WKU Football: Spring Practice Opens For Team 100
This afternoon, the second year under Mike Sanford will, more or less, officially begin as the Tops will open up spring practice for five…
This afternoon, the second year under Mike Sanford will, more or less, officially begin as the Tops will open up spring practice for five weeks, leading up to the Spring Game on April 21.
The obvious question heading into practice is who is going to replace Mike White at quarterback and, on paper, the Tops have no shortage of options.
I think its fair to call Drew Eckles the favorite for the starting job, having the most experience of the QB corps, but Steve Duncan, Davis Shanley, Graydon Kulick and four-star freshman Kevaris Thomas are looking to change that narrative.
There are some other, less-high profile battles to be had this spring as well, as the Tops have several holes to fill, on both sides of the ball.
It’s easy to look at that chart and worry about how competitive WKU will be when five positions are missing a starter from last season. I personally don’t think it’s as worrisome, and some of these battles (tackle, left tackle and left guard) will be what ends up proving how successful WKU can be in 2018.
One key number as we look ahead to 2018: WKU returns 50.2% of last year’s receiving yards after the departures of Cameron Echols-Luper, Nacarius Fant and Kylen Towner. But, as we talked about following Bill Connelly’s preview for SBNation, the fact that we know the next crop of receiving weapons as well as we do, especially with Jacquez Sloan and Quin Jernighan, can only be a positive, especially with having to break in a new starting QB.
And, finally, how much improved is the offensive line, how much will we be able to tell how improved they are, and how will the running backs (which the Tops return everyone) look behind them?
Long story short, there’s plenty to look for as the spring begins, and I know I may be in the minority, but I have a good feeling about 2018.