WKU Football: Tops Heading into Final Week of Practice Before 2024 Spring Showcase
Hilltopper Football is within a week of wrapping up its official spring practice schedule. They will finish by showing off the current roster Saturday, April 20th at Houchens-Industries Stadium.
WKU Football is coming off yet another really good season.
Despite (perhaps unrealistic) expectations through the roof, WKU still produced a good season (8-5, 5-3 CUSA, Famous Toastery Bowl Champions). WKU’s roster (truly every position group affected) was littered with injuries last season, and yet somehow WKU salvaged a positive result.
Despite losing two of WKU’s greatest all-time offense weapons in quarterback Austin Reed and wide receiver Malachi Corley, WKU still looks to be one of the best teams in Conference USA. Both Corley and Reed will have pro opportunities, and Corley is almost certainly going to be drafted in the top three rounds of the NFL Draft.
Just like every season, other players have announced their intention to leave via the transfer portal (for full info on all of the moving parts, check out our WKU Football Roster Tracker), players have graduated, and a few players will just quit playing football. These things happen.
However, WKU seems to have salvaged some major pieces, and if all goes well and WKU fills in major holes of need, the Tops should be just as good as they have been under Tyson Helton…or better…hopefully.
Questions at Each Position Group Need to Be Answered by WKU:
Who is the quarterback? It is likely between Texas State transfer TJ Finley and BG local kid and bowl game breakout star Caden Veltkamp. Also, once we figure out who the QB is, how good can they be and can they lead this team to a conference championship?
What about wide receiver? Malachi Corley, along with several other historically significant names in recent years, have moved on from the Tops. WKU has few proven receivers, and zero receivers that have proven capable of being great consistently for an entire season. Dalvin Smith has had moments, but he’s also had injuries. Easton Messer was a find last season, but he was neither used early, nor did he produce every single game. Other guys will have to step up.
Running back is another position in question. WKU should have some players there, but how is the depth? WKU loses a couple of important pieces due to finally exhausting their eligibility. Is there a bell cow? How good will they be in pass protection?
Tight end is also a question. This is more a “next step” type of question, but WKU has not had a prolific tight end grouop since Joshua Simon and Kyle Fourtenbary. Those two trickled out of the program into the transfer portal in recent years, and it’s left River Helms, a solid prospect, along with other decent tight end options, to make it happen. WKU’s offense isn’t crippled without a tight end presence, but if River and his tributaries could help this offense flow against a good defense by tearing up the middle, so many things would open up in WKU’s offense.
The Offensive Line lost more guys to the transfer portal, this time losing a mountain of a man in Wes Dorsey that I don’t think people truly understand how big of a guy he was. That man’s hands engulfed mine, and I am 6’3”. He was huge. Part-time starter Mark Goode is also gone, as well as starter Vinnie Murphy. WKU’s offensive line shocked us all, giving up low double digit sacks. However, a lot of that was Austin Reed’s escapability. I believe a normal quarterback without elite knowledge of the pocket easily gets sacked over 20 times with last year’s offensive line. Regardless, three quality players are out, and once again, WKU has few proven starters
Defensive Line is always a question mark. Even if you know you have solid people, you need about ten players that can legitimately be a rotation for the D-Line, and you need at least a healthy eight by the end of the season, if not ten or more. WKU has some guys that can play, but Western is really in need of a historically good defensive tackle. The Tops have not had a bruising consistent force since Brodric Martin, and even Brodric was not a stat stuffer. Also, a true defensive end that can play both the run and pass would be a crucial addition.
The great question at linebacker is, “Who is the next great WKU linebacker?” If Donut Evans is not even listed on the roster, it’s unlikely to magically assume that WKU has forgotten to include its best overall player. If WKU doesn’t have “book end” up front, can a linebacker play that “hybrid” role and push for ten sacks and 80 tackles? WKU’s defense really needs some high end producing, game breaking guys like the Tops had in Andrew Jackson, Q Smith, Donut, DeAngelo Malone, and Joel Iyiegbuniwe. Even a Juwuan Jones that produces 15 or 20 career sacks would be huge.
WKU’s secondary has been hit with age and transfer, as well. Rome Weber (graduation), Kendrick Simpkins (transfer to Baylor), and Talique Allen (in transfer portal and not listed on current roster) are all presumed or known losses that take away starters in the backend of a WKU defense that struggled to keep opponents under 30 points and 400 total yards. Quality DBs are usually not difficult to come by, but also if you whiff on some key replacements, the Tops could struggle. Topper standout cornerback Upton Stout should be back, but even he is coming off of an injury that kept him out for a chunk of 2023.
Kicker: Cory Munson has graduated and moved on. He served as the kickoff specialist the past several seasons, and he was a known quantity at kicker if he was ever needed. He also went all of last season without kicking a single kick out of bounds, an incredible achievement. He’s gone. Does WKU have someone who can do as good of a job as he did on kickoff? Lucas Carneiro was very good at place kicking, especially early in the season. Is he on track this season?
Punter: Tom Ellard was not a picture of perfection, but he was very good at kicking away from the punt returner, as well as net punting average in general. His leg was not as booming as some previous Topper punters, but he was a solid player back there. With him having to transfer down Divisions because of NCAA foolishness, this leaves a big question mark at punter. Cole Maynard, transfer from North Carolina, would be the presumed punter. Whoever it is, are they any good? WKU has had punters average from mid-30s to upper 40s. 10-12 yards per punt could completely change several ball games in terms of the field position battle.
Long Snapper: An often forgotten position, WKU ran into some trouble with the long snapping last year, getting wobbly, off-target, and slow snaps every once in a while. Can WKU tighten this up and make sure no punts or field goals get blocked in 2024?
Overall Themes of Concern for WKU Football
Offense: Are there seemingly answers at every position group? Do they look like they have a clue?
Defense: Are there any amazing plays? Do you see athleticism? Are there players that stand out in terms of leverage or speed?
Special Teams: Is there anything really bad that happens that makes you cringe? Are they fundamentally sound?
Does the team feel like it’s “on a mission” or “all about business”? There are certain teams that carry off a very serious vibe and just impress you with their presence. Sometimes you can just tell that certain teams are more focused than others. It’s not a death sentence if WKU’s spring football team doesn’t seem focused, but it sure would be great to see Topper Football out there flying around and getting after it.
Does Tyson Helton seem fully engaged and really locked in to his job? In his sixth year now on The Hill, how does Tyson carry himself? That could be a very negative or positive answer.
Does this look like a team that could control the line of scrimmage? As much as we like to talk about quarterbacks, receivers, and running backs, the games are often won (or controlled) by the guys up front. Does WKU have a little “nasty” in them up front on both sides of the ball?
Is there leadership? Some WKU teams have had zero leadership, and that led to a team that did well when things went well, but when they went wrong, no one was there to right the ship. WKU needs guys that can step up and lead their team to greatness.
Ultimately, It’s Spring Ball, Y’all
It’s nice to see something on the gridiron in the offseason, but whatever you see in the spring game or “showcase” as they’re calling it now doesn’t mean everything in the world.
What you don’t want to see is a completely absent-minded dumpster fire. If the Tops look awful and look like they don’t care, that’s never good to see.
However, even if that is what you see, it doesn’t mean much anyway. From an internal perspective, hopefully the Tops are taking care of bodies and making sure people are on the same page heading into summer workouts.
Watch out for changes that surprise you. Watch out for players you don’t know. Watch out for new concepts and tendencies. Watch out for athleticism. Watch out for strength and speed. Sometimes watching individuals is where you’ll see the most interesting things at a spring game. That’s where you can see the progress.
The main thing is going to see what’s up with the 2024 Tops. If you don’t get eyes on the team, you have no idea what to expect heading into the 2024 season.
WKU Sports in general is headed in the right direction, and hopefully that excitement will spill over into attendance at things like spring games, WKU Baseball, and other “non-revenue” moments and sports at WKU.
WKU Football has arguably had its greatest decade in the past ten seasons or so, winning bowl games, multiple conference championships, and posting a winning record nearly every year.
Tyson Helton has shown loyalty to WKU, sticking around despite opportunities to possibly move elsewhere.
For anyone that is not able to make it to The Houch, You can also tune into @thetowelrackwku on Twitter/X for build-up, live tweets, and reactions. While you’re at it, go ahead and check out the RedOut Podcast on Twitter/X and on YouTube. RedOut will be tweeting some updates, as well and responding to the action. They are also our video content guys. As always, we are your #1 source for unfiltered and honest WKU content!