WKU Football: Recapping WKU’s Interview from CUSA Kickoff & Media Guide Notes
Over the past two days, Conference USA has held their annual kickoff at the Star in Frisco, Texas (same location of the CUSA basketball…
Over the past two days, Conference USA has held their annual kickoff at the Star in Frisco, Texas (same location of the CUSA basketball tournament). WKU Football sent head coach Tyson Helton along with senior wide receiver Lucky Jackson and junior safety Devon Key. They sat down for an interview streamed on Watch ESPN. While there wasn’t a whole lot of new information to be gleaned from the 15-minute interview here’s what each had to say during the interview:
Tyson Helton
Helton reaffirmed that WKU is destination type job for him after his previous time at the school. He fell in love with WKU and Bowling Green community when he was an assistant under Brohm.
They plan on playing an exciting brand of football offensively
“Lucky Jackson is one of our leaders, he was a young guy when I was here before now he is one of our older veterans.”
“Our kids have done a great job of adapting to the new offensive system and have embraced the offense”
“We’re a quarterback-driven offense and we’ll live and die by the QB position.”
The quarterback competition is still open
“Ty Storey will come in and push Steven Duncan and brings a different skillset from Duncan. We’ve got 4–5 guys to bring along, whoever wins the job we’ll adjust our offense to their skillset.”
“It always starts with the offensive line, we’ve got a lot of continuity back in that unit.”
“They’re the foundation of our offense and we’ll put a lot of pressure on those guys.”
Discussed bringing most of the Defensive staff back
Said the returning Defensive staff fit what he was looking for. Clayton White’s vision was very similar to my vision defensively
“The defense is ahead of the offense right now. We may lean on them early.”
Declined to say which newcomers have stood out on defense (probably to keep that a surprise)
“Kyle Bailey has put on 15 pounds and moved from safety to inside linebacker. We feel good about him and he’s got the frame to move inside.”
“Our guys are excited to start off conference play in week 2 and you've got to beat the best (FIU) to be the best.”
Lucky Jackson
Mom and Dad gave him the name Lucky after they had him many years after his older sister
Ecstatic when he heard that Tyson Helton was coming back
“A lot of guys want to play for each other and the coach.”
“Last year was tough and it has left a bad taste in our mouth.”
The competition level has been a lot higher since the new staff took over.
Devon Key
High school offensive background has helped him play safety, especially with receiver route concepts.
“Clayton White coming back is very important to me.”
White thinks the defense can do a whole lot more in year 3.
“Having more sacks helps us on the back end as safety’s.”
While there was only so much you can take away from the short interview it is exciting to be less than 45 days from football season. WKU also released their media guide today. Here are a few more interesting facts to consider as we head into the 2019 season:
Freshman Wide Reciever Manny Allen is still listed on the roster despite being linked to the transfer portal
Update
Juco DL transfer Celestin Haba isn’t listed on the roster. He was a Juco all-American and was thought to bring more pass-rushing skills to the WKU Defensive line and provide depth in 2019–20
Helton’s father Kim has been added to the staff as an offensive analyst. He was the former head coach as Houston from 1993–99 and went 24–53 for the Cougars. He hasn’t coached since 2011 when he was UAB’s offensive coordinator. I see no harm in having him as an analyst which has much less responsibility compared to a position coach (Mike Sanford senior)
WKU has just 14 seniors (still more than last year) but is very junior heavy with 35 players. That bodes well for 2020
Unexpected departures include TE Kris Leach, OL R.J. Scaife, DL Nicholas Coffey, DL Heath Wiggins &, LS Ben Reeder. Other than Leach (Kent State), it is not known if they quit football or transferred. While none of these players were stars, WKU did lose some depth. Wiggins started 11 games in 3 seasons and Reeder was the starting long snapper the past two years.
Returning production is key to WKU turning their fortunes around. This chart is huge
WKU’s biggest recruiting states: Kentucky (36), Georgia (18), Florida (13), Tennessee (13), Alabama (8), South Carolina (5)
WKU has quietly added several FCS transfers to add depth. We knew about linebackers Clay Davis (Tennessee Tech) & Damon Lowe (EKU) but they’ve also added defensive back DeMarquez Trotter (Indiana State) & defensive lineman Robert Crawford (Tennessee State)
Senior wide receiver Marcus Floyd apparently transferred to Morehead State and came back
Offensive lineman Woodford Lankford was a Jeff Brohm commit that switched to Toledo when Mike Sanford was announced as a head coach. He is now with the program he originally committed to.
While the buzz for Football season has been limited after last year’s 3–9 disaster, we are excited to see if Helton can re-invigorate the WKU Football program. Stay tuned to the Towel Rack for more preseason coverage over the next month and a half.