WKU Football: Zappe Named Top 50 College QB by Pro Football Focus
New Western Kentucky quarterback Bailey Zappe has been named the #48 starting quarterback in the country by the fine folks over at Pro…
New Western Kentucky quarterback Bailey Zappe has been named the #48 starting quarterback in the country by the fine folks over at Pro Football Focus.
Zappe is the second-ranked C-USA quarterback by PFF, behind North Texas’ Austin Aune (#33).
In their write up, PFF writes:
The Hilltoppers landed a major transfer addition in Zappe, who joins the team from Houston Baptist. While his Husky squad went 1–3 in their four outings last fall, Zappe performed admirably, earning an 86.1 passing grade and leading the team to 0.38 EPA per pass play.
Zappe earned an elite 91.2 passing grade and generated a minimal 1.7% turnover-worthy play rate against FBS competition while at Houston Baptist. He should provide a spark to a Hilltopper passing offense that ranked second-to-last in the C-USA in passing grade and third-to-last in passing efficiency.
The hype is high for Zappe, both in Bowling Green and nationally, but the offseason has been long and you may have forgotten exactly why his arrival on the Hill is so anticipated: In a four-game season last year, Zappe completed 65.6% of his passes (141–215) for 1,833 yards and 15 touchdowns while throwing just one interception (in a 66–38 loss to Louisiana Tech).
Extrapolate those numbers over a more traditional 12-game season, that’s nearly a 5,000-yard passing, 48 touchdown year (also a pace of 420 completed passes).
It’s no secret that WKU’s offense, especially in the passing game, has left a lot to be desired, and there’s a lot of hope Zappe can bring back the gun-slinging styles of Brandon Doughty and Mike White that spoiled Tops’ fans for years.
Last year, the Tops’ averaged 165.3 passing yards per game, the lowest since the 2011 Kawaun Jakes-led Hilltoppers averaged 167.3 yards through the air.
The full slate of C-USA quarterback rankings, according to PFF, can be found below.
#33. Austin Aune (North Texas)
#48. Bailey Zappe (WKU)
#51. Grant Wells (Marshall)
#54. Tyler Johnston III (UAB)
#57. Bailey Hockman (MTSU)
#63. Chris Reynolds (Charlotte)
#78. Frank Harris (UTSA)
#81. Nick Tronti (FAU)
#84. Gavin Hardison (UTEP)
#85. Jovoni Johnson/Luke McCaffrey (Rice)
#104. Trey Lowe III (Southern Miss)
#105. Aaron Allen/Luke Anthony (Louisiana Tech)
#127. Hayden Wolff (ODU)
#128. Max Bortenschlager (FIU)