Kent State of Mind: Dru DeShields
11/1/2025 11:16:00 AM | Football
Kent State quarterback Dru DeShields joins Dane Richardson for the Kent State of Mind series to discuss his journey from local standout to college starter. In this conversation, he opens up about staying close to home, overcoming three ACL injuries, the support of his coaches and family, and how perseverance and faith shaped his path both on and off the field.
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DR: Joined here on this Kent State of Mind series by Kent State starting quarterback Dru DeShields. Dru, I appreciate you sitting down with me. West Branch High School, it's where you went to school around forty-five minutes away. Why did you choose to stay home?Â
DD: The distance I feel like is the biggest thing, like thirty minutes away from my house. My family can come like, everybody was there for the homecoming game. Like my whole entire family came. And I really just liked that because I was supposed to go six hours away to a different school. And then Kent ended up offering me like week fourteen of my high school year, and that's when I ended up flipping to Kent.
DR: You've torn three ACLs specifically in your right knee. A lot of guys that go through that experience would just hang up the cleats and say, I'm done playing football. Why did you choose to keep going?Â
DD: I feel like it's that local thing, like I'm from West Branch. Like I didn't want to let those guys down because I was the first scholarship football player in like thirty years or something like that. And I just didn't want to give up and like, give up on my family and stuff like that.
DR: You talk about that being the first scholarship player from that high school, how much pride do you have being from there and playing there at high school?
DD: I have tremendous pride. I still watch their games. I'm still like best friends with my high school coach. He would tell you the same thing, he texts me all the time, like how I'm doing. I call him all the time. So I still follow those guys and I really support them.
DR: Coach Carney told me, when you tore that third ACL when you were here at Kent State, that he even cried for you because he knew how much that hurt for you. How much has his support meant in the recovery process and how much you've started this year?
DD: Oh, it's been tremendous. I mean, he would always, always make sure I'm smiling every day through that process. He said he only saw me down one day and that was that day, and then the next day I wasn't down. I was back in, learning the offense. I feel like that was a big part. He really helped me with off the field stuff, too. I mean, my physical therapy, he just made sure I was in check.
DR: Dru, last year, you were the guy in the different colored shirt on the sidelines. Sometimes signaling to whoever the starting quarterback was for Kent State. 365 days ago, did you envision yourself in the spot where you are now as the starter?
DD: To go through kind of like what I did, you have to have that belief in yourself, really. I think that's where it starts. Like, if you believe in yourself and you have other people believe around you, I feel like that's like how I got through it the most.
DR: Let's go back to that Buffalo game. You're down in the fourth quarter. You guys are backed up inside your ten-yard line. You need a big drive, twenty-one plays, ninety-three yards in over twelve minutes. You're rushing in for a touchdown. Did you feel like at that moment that you've arrived?
DD: You never arrive really. That next drive, for example, like we had a shot to go down and score again and we didn't. So, I feel like saying arrived is like a weird phrase because no one's ever arrived really. Because you always strive to be better.Â
DR: This team just recently got their first FBS win in over 1,000 days. Did that feel like almost a weight lifted off the team's shoulders? And how do you guys try and continue to build off that type of blowout win that you had?
DD: Yeah, definitely. I feel like we could have played a more clean game really, but it's definitely a lot of confidence. I mean, for the guys, weight lifted off their shoulders. Like I've been here for three years, I've watched a loss after loss after loss. So, I feel like to get that win is a weight off our shoulders and confidence really for next week.
DR: You've told me in the past how much of an influence your family has into the young man you are. Well, also, your older brother. You wear number twelve because of him. Describe to me his influence on your football career.Â
DD: I feel like growing up in West Branch, he was a really big part of that. I was a water boy. I always watched him. He went to the school down the road, so we're not going to talk about that. Now he's tremendous, he's helped me with my football game off the field. He's just a tremendous person.
DR: When you think about the rest of this season, how much excitement and confidence do you have in this group knowing that you guys now know how to win?
 You guys can go do some damage in Mid-American Conference play.
DD: I think that's like a tremendous thing, really. Like we just have to keep stacking days though, and stacking weeks really. Like we just have to take it day by day and game by game really. And then I think everything will fall in the right place.
DR: Last question I have for you, Dru. You went through this long, tough journey dealing with injuries. We talked about the three ACL tears in the right knee. If you could go back and do it all over again, the recovery process, do you regret any of it? Would you change anything?Â
DD: No, I wouldn't change anything. Because if I didn't have the ACL tears, I wouldn't be who I am today. And I try to spread inspiration for my knee, because I've been through three ACL tears. I've been told that I couldn't play again. I've been told you won't play. And I feel like just putting God first, really helped me. And I've definitely changed as a person from my three ACL tears.
DR: You were told that you wouldn't play when probably you tear that third ACL, am I correct?
DD: Yeah. I've had a couple doctors tell me that I may never play again.
DR: How did you feel in that moment when someone says that to you?Â
DD: I just didn't believe it. Really. I didn't really believe them. I didn't want to believe them. I mean, I kind of just, like, tuned it out. And I wanted to get a doctor that had belief in me and that I could continue playing.
DR: Where does that determination come from in you to say, all right, I'm not going to stop.Â
DD: I'm going to keep going and be the best version of myself. I feel like that's just the person I am really like, I don't I don't want to quit until I have achieved something, and I feel like I'll be like that for the rest of my life.
