At some point this year, expect some additional gender history to be made at the FBS level.
April Goss is a former high school girl’s soccer player who gave up that sport to give football a try her junior year. She’s now in her fourth season as a walk-on kicker at Kent State, although she’s never actually played in a real game.
The only meaningful “action” of her career came when she kicked the game-winning extra point in the Golden Flashes’ spring game last year. She did, though, travel with her teammates to the 2015 season opener at Illinois, her third such trip during her time with the team.
The end of her standing idly by on the sidelines, however, could be coming to an end in the not-too-distant future.
“Before this year’s out, she’ll get out there. I promise you that,” head coach Paul Haynes said according to the Akron Beacon Journal.
“That’s something that I’ve been hoping for a while now,” Goss said. “It’s just all about being patient.”
Should Haynes come through on his promise, Goss would become just the second female to play in an FBS game. Katie Hnida, originally on the roster at Colorado before transferring under what ultimately became controversial circumstances, was successful on two point-after attempts for New Mexico in 2003, becoming the first woman to score during an FBS game. Months prior to that debut, Hnida attempted an extra point in the Las Vegas Bowl -- it was blocked -- becoming the first female to play in an FBS game.