Old & New Faces on WKU Offense Awaiting Louisville
When Louisville & Western Kentucky meet on the gridiron of Cardinal Stadium this Saturday to kickoff the 2020 season, many players on both side will be reacquainted with one another.
One year removed from their neutral site contest in which Louisville won 38-21 at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., the Cardinals & Hilltoppers both return sixteen offensive & defensive starters for the rematch.
While WKU has a heavy veteran presence on defense as they return nine starters on that side of the ball, their offense has a few noteworthy returners as well. They may have lost their No. 1 wide receiver and their starting quarterback, but their top offensive threat is back for another shot at Louisville.
After rushing for 1,208 yards and eight touchdowns a season ago, running back Gaej Walker is back on The Hill. The 6-foot-0, 195-pound redshirt senior from Tampa, Fla. established himself as one of the best backs in Conference-USA due to his athleticism and all-around usefulness.
"He does a really good job of getting downhill when he needs to get downhill, but he's shifty as well," defensive coordinator Bryan Brown said in a teleconference Wednesday after practice. "He can stick a foot in the ground and get north & south really really quickly. He's good in protection. Overall, he's a really good athlete."
What makes Walker's 2019 season even more impressive is the fact that it was his first year at the position in college. In high school he spent time on both sides of the ball, but at WKU he had previously been exclusively a defensive back.
"That kid has groomed himself into a really good running back," Brown said. "To be able to see that, that's just really impressive to me within itself and learning the offense."
The Hilltoppers might be retaining two of their top three receiving options as well as four of the five starting offensive linemen, but a spot that lack continuity heading into the 2020 season is at the quarterback position.
Coming over from Maryland over the offseason as a graduate transfer, Tyrrell Pigrome was awarded with the starting nod by WKU head coach Tyson Helton. Affectionately known as 'Piggy T' by his teammates, the 5-foot-10, 210-pound quarterback collected 2,407 total yards of offense in 34 games & seven starts as a Terrapin.
"He's an explosive quarterback that has a really, really strong arm and does a great job of keeping his eyes down the field even when he does get outside the pocket," Brown said. "But he's also a runner - he's like a running back. So they'll use him in the run game as well."
Even with a new signal caller under center, Brown isn't expecting a radically different offense than what he saw last year in Nashville. If anything, he expects the Hilltoppers to add some RPOs to the offense - something Pigrome was used to at Maryland.
As far as receivers go, WKU returns their No. 2 wide receiver in Jahcour Pearson & starting tight end John Simon. Pearson accumulated 804 receiving yards and seven touchdowns, while Simon hauled in 430 yards and four scores.
Lucky Jackson, who led the team in receiving yards with 1,133, departed in the offseason due to graduation. After finishing the 2019 season with 341 yards and a pair of scores, Quin Jernigan also saw his college eligibility expire. Jacquez Sloan, who was due to be elevated to a starter's role this season, entered the transfer portal earlier this week.
Louisville is set to kickoff the season against the Hilltoppers at home on Saturday, Sept. 12 at 8:00pm on the ACC Network.
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