that’s going to give our offense a chance to keep making plays.”
Just like the second half of the Ohio game was a turning point for Mabon, the second half of his season has been as well.
In the past four weeks alone, Mabon has totaled 679 all-purpose yards, more than half of his season total. On top of that, he has two touchdowns and continues to see more kick-off returns each game.
He has already surpassed his career high for a single season in kickoff return yards and is only 26 receiving yards short of topping his single season best of 717, which he acquired last year.
Mabon will look to continue his all-purpose prowess against Bowling Green next week as the Ball State football team wraps up the 2015 football season.
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