WKU Football: Tyson Helton May Have Just Been Given His Most Useful Recruiting Pitch Yet

A pair of high-profile offensive transfers left WKU for the Power 5, only to miss out on getting drafted. If I'm Tyson Helton, I'm taking this and using it to my advantage.

Western Kentucky head football coach Tyson Helton was given one of his best recruiting tools this weekend, when a pair of high-profile WKU transfers had to settle for undrafted free agent status.

Two of WKU’s biggest offensive departures following the 2021 season - wide receiver Mitchell Tinsley and offensive lineman Mason Brooks - did not hear their name called from the stage in Kansas City, though they did eventually find homes, both signing with the Washington Commanders as UDFA’s.

ed. note - This is the first time I’ve written on Substack since they essentially banned the embedding of Twitter links. I feel for the other, more regular writers across this platform.

I’d like to get this out of the way up front: I, in no way, harbor any ill will towards Brooks or Tinsley for transferring and seeing what Power college football had to offer. I also want to recognize that there are more reasons a player may want to transfer than to improve their draft stock or chances. And if Mason or Mitchell ever happen to come across this, I’d love to speak with either one of you and talk about your experience, both the decision making and what your post-WKU career was like, for better and/or worse.

Having said that, if I’m Tyson Helton, this is the best recruiting tool I have when it comes to helping to build, shape and - most notably - maintain my WKU roster.

In the transfer portal era, it’s the assumption that if you ball out for a G5 program, you can get your P5 offer, go ball out there, then get your golden ticket into the NFL. Easy peasy. However, Brooks and Tinsley are the caution stories for that line of thinking.

Tinsley became a valuable commodity for Penn State, leading the team in receptions (51), tying for the team lead in touchdown receptions (five) and finishing second in total yards (577…it’s a different style of football in the Big Ten) catching passes from an NFL-draftee in Sean Clifford.

All things being equal, his numbers would have netted him fifth, fourth and fifth, respectively, on this past year’s WKU squad but lets be real, with Mitchell Tinsley still in tow, the Tops probably look his way more often than, say, Jaylen Hall or Michael Mathison, both of which caught more passes in the Chrome Domes than Tinsley did in Happy Valley. In the absence of Jerreth Sterns and being a 1,000-yard catcher in 2022, would Tinsley have slotted in as the lead receiver for the Tops? Could he have matched or surpassed Sterns’ 1,900-yard season?

We may never know.

Brooks, on the other hand, was not a plug-and-play option for Ole Miss. He did appear in all 13 games, but logged mostly special teams snaps on the Rebels’ field goal and special teams units.

I’m not sure if you can call it a “turning point,” or say if it’ll have any impact on future transfer decisions, but the announced returns of Austin Reed and Malachi Corley (both who are certainly shoe ins for the 2024 NFL Draft), seems to signal something positive in terms of player retention is on the horizon and that WKU can break through the G5 mold and keep their most valuable Sunday-bound prospects.

Afterall, they have just as many quarterbacks drafted in the last eight years than Kentucky has had in the last nearly 60.

Though, it’s not a fool-proof theory: Ahead of 2023, the Tops are losing several high-profile players from the 2022 campaign. Josh Simon, Joey Beljan, Gunner Britton, Kye Robichaux and Rusty Staats have all committed to new programs, taking a combined 1,034 yards and 13 touchdowns with them.

It’s also not fool proof in the sense that there’s no guarantee Brooks or Tinsley would have been drafted had they stayed on the Hill - it was a very power-program heavy draft and only one Hilltopper heard his name get called this weekend.

WKU’s history of next men up is long and rich and Helton has more than proven he can find ways to replicate and reproduce lost talent. And Tinsley and Brooks’ path to the NFL isn’t going to put an end to every transfer, that’s just modern-day college football (and a style that Helton and WKU take advantage of better than almost anyone else in the country).

But it might become a point WKU’s coaching staff is able to point to. Sure, you can head to Happy Valley or Oxford or Auburn or Lubbock and play well enough to secure your draft status.

Or, you could stay on the Hill, flirt with breaking records and winning conference championships, and continue to make WKU a household G5 name.