HILLTOPPERS OPEN SEASON AGAINST AUSTIN PEAY ON AUGUST 27
Western Kentucky University closed its spring football drills last weekend and everyone seemed to be in the best of spirits.
One, the end of the semester is in sight for the Hilltoppers’ student-athletes, the NCAA buzzword for the last two or three generations.
Two, Western Kentucky is coming off a solid 9-5 season, a decisive victory over Appalachian State in the Boca Raton Bowl and seemingly more interest and enthusiasm for the program than we’ve seen in recent years.
And three, the spring football game is a welcome sight for coaches, players, and just about everyone else because it means spring football is OVER.
It’s critical, for a team’s development, and it offers opportunities to compete for playing time. But let’s face it.
It’s drudgery. It’s important, even critical, to take a break.
Spring football is a lot of work, plenty of classroom time, and the games don’t start until the final weekend in August.
Maybe that’s why fourth-year WKU coach Tyson Helton seemed to be in such an upbeat mood last weekend, when the Hilltoppers used their spring game as more of a meet-the-team affair, rather than getting loaded for bear like they were gonna play MTSU or sumthin’.
No live tackling.
It made perfect sense.
I introduced myself to Helton, who’s been around football all his life, and found him to be an engaging sort of guy.
I told Helton I’d be covering the team some this fall, and gave him my background, my experience as a freshman walk-on offensive lineman with the HIlltoppers, going through spring football too before deciding to leave the game and major in the ’70s.
(Plus, fraternity football in those days was borderline insane. We wore mouthpieces and there was plenty of contact on the line. Yes, you stopped a play by grabbing a flag, rather than making a tackle, but sometimes, the lines got a little blurry.)
I knew Helton had played college football when his father, Kim Hilton, was coaching at the University of Houston. So I asked him when he played there.
Helton didn’t miss a beat and said, “1996-99.”
Man, did I feel really old. Right then and there.
That was almost two decades after I became a professional sports scribbler, and I did some time at three daily newspapers in the Houston area — Baytown, Freeport/ Lake Jackson and Conroe — to know about Helton’s background.
The Hilltoppers caught lightning in a bottle for the 2021 season, turning senior transfer Bailey Zeppe into a 1-year passing phenomenon and solid NFL prospect. Helton and his coaching staff deserve a lot of credit, too, but it was Zeppe who made the wide-open offense work, and he left some big cleats to fill.
Seasoned quarterbacks such as Jarret Doege and Austin Reed will be players to watch when the Hilltoppers begin summer drills in about three months. But we all should keep an eye on incoming freshman Caden Veltkamp, who graduated from high school early to get a head start on college football.
Veltkamp had a sensational senior year at South Warren High School, guiding the tradition-rich Spartans to a 14-1 season and the KHSAA Class 5A state championship.
“The main reason (for graduating early) is a really just wanted a chance to learn the offense,” Veltkamp said.
Veltkamp got some snaps, too, in the spring game, but there was no live tackling and that made it more of a dress rehearsal than anything else. Helton didn’t want to take any chances with an unnecessary injuries and that’s the right approach when you’re scrambling in the Group of Five college teams.
Helton said he’d make a decision on his starting quarterback later this season, perhaps not until right before opening night against Austin Peay State University on August 27.
Conference USA, sadly, ain’t what it used to be, but that’s where the Hilltoppers are, after the latest shuffling between conferences.
Tyson Helton says Western will play anybody who’s interested, and he means it. The Hilltoppers will travel to Bloomington to face Indiana University on September 17, and they’ll get to play in Jordan-Hare Stadium when WKU squares off with Auburn University on November 19.
“That’s what Western is known for, playing teams like that,” Helton said. “If you want to be in the national conversation, you have to have a challenging schedule. I embrace that.
“We’ve got a good culture here, for our players. They really like it here, playing at Western.”
The Hilltoppers have made their mark in the NFL, from tight end duo Jack Doyle (Indianapolis Colts) and Tyler Higbee (Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams). George Fant is an established NFL offensive tackle who is now toiling for the New York Jets. Mike White has been a backup quarterback with the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants.
Western Kentucky defensive end DeAngelo Malone became the Atlanta Falcons’ third-round draft pick on Saturday morning, the 82nd overall in the draft. You know Zeppe is going to get a chance to grab an NFL roster spot, and sure enough, he went in the fourth round to Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots.
Former star receiver Lucky Jackson signed with the Canadian to Football League’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and the CFL has long been a proving ground for NFL skill players.
AFTER WINNING A STATE TITLE AT SOUTH WARREN.
Veltkamp is rooming with former South Warren teammate Jake Jackson, who also graduated early after the Spartans derailed Lexington’s Frederick Douglass High School 38-26 in the KHSAA 5A title game at Kroger Field.
I couldn’t help but notice that while the 6-foot-3, 250-pound Jackson was bigger than almost all of the other South Warren linemen, he looked a little undersized around his new WKU teammates.
Of course, that’ll only make Jackson work harder, to succeed, because anyone who’s seen him play know what a destructive force he can be to an offense.
Jackson got considerable playing time in last week’s spring game and should push for playing time at defensive end. He said the biggest difference from high school is simple.
“We have more time on our own,” he said.
Before I left the stadium I got a chance to ask Tyson Helton about the South Warren duo, particularly Veltkamp because he’s a quarterback, the most critical position on any team. At any level of play.
“Caden’s done really well. I thought he’s learned things really fast,” Helton said. “He still has a whole long way to go, but this was a great head start for him.”
I think you could say the Hilltoppers have gotten a pretty good head start toward their 2022 season, especially after there was some movement within Helton’s coaching staff. Tyson Summers, for instance, is the Hilltoppers’ new defensive coordinator. Summers has been an assistant coach at three different Power Five schools — Georgia, Colorado and Florida.
“For me, spring is more of an evaluation piece,” Helton said. “Everybody’s getting reps, you’re trying to progress everybody, trying to say, ‘Who might be a starter, at a certain position … and then try to bring along the young guys.
“As you get into the summer, really you’re focusing on the season. So it really just becomes more about the competition.“
The Hilltoppers won nine games in Helton’s first and third seasons in Bowling Green, and the 5-7 mark in 2022 was obviously complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
All things considered, I’d have to say Western has every reason to be encouraged about its prospects for the 2002 season.