TO BE ABLE TO ADJUST, ON THE GO,
BUT THAT’s FOOTBALL.”
MAVERICK McIVOR MOVES INTO NEW ROLE AS HILLTOPPERS’ QUARTERBACK
Western Kentucky University’s football team is taking a head-first dive into the 2025 season.
The Hilltoppers, looking to improve on last year’s 8-6 finish, are one of a handful of NCAA Division I teams competing in “Week Zero” of the season, and they’ve got a challenge on their hands in playing host to Sam Houston State on Saturday night in a Conference USA game to be televised by the CBS Sports Network.
“It’s going to be a big challenge, right out of the gate, but we’re excited about it,” WKU seventh-year head coach Tyson Helton said during his weekly press conference.
It’s been an offseason of considerable change, on the field as well as the sidelines, for the Tops in the evolving world of college football. Helton acknowledges the vast number of new faces on his WKU squad, and he’s quick to remind Hilltoppers fans that “the season is a marathon … it’s going to take everybody for us to make a run for a championship.”
WKU has more than 60 newcomers on the squad, with a handful of returning starters such as offensive lineman Marshall Jackson and defensive back Demarko Williams. The Hilltoppers, like a lot of college football teams, have had to rebuild through the NCAA transfer portal, oftentimes in bulk, in addition to their recruiting efforts of high school and junior college players.
“We’ve got to find out who our playmakers are,” Helton said.
Senior quarterback Maverick McIvor has the highest profile of the Tops’ first-year players, primarily because of the position he plays and the offense that’s been implemented by Helton and first-year WKU offensive coordinator Rick Bowie. McIvor and Bowie played major roles in Abilene Christian University’s 9-5 finish last season, and they’ve both arrived in Bowling Green intent on making their mark with the Hilltoppers.
“In today’s college football, there’s always unknowns,” Bowie said. “You try to focus on yourself. (McIvor) is a high quality character, and he takes his role very seriously.
“It’s always different when the lights go on.”
McIvor succeeds former WKU quarterback Caden Veltkamp, who transferred to Florida Atlantic University after guiding the Hilltoppers into last year’s Conference USA championship game. Veltkamp and the Tops struggled down the stretch of the 2024 season, falling to Jacksonville State, 52-12, in the C-USA title contest before dropping a 27-17 decision to James Madison University in December’s Boca Raton Bowl.
Sam Houston State, meanwhile, returns plenty of talent on the offensive side of the ball. But the Bearkats are arguably a team in transition themselves, as veteran coach Phil Longo enters his first year as the SHSU head coach, succeeding K.C. Keeler. The Hilltoppers struck for 14 fourth-quarter points last year to outdistance Sam Houston, 31-14, in a Conference USA matchup in Huntsville, Texas.
HARPER HOLLOMAN (LEFT)
AND DeMARKO WILLIAMS.
“They’re returning eight of 11 guys on offense, and their quarterback (Hunter Watson) is a really good player,” WKU co-defensive coordinator Da’Von Brown said. “Their quarterback can run the football …”
Which is OK by WKU defensive end Harper Holloman.
“We know we have to stop the run,” he said.
That’ll be a point of emphasis for both squads, of course, as the Hilltoppers look to establish a new identity with their revamped roster.
“I like where we’re at, right now,” WKU coach Tyson Helton said.
Maverick McIvor and Abilene Christian reached the second round of last year’s NCAA Division I FCS tournament, falling to longtime Division I-AA/FCS powerhouse North Dakota State, 51-31, in Fargo, North Dakota, last December. McIvor passed for 3,828 yards and 30 touchdowns last season at Abilene Christian before entering the NCAA Transfer Portal for the second time. The 6-foot-2 quarterback began his college career at Texas Tech.
“I’m super grateful that I’m here,” McIvor said last month in a press conference at Houchens-Smith Stadium.
WKU is a double-digit favorite, and depth figures to be a critical factor in the summertime heat. The Hilltoppers play their first two games of the season at home, against Sam Houston State and FCS squad North Alabama, before hitting the road to face the Toledo Rockets of the Mid-American Conference on September 6. The Hilltoppers struck for a 26-21 upset of Toledo last year at Houchens-Smith Stadium.
“I think we’re a little bigger, a little stronger, on defense, which is good,” Helton said. “You’ve got to be able to adjust, on the go, but that’s football.”
WKU will honor the 1975 Hilltoppers squad before the game. WKU finished 11-2 that season, winning the Ohio Valley Conference championship on its way to the NCAA Division II title game. Northern Michigan slipped past the Tops, 16-14, in that game.
FINISHED AS THE NCAA DIVISION II RUNNER-UP.
LAST YEAR IN HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS.