WKU Football: Next Man Up — Wide Receivers
Division I football teams, especially at the G5 level, can be atop the highest mountain one year and be dead last the next. Case in point —…
Division I football teams, especially at the G5 level, can be atop the highest mountain one year and be dead last the next. Case in point — Western Kentucky.
While not losing too many players (the Tops were one of the youngest teams in college football last year, after all), 2019 might still nonetheless have a very different feel to it.
In this series, we’re going to take a look at what the Hilltoppers are losing and who is next in line to replace them in the first year of the Tyson Helton era.
Previous Next Man Up’s: Quarterbacks | Running Backs
WKU’s wide receivers, despite having a rather lackluster 2018 (which, trust me, I know darn well doesn’t fall squarely on that unit’s shoulder) is maybe one of the most optimistic — on paper — units ahead of 2019.
They return every impact player from last year: Lucky Jackson (552 yards, four touchdowns), Jacquez Sloan (495 yards) and Quin Jernighan (437 yards, one touchdown) will all look to feature heavily in Helton’s offense.
But, that doesn’t mean there aren’t men who aren’t ready to make a name for themselves in 2019.
Next Men Up
Russell Brown, Spencer Gaddis, Matthew Smith, Anthony Spurlock, Kawan Williams
All five of these players redshirted after last season and will fight for more playing time behind the guys mentioned above.
Manny Allen, Jeremiah Fails
The two players who, on paper, are most likely to make an impact in the receiving corps in 2019 look to be Allen and Fails.
Allen comes to the Hill from the Golden state and is a one-time Top 50 prospect with major P5 interest.
Fails is a speedy receiver who could be used almost like a catching running back on screens or short-yardage options, keeping opposing defenses off balance.
Clayton Bush, Dalvin Smith, Tyler Smith
If I had to guess, this is the trio that’ll most likely redshirt 2019, but who am I to say?
While I don’t necessarily see a path for any of the Next Men Up to superimpose guys like Jackson, Jernighan or Sloan this year, I’d be happy to be proven wrong and see a breakout performance or two (or five) from a group that used to be the most important on the field for WKU but was very forgettable under the previous regime.