WKU Football: Reading Between the Lines after Media Day
Well, it’s that time of year. Football camps are starting to get moving, and it’s about to get real busy in the sports world again. Let’s be honest: watching baseball regular season and the women’s World Cup doesn’t make my year anyway.
August is an exciting time, and it brings back personal memories from the glory years. On Tuesday, WKU football head coach Tyson Helton sat down with the media with Juwuan Jones and Kyle Fourtenbary and discussed his outlook on the team.
Helton highlighted a few position groups as he was asked about them. Some concerns were no-brainers, and a few others were a little bit of a surprise to hear him a mention.
Honestly, reading the tea leaves a little bit, I’m not sure he knows what he has right now. Now granted, that’s always somewhat true going into camp. At times, you don’t have a quarter of your team in town until that first August practice. It’s still concerning to hear him say he’s concerned about over half of the position groups.
Needless to say, he’s got a long time to figure out how this season is going to turn out. But from what he said, I also have some concerns that frankly I didn’t have before the press conference.
The Obvious Issues
Quarterback
I hate to start out with this one because it’s so cliché, but the quarterback position was a huge liability last season. Four quarterbacks saw action, and none of them proved to be the next Brandon Doughty, Mike White, or not even more of a game manager like Kawaun Jakes. From what Helton said of the quarterbacks, he’s still searching for “the man”.
Translation: He’s not confident about the QB situation, but hopeful someone can step up and be the next great Topper quarterback. He did also say he would announce the starter about a week and a half before the first game, so be on the lookout for an announcement within the next few weeks.
Running Back
“There’s probably four or five guys that we need to…hand the ball to and see what they can do with it.”
“You’d love to have a featured back. I don’t…today, I don’t think we have a featured back and that’s ok. We’ve got four or five guys that we feel like are solid guys.”
“We don’t have…kinda that workhorse right now that you say, ‘Hey he’s the every-down back.’ Hey, that’s ok.”
“I’m not gonna call it running back by committee, but today we don’t have a set guy that I can say, ‘This is kind of our workhorse.’”
Translation: No obvious superstar. He did say they all have different skill sets. Most people that have followed the Tops understand the different guys available in the backfield for WKU.
Three backs have reached 500 total yards in a single season, but each of those guys did it in a different season (Q. Baker, 2016; Moses, 2017; Samuel, 2018). If they could put those together, that’s a pretty darn good running back room. But Baker just transferred back in and Moses is coming off an injury-riddled 2018.
Linebacker
Tyson made comments suggesting Eli Brown (former transfer from UK) will probably sit out 2019 due to injury. Is it completely ruled out? No, but it’s extremely unlikely. He also said they’re working on eligibility with the transfer from Georgia, Jaden Hunter.
He did not mention either of the other transfers: Malik Staples (Louisville), Clay Davis (Tennessee Tech), or Damon Lowe (EKU).
Translation: He hopes and prays Jaden Hunter gets eligible, because the position has no real experience at the Division I level without one of the two SEC transfers on the field. To me, this is the one single position I am and have been most worried about with the Tops. If both SEC transfers are out, you are going to have to play someone that has limited role-playing experience at this level, play a freshman, or play an FCS transfer. Scary, but there’s potential to be just fine. If Hunter is eligible, watch out.
The Surprises
This kind of took me aback a little bit. One area I was not horribly concerned about was the back end of the defense and receivers.
Defensive Back
This was an area I thought surely would just definitely improve. It’s interesting that he said he’s definitely trying to put in some youth that hasn’t shown up yet. Did he say that exactly? No, but he did say he was looking to fill out the back end of the rotation with youth.
Translation: To me, that means he doesn’t feel like he has that much depth there. That’s a surprise to me with names like Devon Key (2018 C-USA Honorable Mention), Roger Cray, Ta’Corian “Coco” Darden (2018 C-USA Second Team/Honorable Mention), and Dionte Ruffin that are proven contributors. Then you have new impressive names like Clayton Bush and JUCO transfer Trae Meadows.
Unless there are injury issues unbeknownst to me or Towel Rack, this might be a little bit pessimistic viewpoint on the DBs. Frankly, I think they could be one of the better units on the whole team. But hey it’s on my radar as a potential issue now.
Wide Receiver
Yes, the wide receivers were absolutely hideous last year. However, you still have senior Lucky Jackson (Two time C-USA Honorable Mention) who could climb as high as second on the WKU all-time list in receiving yards and is likely to be top ten in every receiving category by the end of the season. He was also recruited by Jeff Brohm and Tyson Helton, so maybe he can fit right into the new system.
In addition to that obvious star, Jacquez Sloan (677 career receiving yards, coming off of an injury), Xavier Lane (391 yards), Garland LaFrance (308 total yards; now a wide receiver), Jahcour Pearson (172 yards), and Quin Jernighan (889 yards) all bring some measure of experience.
Now, clearly, none of those have amassed more than 600 yards in one season. No one, including Lucky Jackson, has really sniffed 1,000 yards in a single season. However, if each could improve and possibly blossom under a more prolific offense and a more consistent quarterback situation, the wide receiver room could really be productive.
What Helton said: “At the receiver position, we have three young receivers that just came in. We’ve gotta see if those guys can help us. We’re excited about those guys. Competition brings out the best in everyone.”
Translation: “I sure hope one or two of these guys brings some star power.” Clearly, Western has some depth at receiver with a full rotations worth of experience. However, they’re all learning a new offense and most were recruited for a different style of offense. Also, not one has proven to be a true superstar. Will they be able to adjust enough this year to be a really good unit? If they want to be really good, somebody has to get 1,000 yards and somebody else better get close. Who will that be?
Solid Position Groups
These are groups that Tyson Helton either briefly mentioned or did not mention at all, but we know they should be solid.
Defensive Line
Freshman All-American Juwuan Jones, who by the way was incredibly impressive, was at the press conference. However, although he was interesting when he spoke, he didn’t play much of a role. However, looking at the defensive line in general, this should be one of the best units in the entire conference.
Jones’ accolades in his first year spoke for themselves, but add in DeAngelo Malone (C-USA Honorable Mention/3rd Team All-CUSA) and Jaylon George (3 sacks; 6 TFL) and some other guys with some journeyman experience with the Tops.
With some JUCO transfers and some good looking young guys, hopefully the defensive line can provide some pop after the first string. However, the starting lineup should be lights out.
Offensive Line
Helton barely mentioned the offensive line but did say he felt good about where they were.
Well, yeah I would, too. The O-Line should be big, mean, and deep. WKU will certainly have one of the deeper offensive lines in perhaps the country, with nearly a two-deep of guys that have seen significant action and could start on most C-USA teams.
Tackle Miles Pate is on several watchlists and is far and away the best pro prospect heading into 2019 for the Tops. Carrying a lot of traits similar to Forrest Lamp, Pate is actually bigger than Forrest but moves like a man 30 pounds lighter than Miles’ 315-pound frame.
Expect the offensive line to be very good this year.
Tight End
The tight end position seems to be in good shape. One thing about a Willie Taggart/Stanford disciple is going to be they recruit good tight ends.
WKU is pretty deep at this position, and Kyle Fourtenbary seems to be a budding star. Despite an anemic offense last year, Fourtenbary found ways to get open and lead the team in several categories. Let’s hope he contributes more on the field than he did at the press conference.
Tight end may not be as good as the Higbee, Doyle, and Henry days, but Mike Sanford brought in some really nice pieces to place on the ends of the offensive line. Expect several guys to contribute from this unit.
Specialists
There was not one mention of special teams, which honestly could mean one of two things: Complete disaster or completely unconcerned. Last year, it meant disaster. This year, I would lean toward the latter: Completely unconcerned.
Nothing personally against Alex Rinella, the returning do-it-all man from last year, but he was put into a position he was never really intended last season. Jake Collins left for Northwestern (understandable) and left a huge void in the special teams unit.
Rinella knows what he’s doing, but he’s not the guy you want actually doing the kicking and punting duties. Rinella, if asked to kick this year, should be improved.
However, John Haggarty should be worlds better in the punting game and easily start from day one. He can absolutely boom it. Other competition in some newcomers could create a challenge for the kicking spot, as well. Regardless, special teams should be massively improved from last season.
Long snapper Ben Reeder has been excellent from the start of his career, but hopefully bulking up will make him even more effective.
Reaction to the Overall Tone
First of all, let me be clear: Tyson Helton seems to be saying the right things, but observing coaches and their keys to their real thoughts lead me to believe the current standard of talent and development is not where it needs to be for him right now.
To me, maybe some of this is a coach trying to motivate his team heading into camp. Maybe the team sort of feels like it should just automatically improve. Whatever he’s doing, he caught my attention. Either he really is concerned about the makeup of this roster, or he’s nitpicking.
But in the press conference, he said things like, “I don’t know how long this will take, but getting everybody pulling in the right direction gives us the best chance,” “I don’t know how much winning we’ll do,” and “Competition makes everybody better.”
Those things are true, noncommittal, and vague. They’re also low key and minimizing expectations. He’s not proclaiming 12–0. However, I think he brings confidence and a respectability factor without being a dictator.
First, I think he’s going to hold this program to a higher standard. This team is not to be just expected to go to a bowl game. The expectation is a championship. Second, I think he’s being honest and saying he sees some issues.
Ultimately, did he win the press conference and get me or anyone fired up? No. Then again, who freaking cares? It’s the start of camp. It’s exciting in itself, and the true picture of the Tops in 2019 should become more apparent over the next few weeks. Stay tuned!
