WKU Football: Helton Era Opens With 2019 Spring Game

Today is the final day we’ll be able to take in the Hilltoppers on the grid iron until late in the summer when practice starts to lead up…

Today is the final day we’ll be able to take in the Hilltoppers on the grid iron until late in the summer when practice starts to lead up to the start of the season.

While I’ll, unfortunately, be unable to watch the game, with the combination of my not living in Bowling Green and the game not being streamed/broadcast in any capacity, there’ll still be things I’m watching for under the head coaching tootalige of Tyson Helton for the first time.

Quarterback Competition

For the second straight year, we are entering the spring game not knowing who the starting quarterback will be. All eyes will be on a trio of players — 2018 starters Steve Duncan and Davis Shanley along with 2018 recruiting class wunderkind Kevaris Thomas.

Today will also be the first time WKU fans will see Ty Storey in the chrome dome after his grad transfer from Arkansas.

Who looks crisp? Who has the arm? Who is making good decisions in the pocket? These are all things to look for with all four guys. I’m not expecting an answer as to who the starter will be after today, but it’ll be nice to know who is sitting where.

Next Man Up: Middle Linebackers

With the indefinite injury to Eli Brown, what do guys like transfers Clay Davis and Damon Lowe, as well as a guy like Kyle Bailey, do with the opportunity to play in the middle?

I wanna go fast

The day Helton was announced as head coach, he announced he wanted to return to the Brohm-era of play, which is first and foremost explosive and fast. I saw first hand last year a team struggle to find their offensive identity in a system swap last year with Willie Taggart’s ‘Gulf Coast Offense’ at Florida State and how slow it took the Seminoles to get things right.

While those are two very different circumstances, I’m expecting a similar outcome for WKU today; not as fast and explosive as the offense can be, and even as fans might want to see, but you’ll still be able to see the improvements.

While there aren’t many, there are still a few guys from the Brohm-era of play that remember what the run-and-gun style of play was like. No one on last year’s FSU team knew how the GCO was supposed to run, so they were lost for most of the year. While I’m not expecting that with WKU, I don’t think what we see Saturday is going to be what we see come August 29.

Stay Healthy

…Pretty uh…pretty self explanatory there.

What are you hoping to see ahead of today’s spring game? Let us know over on Twitter.