Kent State quarterback Dru DeShields (12) attempts to pass the ball against Texas Tech during the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, in Lubbock, Texas. (AP Photo/Justin Rex)

When Dru DeShields takes the field to lead Kent State’s offense on Saturday at Doak Campbell Stadium at Florida State, it’s not an opportunity he takes for granted.

Given what he’s been through the last three years, battling through injury after injury, the Beloit native and West Branch alum knows just how fortunate he is to even be on a football field.

“I just try to take full advantage of my opportunity,” DeShields said. “It’s a blessing. I definitely have to keep getting better every day and take full advantage of the opportunity.”

After DeShields threw for 279 yards and two touchdowns, while also rushing for 37 yards and a touchdown, in his first career start in the Golden Flashes’ narrow loss to Buffalo last week, interim head coach Mark Carney named DeShields Kent State’s starting quarterback for the rest of the season.

“I think Dru DeShields, for his first opportunity to start a football game, he represented himself really well,” Carney said during a press conference after the loss to Buffalo. “I’m super proud of that kid and all that he’s been through to give himself a chance to get to this point.

“Dru’s getting better with every rep he gets. Every opportunity he gets to go out there and lead our football team, he just continues to improve. Right now, that’s the difference in this (quarterback) competition. He earned the opportunity to represent this football team out there, and I thought he handled himself really well.”

But, it wasn’t too long ago that DeShields, now a redshirt sophomore, wasn’t sure if he’d ever be able to play football again.

During his senior season at West Branch in the fall of 2022, DeShields played through an ACL and meniscus injury in his right knee. He had surgery after the season and sat out basketball season.

After returning during track season in the spring, he finished his high school career with the Warriors and moved on to Kent State.

That summer in 2023, heading into his freshman season with the Golden Flashes, DeShields tore the same ACL again in his right knee. He missed that season and ended up redshirting.

“You just gotta stay consistent through everything. I was trying to rehab twice a day to try to give myself the best opportunity to come back,” DeShields said. “It was definitely hard. There’s lot of people in my life that were there for me: my teammates, my family, my friends. Everybody in my life believed in me and believed I could come back. So I think that was the biggest thing that I would always focus on while I was going through that.”

After almost a year of rehab and recovery, DeShields returned to the field for fall camp in 2024, hoping to challenge for the starting quarterback job. However, he ended up tearing his ACL for the third time in the same knee.

It seemed like each time DeShields would get himself back up, he’d get knocked down.

“It was definitely very tough mentally,” DeShields said. “I’ve had to rethink a lot of things. Just sitting there having my knee up isn’t the best time of my life, but I just had to think in my mind, you can get through it, you can do it. You gotta believe in yourself, and then when people believe in you, that helps too. But you have to believe in yourself, or you’ll go nowhere.”

In the face of such adversity, most people might back down, perhaps consider stepping aside from football and moving on with their lives, but DeShields’ determination never wavered.

After the third ACL injury, the thought of medically retiring briefly crossed DeShields’ mind. But he quickly tossed it aside and began to set his sights on the 2025 season.

“I only thought about it for a couple days, and I was like, ‘I’m not doing it,'” DeShields said. “I want to be here and I want to make a difference because of all the people who look up to me. I’m a hometown kid. I’m from 30 minutes away. A lot of people look up to me because I was the first scholarship guy in awhile (at West Branch). So I didn’t want to let them down and be like, ‘I’m just giving up,’ even though a lot of people have it worse than me. I didn’t want to give up.”

DeShields changed his approach and got himself healthy, and in the process, he changed his lifestyle and transformed his body.

Throughout fall camp in August, he battled with fifth-year Fordham transfer CJ Montes at quarterback, and the competition eventually continued into the start of the season.

“I didn’t really do that much in the spring,” DeShields said. “I was just doing seven-on-seven, but fall camp was definitely a battle. We would go back and forth every day.”

Montes started Kent State’s first two games against Merrimack and Texas Tech. But DeShields received reps in both games as well and ended up outperforming Montes in each game.

As a result, DeShields earned the nod against Buffalo last week and seized the opportunity, earning the permanent starting job with his performance.

“It definitely feels good. I feel like my family has been excited to see me play out there. I’m excited to see myself play out there, but it’s definitely made me a better person, the story I’ve been through,” DeShields said. “I try to help other people to believe in their dreams and never give up on them because a lot of people told me that I couldn’t do it. But I’m here now, so I just try to inspire people with that and just use that.”

Through three games, DeShields has completed 61% of his passes for 513 yards and four touchdowns, while also rushing for 61 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries.

“It’s been amazing,” DeShields said. “I just gotta stay level-headed and stay humble. I’m still the same person, I just get to play now. It’s a great opportunity and a great time to be out there with my teammates and all those guys that have helped me along the way.”