A quick look at Western Kentucky’s top offensive weapons
Alabama opens up its 2024 regular season against Western Kentucky in Bryant-Denny Stadium. While WKU should pose no threat to the Tide, they aren’t a bad team or program. They went 8-5 with a bowl win last year, something that has become the norm under coach Tyson Helton.
In Helton’s five years at the helm, Western Kentucky has three 9-win seasons and now an 8-win campaign, capping off all of them with bowl wins. His only losing season was a 5-7 mark posted in 2020.
Though they got blasted 63-10 by Ohio State in their only Power Five game last year, WKU was a competitive team throughout the season. In fact, they shared common opponents with both Alabama and Auburn in 2023 and outperformed both SEC teams in the box score. In their season opener, they beat South Florida by 17 points (41-24) and later lost to New Mexico State by just nine (38-29).
WKU has had some high level talent on the offensive side of the ball in recent years. From last season’s team, prolific quarterback Austin Reed signed with the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent while leading receiver Malachi Corley was a third round pick of the New York Jets. With assistance from the transfer portal, Western will once again boast a lot of Power Four caliber talent.
Western Kentucky 2024 Offensive Personnel
In 2024, the Hilltoppers will be led offensively by a familiar foe in quarterback TJ Finley. Finley started games against the Tide for SEC West rivals LSU and Auburn before bouncing to Texas State and finally landing at Western Kentucky. He had a pretty rough time as an SEC quarterback, appearing in 18 games over three seasons and throwing just 12 touchdowns with 10 interceptions.
At Texas State last season, he looked a lot better in a full-time role against lower level competition. He threw for over 3,400 yards with 24 touchdowns and eight picks, adding five more rushing scores.
Finley’s size (listed 6’7” 250 lbs) makes him hard to bring down at times, but he is far from nimble and is not really a running threat. If I had to give a comp, I would call him a poor man’s DJ Uiagalelei. If Alabama can get some pressure on him, he has shown that he can be prone to turning the ball over.
Elijah Young is a solid player who returns as WKU’s starting running back. He played three years of SEC ball as a reserve at Missouri before transferring. Last season, he led Western with 474 rushing yards, adding 247 receiving yards and scoring six total touchdowns.
He is a small back who shouldn’t have much success running between the tackles against Alabama’s massive front seven, but the Tide will have to account for him out of the backfield.
Wide receivers Dalvin Smith (50 catches, 513 yards, six touchdowns) and Easton Messer (42/484/4) are the leading returning receivers from last year and should take on bigger roles this fall. Joining them on the perimeter will be two potential impact transfers.
Wide receiver Kisean Johnson transfers in from Alabama State where he terrorized SWAC competition in 2023. Johnson racked up 61 receptions for 829 yards and seven touchdowns in just 10 games last season, and could continue to be an impact player for WKU.
Another former LSU and Auburn player will take the field for the Hilltoppers in wide receiver Koy Moore. Moore and Finley are very familiar with one another and will now be teammates at a third different school.
Moore spent two seasons in Baton Rouge and two more on the Plains, catching 22 balls for the Bayou Bengals in 2020 and making 20 receptions for Auburn in 2022. For his career, he has 51 catches for 594 yards and one touchdown…which ironically came against Western Kentucky in the 2022 season.
Expect the Hilltoppers to spread the ball out and try to test Alabama’s unproven secondary. This is a good early season challenge for that position group, and the Tide’s ability to generate a pass rush could really give it some help.