Jim Mashek

FORMER SOUTH WARREN STAR MADE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT IN HIS ONE SEASON AS THE HILLTOPPERS’ STARTING QUARTERBACK

Western Kentucky University’s football program is in bounce-back mode after the Hilltoppers’ starting quarterback, redshirt sophomore Caden Veltkamp, disclosed that he will be transferring to Florida Atlantic University for the spring semester in 2025.

Veltkamp, who guided South Warren High School to the KHSAA Class 5A state championship in 2021, became the Hilltoppers’ starting QB three games into the 2024 season. He provided steady leadership, a presence in the pocket and plenty of big plays — in the passing game, as well as on the ground — for the Tops, who finished with an 8-6 overall record after dropping a 27-17 decision to James Madison University last week in the Boca Raton Bowl.

Veltkamp will have two more seasons of eligibility remaining, and he figures to be leaving Bowling Green for South Florida in the next week or so, with classes at FAU beginning on January 6, two days after he reports to the Owls’ football team. The 6-foot-5, 215-pound Veltkamp said the opportunity to play for FAU’s new head coach, 33-year-old Zach Kittley, was a critical factor in his decision to cast his lot with the Owls, a second-year member of the American Athletic Conference.

Kittley was the WKU offensive coordinator in Veltkamp’s final season at South Warren High School, spending three seasons in that same capacity at Texas Tech before taking his first head coaching job with the Owls.

“To be honest, I didn’t want to go to the (NCAA Transfer) Portal this year, at least not at first,” Veltkamp said. “But having an opportunity to play in Coach Kittley’s offense, that was something that really appealed to me.

“Our (WKU) offense changed a little bit this year. We weren’t an ‘Air Raid’ team, not at all. That’s what a lot of guys I got recruited with wanted to do. That’s what I was hoping to do. We had a lot of guys in the Portal (after the Conference USA championship game), and we really didn’t seem to have much of a team coming back (for 2025), particularly on offense.”

Veltkamp and two WKU teammates, sophomore wide receiver Easton Messer and redshirt junior tight end River Helms, stayed in Boca Raton after the Hilltoppers’ bowl game, and Veltkamp and Messer made the decision to transfer to FAU in the last few days. Helms, a 6-foot-4 tight end, missed the second half of the 2024 season with a torn labrum.

“River is still evaluating his options for next season,” Veltkamp said.

Veltkamp replaced the well traveled T.J. Finley as the Hilltoppers’ starting quarterback in the third week of the 2024 season, after Finley was injured in the opening moments of Western’s C-USA opener against traditional rival Middle Tennessee State. He turned in a magnificent performance, completing 27 of 30 passes for 398 yards and five touchdowns, as the Tops rolled to a 49-21 victory over the Blue Raiders.

(Finley, who was Texas State’s starting quarterback in 2023, is taking a medical redshirt season and transferring to Tulane University, also a member of the American Athletic Conference.)

Veltkamp quickly established himself as the WKU quarterback, sparking the team to comeback victories over Toledo, New Mexico State and Jacksonville State. The Hilltoppers won the JSU game, 19-17, on sophomore placekicker Lucas Carneiro’s 50-yard field goal in the final seconds, setting up the rematch six days later in the C-USA championship game.

Carneiro also entered the portal earlier this month, and he’s on his way to play for the Ole Miss Rebels, a high-profile program in the prestigious Southeastern Conference.

Veltkamp said the potential for Name/Image/Likeness revenue “really wasn’t a factor” in his decision to transfer to Florida Atlantic, which welcomed the news of Veltkamp’s impending arrival with a “Welcome to Paradise” meme to be used in social media settings.

FAU was a member of Conference USA from 2013 until the 2021-22 school year, which included the Owls’ dramatic run to the Final Four in men’s basketball. Tom Herman was fired as the FAU coach in November, and the Owls finished the season with a 3-9 record, including a dismal 1-7 showing in the American Athletic Conference.

Veltkamp said Kittley was one of the primary WKU coaches to recruit him during his senior year at South Warren High School, and he enrolled at Western roughly three years ago, giving the Hilltoppers three years with the program.

“The majority of our (WKU) team, on offense, is either graduating or going into the portal,” Veltkamp said.

Veltkamp’s most memorable performance may have been in the Famous Toastery Bowl roughly 13 months ago in Charlotte, North Carolina, when he came off the bench to lead the Hilltoppers to a 38-35 victory over Old Dominion University.

Veltkamp expressed his gratitude to South Warren and WKU coaches in a message posted on ‘X,’ formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday afternoon. He spent much of the day on the telephone making plans for his impending move to South Florida.

Veltkamp’s statement read, in part:

“Western Kentucky has blessed me and my family in more ways than I could have imagined when we moved to Bowling Green in 2018 … I will always be appreciative of the coaches at South Warren and Western Kentucky and have a tremendous amount of respect for (WKU head) Coach (Tyson) Helton …

“In 2019, (Helton) hired my Dad (as the WKU strength and conditioning coach), which allowed me to finish my high school career in one place …

“My only regret is not being able to bring a conference championship back to Bowling Green. I hope to make an impact on the younger generation, and the people who will come after me … Leaving Western Kentucky was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make, but the opportunity to play for Coach Kittley at FAU was not something I could pass up.”

Veltkamp passed for 3,108 yards and 25 touchdowns in his one season as the Hilltoppers’ starting quarterback. He struggled, however, at times with turnovers, including 10 interceptions and six lost fumbles.

Veltkamp’s younger brother, Colton Veltkamp, just concluded his high school career at South Warren. He was a two-way player at tight end and outside linebacker, and was named to the Courier-Journal’s all-state team, among others. Colton Veltkamp is headed to Georgia Southern University.