Western Kentucky football has made some unusual moves to get back to top of C-USA

Tyson Helton would rather talk about his football team’s defense than its offense, and with good reason.

Helton describes Western Kentucky’s defense as the team’s backbone, the unit that will give the Hilltoppers a chance to secure a third straight postseason bowl game and potentially win the Conference USA East Division for the first time since 2016.

The Hilltoppers’ defense, eighth in the nation in passing yards allowed per game last season (177), is anchored by fifth-year defensive end and Preseason C-USA Defensive Player of the Year DeAngelo Malone.

But WKU’s ambitions, as well as its fortunes against a difficult non-conference schedule that features two Big Ten teams, will largely depend on its new-look offense.

Offensive coordinator Zach Kittley, grad transfer quarterback Bailey Zappe and wide receivers Ben Ratzlaff and brothers Jerreth and Josh Sterns all arrived at WKU this offseason from Houston Baptist University, an FCS school in Houston, Texas.

This Texas migration has brought the Air Raid offense to WKU, a decision Helton said was based on getting more offensive snaps.

“If you look at Coach Kittley’s offense, he’s probably averaging somewhere around 85, 90 snaps a game. I just felt like we needed that in our offense,” Helton said during C-USA Media Day, held virtually in July.

Houston Baptist played a truncated four-game schedule in 2020, but the offensive statistics compiled were impressive.

Zappe, announced by Helton as WKU’s starting quarterback in early August, completed 141 of his 215 pass attempts for 1,833 yards, 15 touchdowns and just one interception. Three of HBU’s four games last season came against FBS opponents, including a two-point loss at Texas Tech during which Zappe threw for a school-record 567 yards.

“I firmly believe we’re going to go 12-0,” Zappe said during WKU’s media day in early August.

The three wideouts that transferred to WKU along with Zappe: Ratzlaff and the Sterns brothers, were HBU’s three leading receivers last season, combining for 89 catches, 1,256 yards and 12 touchdowns in four games each.

Fourth-year offensive lineman Cole Spencer — who has played more than 2,100 career snaps at WKU and has made 23 consecutive starts at left tackle — said Zappe took command of the WKU offense from the start of spring practice.

“This is his system, so he knows it better than any of us and then he really took charge of the offense and asserted his dominance,” Spencer said. “The Sterns brothers, Ben (Ratzlaff), Bailey, they all want to make plays.”

While it remains to be seen how the HBU transplants fare at the FBS level, a proven commodity for the WKU defense remains Malone, who holds the program’s FBS-era sacks record with 25 and is closing in on the program’s FBS-era tackles-for-loss record as well.

“He’s like our ‘Predator,’ he wreaks havoc in the backfield, he brings high energy to our defense,” said fifth-year safety Antwon Kincade. “Everything that needs to be done, we look at DeAngelo Malone to make it happen. He gets to the backfield with just his quick moves and everything. ... He clears up a lot of things for second-level and third-level players.”

“He needs to go shine in those (non-conference) games ... that’s what he’s going to be evaluated off of,” Helton said of Malone during WKU’s media day. “He kind of brings the juice and the mojo to our defense.”

Putting the special in special teams

WKU is tied for the second-fewest overall returning starters in C-USA, but the kicking game retains experience.

Redshirt sophomore kicker Brayden Narveson made 13 of his 14 field goal attempts last season, while redshirt senior John Haggerty III, who is from Australia, owns the two best punting seasons in WKU history after averaging 45.9 yards per punt in 2019 and 45.7 in 2020, a performance that came after offseason knee surgery in 2020.

Western Kentucky is one of just 12 FBS teams with both a kicker on the Lou Groza Award watch list and a punter on the Ray Guy Award watch list.

Haggerty trained for college football through the Prokick Australia academy, getting a call at 6 a.m. one day after Western Kentucky offered him a scholarship.

He had 12 hours to decide whether or not to accept it, with a deal-breaker being that WKU needed to take both him and his then-girlfriend, now wife, Spenser.

“We knew it was close to Nashville and that was basically all we knew,” Haggerty said of WKU. “I knew it was Division I football and it was FBS and that was basically all I wanted.”

Since arriving in Bowling Green in January 2019, John hasn’t been back to Australia, and he still isn’t sure when he’ll go back: The plan following the 2021 season is to stay and train for NFL opportunities.

But when he does goes back there will be another family member to pack for, as on July 29 the Haggertys welcomed their first son, Lincoln John Haggerty, into the world.

Scouting report

Head coach: Tyson Helton (third season).

Last season: 5-7 overall, 4-3 in C-USA.

Returning starters: 14 (five on offense, five on defense and four specialists).

Outlook: Helton’s third season as head coach will feature a revamped offense led by the likes of Kittley and Zappe, and having four players at key offensive positions who are familiar with the new Air Raid offensive setup should help the system get installed. Helton expects the defense to be the backbone of this WKU team though, and Malone, who for the second straight year was voted the Preseason C-USA Defensive Player of the Year, figures to be the linchpin to defensive success again.

WKU’s non-conference schedule is incredibly challenging, with a game at Army on the 20-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, followed by consecutive games against Big Ten opponents Indiana, at home, and Michigan State, on the road. Two games that have also received a lot of preseason chatter are the C-USA opener at home against UTSA and a season-ending trip to defending C-USA East Division champion Marshall.

Question marks: Helton said he will be taking on a new role this season, giving offensive play-calling responsibilities to Kittley instead of handling it himself. It remains to be seen how Kittley’s Air Raid system and its key personnel, who all thrived at the FCS level, will fare at a higher level.

Game of the year: The Sept. 25 home game against Indiana could offer WKU the chance for its first win over a ranked team since November 2014.

2021 WKU football schedule

Home games in all capital letters. All times Eastern.

Sept. 2: UT MARTIN, 8 p.m., ESPN Plus

Sept. 11: At Army, 11:30 a.m., CBS Sports Network

Sept. 25: INDIANA, 8 p.m., CBS Sports Network

Oct. 2: At Michigan State, 7:30 p.m., TV TBA

Oct. 9: UTSA, 7 p.m., Stadium

Oct. 16: At Old Dominion, 3:30 p.m., ESPN Plus

Oct. 23: At Florida International, 7 p.m., ESPN Plus

Oct. 30: CHARLOTTE, 4 p.m. ESPN Plus

Nov. 6: MIDDLE TENNESSEE, 3:30 p.m., Stadium

Nov. 13: At Rice, 2 p.m., ESPN Plus

Nov. 20: FLORIDA ATLANTIC, Noon, Stadium

Nov. 27: At Marshall, 3:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network

This story was originally published August 31, 2021 at 7:32 AM.

Cameron Drummond

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-242-5257

Cameron Drummond works as a sports reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader with a focus on Kentucky men’s basketball recruiting and the UK men’s basketball team, horse racing, soccer and other sports in Central Kentucky. Drummond is a second-generation American who was born and raised in Texas, before graduating from Indiana University. He is a fluent Spanish speaker who previously worked as a community news reporter in Austin, Texas. Support my work with a digital subscription