WKU Football: Depth or No Depth - How The Tops Can Have Another Record Passing Year With or Without a Deep WR Room

WKU's coaching staff seems uneasy about it's wide receiver depth. As long as there's certainty at the top of the depth chart, the Hilltoppers should be okay.

Aug 21, 2023

Western Kentucky once again enters a college football season with the makings of a high-powered, if not a historic, offense and one that is expected to be good enough to almost single-handedly propel the Hilltoppers to the CUSA title game, if not have them lift the trophy come December.

Returning quarterback Austin Reed - the first returning incumbent signal caller for the Tops since Mike White in 2017 - is a big reason for those high expectations, as he turned in the sixth 4,000-plus yard passing season in WKU history last year.

But, just as equally important pieces to the offensive puzzle for WKU are a trio of highly-touted receivers: Malachi Corley, Dalvin Smith and Michael Mathison, all of whom found themselves on the 2023 Phil Steele Preseason All-CUSA squads. (Though, according to sources, Mathison is expected to miss some time this year after suffering an injury earlier in camp. How much time that will be remains to be determined.)

However, behind that trio, there are questions about the position’s depth, primarily from WKU’s coaches if their camp comments are be believed.

“We need to find some consistency at receiver,” offensive coordinator Drew Hollingshead said post-practice last week. “We know who we got in Malachi and Dalvin and some of the other guys, but we’ve gotta find those next group of guys so we can see how they react when the spotlight’s on them.”

(Did you happen to notice a name Hollingshead didn’t mention?)

It’s an understandable sentiment for a coaching staff to have: You want to have the deepest list of guys possible to give you the best shot at staying competitive all year round.

Bailey’s Blueprint

It’s easy to forget just how ridiculous Bailey Zappe’s 2021 season was. He smashed not only WKU’s all-time single-season passing record, by almost 1,000 yards no less, he also scorched the single-season passing touchdown mark and, in just one season, rocketed his way to third in career passing touchdowns in WKU history.

I know some of you are sitting there going, “Yes, we know this.” It’s just worth repeating to put into context how special he was.

But it wasn’t just all-time records; it was how he distributed the ball that was special, too.

2021 was the fifth time a WKU quarterback passed for at least 4,000 yards in a season. In each of those previous four such seasons, the Tops boasted a receiving corps of a.) at least one 1,000-yard receiver or b.) at least three 600-yard receivers.

Zappe’s receiving room was the only one to have two 1,000-yard receivers and at least 600-yard pass catchers, to whit he had four total.

Jerreth Sterns - 1,902
Mitchell Tinsley - 1,402
Daewood Davis - 763
Malachi Corley - 691

Added all together, that quartet hauled in 4,758 yards of Zappe’s 5,967 yard passing season, or 79.7%.

If you take just Sterns and Tinsley’s combined 3,304 receiving yards, that alone accounted for 69.4% of Zappe’s record-breaking year.

Doughty Did It, Too. Kind Of.

While he didn’t support two 1,00-yard receivers, Doughty did come close and was still able to support four guys, all of which finished the year with at least 700 yards receiving.

Taywan Taylor - 1,467
Nicholas Norris - 971
Jared Dangerfield - 844
Antwane Grant - 701

Those four, alone, accounted for 78% of Doughty’s passing yards in 2015.

This is the type of depth that, I’d say, WKU’s coaching staff doesn’t think they have right now, as we sit inside two weeks until the season kicks off. Having that kind of depth is no doubt a luxury, but it’s far from necessary for offensive success.

The history of WKU’s high-powered offense is truly that of a couple of guys in any given year.

While having multiple 1,000-yard receivers anchor a four-man receiving corps is certainly nice, it isn’t necessary.

The most glaring example of this is Mike White’s 2016 season. In a year in which White passed for 4,363 yards, the fifth-most in the country, he relied heavily on the duo of Taylor (1,730) and Norris (1,318), who accounted for 69.8% of White’s passing yards that year.

Taylor finished the year as the nation’s No. 3 receiver and Norris the No. 13 pass catcher.

The next most voluminous receiver that year was Nacarius Fant, who recorded 407 receiving yards (in nine games).

In 2017, White threw for 4,177 yards (the fourth most in the nation) but did it in a much different way. No Hilltopper receiver surpassed 720 receiving yards, a trio of Hilltoppers supported his season: Fant (704), Deon Yelder (688) and Lucky Jackson (600).

It was a similar story for Brandon Doughty in 2014, too. That year, no Topper wideout reached the 900 yard plateau, but he was still able to throw for 4,830 yards with the help of Dangerfield (825), Taylor (767) and Willie McNeal (666).

Those three accounted for just under half (46.7%) of his passing yards that season.

Reed’s Options

Last year, Austin Reed became the second closest a WKU quarterback has ever come to throwing for 5,000 yards without actually doing so (behind only Brandon Doughty’s 2014 campaign), after throwing for 4,746 yards. In the process, he supported a 1,000-yard receiver and four 600-yard pass catchers.

Malachi Corley (1,295)
Daewood Davis (872)
Jaylen Hall (896)
Michael Mathison (615)

This year, assuming Mathison’s injury is as severe as we’re hearing, there are two sure-fire targets that could approach - if not surpass - 1,000 yards for Reed: Corley and Dalvin Smith (who caught 35 passes for 443 yards last year).

To accompany them, we could be in for a surprise breakout: Last week, our Josh Owens told you to keep an eye on Blue Smith for the upcoming year, a Cincinnati transfer who originally committed to Ohio State out of high school, ranked the No. 39 player in the country by Rivals upon his arrival in Columbus.

Or, maybe an old friend slots in, with reports of Craig Burt Jr.’s return imminent. He’d be joining a quarterback he’s caught balls from before in an offensive system he’s familiar with. Would make a fine candidate for a breakout year.

Things Will Work Themselves Out

Whether or not the depth is truly there, I’m not going to worry about how deep or thin the receiver room is until we see it in action. I also like to believe that if the game plan and quarterback are strong enough, it’s a tide that can (and will) lift all other boats in the offense, including the receivers.