Week one starting quarterback: Layne Hatcher, replaced in the second half.
Week two starting quarterback: Kadin Semonza, replaced in the second half.
Week three starting quarterback: Kadin Semonza, replaced in the fourth quarter.
Week four starting quarterback: Kadin Semonza, played in all four quarters.
Week five starting quarterback: Layne Hatcher, played in all four quarters.
Week six starting quarterback: Layne Hatcher, played in all four quarters.
Despite the respective graduate student and freshman going back and forth between who earns the start under center for Ball State nearly every week halfway through the 2023 season, one man has seen action at quarterback in all six contests.
Kiael Kelly is listed on Ball State’s depth chart as a quarterback, but head coach Mike Neu has classified the redshirt sophomore as a “dynamic playmaker” – a joker, if you will. Although the Cardinals lost their third straight contest last weekend, Kelly thrived in his role, rushing nine times for a career-high 94 yards.
Neu said the coaching staff needs to address “everything” on offense. But before any specific part of the physical game can be fixed, Neu said the coaching staff needs to develop a new offensive identity.
The eighth-year head coach said the Cardinals came into the season thinking they could rely on two All-American tight ends in redshirt sophomore Brady Hunt and sophomore Tanner Koziol, but with Hunt missing all six games so far this season, they haven’t quite adjusted properly.
“We have who we have,” Neu said. “It is what it is. We have to be better, and that starts with me. We can't ask our guys to do something if we don't have the personnel to fit that.”
He said the offense’s new identity will start with building on what works, citing Kelly’s performance against Eastern Michigan and redshirt junior Marquez Cooper’s ability to make explosive plays as points of emphasis. Neu said in the first half of the season, the coaching staff was spending time developing styles for multiple quarterbacks each game. Now, he seems to want to narrow the focus on a consistent starter.
Neu said while the offense has struggled this season, the defense hasn’t gotten the credit he feels it deserves despite allowing more than 24 points in all but one game. The eighth-year head coach has been pleased with the unit’s ability to respond to adversity, especially when it comes to injuries.
“Every week has been a challenge, no different than it's been offensively or on special teams,” Neu said. “What we've done a good job of is putting our players in a position to not put them on an island.”
Tavion Woodard is just one of many for Ball State who has struggled with injury this season, missing the first two games of the season with an elbow issue. The redshirt junior defensive lineman said teammates like junior linebacker Keionté Newsom, redshirt freshman defensive back Jahmad Harmon and redshirt sophomore defensive back Thailand Baldwin have stepped up for the defense with the absence of graduate student linebacker Clayton Coll and many others.
While Neu said the offense still needs to work on finding its identity, he and Woodard feel the defense has done a good job of doing so.
“We're hungry but it could be more,” Woodard said. “That's something that I gotta step up and bring to the defense more and other people gotta step up and bring to the defense more. We’re gonna be as best as our weakest player.”
That mindset and depth is what Neu said makes the Cardinals upcoming opponent so dangerous. Toledo’s junior quarterback Dequan Finn has passed for nearly 1,100 yards this season while rushing for more than 400. In total, the Rockets have amassed just shy of 1,500 yards on the ground, comparative to Ball State’s 670.
The Rockets have won five straight contests, including wins over UMass, San Jose State and the Mid-American Conference's (MAC) Northern Illinois and Western Michigan, after losing to the B1GTEN's Illinois to kick off the season. While Neu said the Cardinals have played against many of the players who suit up for the defending MAC Champions, they’ve all improved since the last time the two sides squared off.
“This football team does not shoot themselves in the foot,” Neu said. “They do a good job of executing; so anyway that we can make the quarterback uncomfortable in the pocket [and] any way that we can force a turnover, those are things we're going to look to try to get done.”
With a 1-5 record at the midseason mark, Ball State football has to be nearly perfect in the second half. As he reflected on the Cardinals’ most recent loss, Neu said it felt similar to the four others they’ve experienced this season. It was a game he felt was lost due to correctable errors like untimely penalties, poor execution in crunch time and underwhelming preparation in practice.
“I've typed up notes after every single game sitting in the staff meeting and I keep saying the same thing,” Neu said. “Losing sucks.
“I told the guys in the locker room [Saturday] and I told them [Sunday], ‘You got to stay on it. We got to stay committed to each other, you have to be positive and you have to believe. That's the only way. If you don't, then it'll just continue to unravel. That’s the only approach that you can have when you do have some adversity in your life.”
Moving forward, the Cardinals are hoping to use that advice as motivation toward improving the offense, building on successes within the defense and, eventually, earning wins.
“We're not what we’ve shown on the field lately. I feel like we’ve got more to us,” Woodard said.
Contact Kyle Smedley with comments via email at kyle.smedley@bsu.edu or on X @KyleSmedley_.
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