WKU Football: Five Questions as Fall Camp Continues

With the flipping of the calendar to August, one thing is on all our minds, FOOTBALL IS BACK BABY!!! Your boys in the Chrome Domes have begun fall camp and these 5 questions we need to be answered before the first coin toss. (And yes I am including the opener against the Central Arkansas Purple Drank… I mean bears. After they peed down their leg last year against Maine I’m taking nothing for granted.)

What will the Offense Actually Look Like?

Bobbyball, Brohmball, lots of names get thrown around to define styles of play. Though admittedly, “Heltonball” and “Tyball” don’t have the same ring to it. Dammit Ty, why can’t you participate in the alliteration? Regardless of the lack of catchy moniker, understanding what the “new” offense will look like may not be as easy as cutting and pasting from the Jeff Brohm playbook.

Personnel matter and Sanford brought in a couple of recruiting classes purportedly designed to run his style of offense which, according to everything we’ve heard, is the antithesis of Tyson Helton. For instance, there is arguably not a talented prototypical pocket passer QB on this team. (Notice I said “talented”..Sorry Storey, but if you can’t hack it on a bad Arkansas team I don’t think you can play in the FBS).

Duncan won games but was careless with the football. Shanley showed flashes but had injury issues and Thomas has shown off a cannon in practice but hasn’t shown he can run the offense yet. Not of them have shown they are a high caliber quarterback at the FBS level yet. Don’t be surprised if Helton does what Sanford wouldn’t (or couldn’t) and tailors his game plan to fit his more athletic QBs and lack of standout position players. More on that to come.

Which Skilled Players will Step Up?

It’s not a hot take to say that WKU’s offense last season was less than stellar. Or, ya know, what I call it, pathetically anemic. Tops fans are dying to see the big play, up-tempo football return to the Hill. But to do that they will have to return to form with explosive and consistent play from its skill positions.

In 2018 the Tops did not have a single-player join the 1,000-yard club. (total passing yards and biggest receivers) This is not a recipe for success. Will this be the year that Lucky Jackson finally becomes the stud receiver he was billed as? Will Kyle Fourtenbary continue the excellence of Tight-End-U? Will we have a 3 down back? On that note, Helton has said they are still looking for “the guy” but doesn’t want to say it’s going to be running back by committee. (Soooooooo what? There won’t be any run plays called this year?)

Someone has to do it if Helton is to stay true to his word and take shots down the field.

Will the Offensive Line Finally Gel?

One of the glaring weaknesses for the Tops the past two seasons has been their rushing offense. A good rushing offense is predicated on a deep O line that works as a seamless unit. That was something they just didn’t have last year. While 2018 was an improvement from a historically pathetic 2017, the statistical rankings from 2018 bear that out. WKU ranked 103 in rushing offense, 97th in sacks allowed, and 71st in tackles for loss allowed, the 2018 iteration of the offensive line lacked the consistency needed for Sanford’s offense to truly shine.

This year the team returns 8 lettermen of their 12 returning players after only losing one. Five of those 8 have two or more years of experience in trench warfare. If this team is to get over the hump this year, it starts with this unit. Will we see a senior take a massive step forward from all-conference player Miles Pate? Or will a young gun like Cole Spencer show out?

Will the Red Zone Woes End?

We often talk about how bad WKU’s offense was last year, and don’t get me wrong, it was terrible. But between the 20s it was passable. Steven Duncan and crew were able to move the ball on occasion. What they struggled mightily with was actually punching it in. How many drives did fans see stall out around the opponent’s 30 last year? The Tops ranked 119th in red-zone offense last year. A lot of that was their inability to run the ball and the lack of consistency at the QB position. This is something that Tyson Helton must rectify if he wants to get out of the CUSA basement.

What should the fans expect?

Ok, I know this doesn’t seem like something that Helton and the team have a lot of control over, but hear me out. Fall camp is when we first start to see the team take reps that sort of matter. You get a feel about where guys are on the depth chart and the tone of the team.

With the full benefit of hindsight, we found out that from the beginning of the last regime’s tenure on The Hill the culture wasn’t what it should have been. It was treated as a “rebuild” even though the team was coming off one of the best seasons in program history. That, combined with all the outward swag (which I’ll be the first to admit, I fell for hook line and sinker. I mean come one, the Nike switch, DJ Khaled? How can you not be excited?). But we should have known better.

This year the tone set by Tyson Helton and the players both on and off the practice field should give you a feel for where this team will go by seasons end.

I won’t give my prediction for the season away just yet, after all, we gotta get you back for that article as well, but I firmly believe that if the fans pay attention to the coverage (including that found on this site by the much better writers) they will come away from camp with at least an expectation for how this season will go, even if it’s likely to be a dumb one. I know mine will be.