BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — WKU Football head coach Tyson Helton has announced a series of promotions from within the coaching staff. The Hilltoppers are coming off a 9-5 season in which the team went 7-1 in Conference USA play to claim the league’s East Division Championship, then capped the campaign with a 59-38 victory over App State in the 2021 RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl.
Andy LaRussa – who enters his fourth year on staff – will add an Assistant Head Coach title, while serving as the Special Teams Coordinator and Tight Ends coach. For the past three seasons, LaRussa was WKU’s Special Teams Coordinator and Safeties coach.
Ben Arbuckle – who was an Offensive Quality Control coach in 2021 – will become a full-time assistant as a Co-Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks coach.
Josh Crawford – who enters his second year on staff – will add a Co-Offensive Coordinator title, while serving as the Wide Receivers coach. In 2021, Crawford was WKU’s Outside Receivers coach.
Zach Lankford – who was an Offensive Quality Control coach in 2021, but enters his seventh career season at WKU – will become a full-time assistant as a Co-Offensive Coordinator and Offensive Line coach.
Scott Vestal – who was a Defensive Analyst for the Hilltoppers in 2021 – will become a full-time assistant as an Inside Linebackers coach.
LaRussa has had successful special teams units in his first three years on The Hill. In 2019, punter John Haggerty III was named First Team All-CUSA, the first Hilltopper punter since Brian Claybourn in 2003 and 2004 to be voted First Team All-Conference. Freshman kicker Cory Munson hit a 52-yard game-winning, walk-off field goal to give WKU a 23-20 victory over Western Michigan in the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl. Meanwhile, long snapper Jared Nash, was named Second Team All-CUSA. In terms of kick and punt operation time, the Hilltoppers were only 1-of-29 teams nationally and 1-of-2 C-USA clubs with zero kicks blocked. On the flip side, WKU was only 1-of-30 nationally and 1-of-3 C-USA clubs with three or more blocked kicks.
In 2020, Haggerty provided continued success following his record-setting debut season. The Australian punted 56 times for 2,560 total yards and a 45.7-yard average, which ranked seventh in FBS and second in C-USA (Lucas Dean of UTSA, 46.0-yard average). After transferring to WKU in the summer, kicker Brayden Narveson won the starting kicking job during Fall Camp and didn’t look back. The redshirt sophomore made 13-of-14 field goal attempts and was a perfect 27-of-27 on extra point tries in 2020, scoring 66 total points in 12 games. He was only 1-of-20 FBS kickers listed as a Lou Groza Award Semifinalist, the first Hilltopper to do so since Schwettman in 2015. Both Narveson and Haggerty were voted All-CUSA Second Team by the league’s coaches.
In 2021, because of WKU’s No. 2 scoring offense in the nation at 44.2 points per game, Haggerty did not punt enough for the Aussie to qualify for individual records among the other FBS punters. If he did, his 48.7-yard average (on 33 punts) mark would have ranked fourth in the nation. Haggerty finished with 134 total punts in his collegiate career and averaged 46.5 yards per kick, which makes him the all-time leader in both C-USA and Hilltopper program history. Meanwhile, Narveson made 23-of-29 (79.3%) field goal attempts and 72-of-72 extra points for a total of 141 points scored, which led all FBS kickers. In total, he scored nine-plus points in 11-of-14 games and was voted to the All-CUSA Second Team for the second-straight year.
Arbuckle worked alongside former Offensive Coordinator Zach Kittley in the quarterbacks room during Bailey Zappe’s record-setting 2021 season. Zappe finished the campaign by completing 475-of 686 passes (69.2%) for 5,987 yards, with 62 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He led the nation in yards by 1,095 and touchdowns by 15; the next closest was Alabama’s Bryce Young with 4,872 yards and 47 touchdowns. With 422 yards and six touchdowns in the Hilltoppers’ 59-38 victory over App State in the RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl, Zappe set new all-time single-season FBS records, passing Texas Tech’s B.J. Symons, who had 5,833 yards in 13 games in 2003 and LSU’s Joe Burrow, who had 60 touchdowns in 15 games in 2019.
From 2020-to-2021, the Hilltoppers went from scoring 19.0 points per game to 44.2 (+25.2 increase leads the nation), scoring 2.0 offensive touchdowns per game to 5.4 (+3.4) and 164.3 passing yards per game to 433.7 (+269.4). The 433.7 passing yards per game is the second-best number in FBS over the past five seasons (2019 Washington State averaged 437.2). In 14 games this season, Zappe had 90 passing “chunk” plays of 20 or more yards with 25 of those going for touchdowns. Comparatively, in 12 games in 2020, WKU had 15 “chunk” passing plays with three of those going for touchdowns.
Zappe was named the winner of the 2021 Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award. He was also named a Finalist for the Manning Award, as well as a Semifinalist for the Davey O’Brien and Walter Camp Player of the Year Awards. He was Conference USA Offensive Player of the Week four times and was voted the league’s Most Valuable Player by the 14 head coaches. Arbuckle spent three of the previous four seasons working with Zappe and Kittley, while he was at Seminole High School in Texas for the other.
Crawford was named a 2021 FootballScoop Wide Receivers Coach of the Year Finalist after he led a position group that helped Bailey Zappe break the NCAA’s all-time single-season records for passing yards (5,967) and passing touchdowns (62). The Hilltoppers’ primary outside receivers – Mitchell Tinsley and Daewood Davis – both started all 14 games and combined for 130 catches for 2,165 yards and 22 touchdowns.
Tinsley’s 87 receptions, 1,402 yards and 14 scores were the fourth-most by a WKU receiver in a single campaign in the program’s 103-season history. The 14 touchdowns rank fifth in FBS this season, while his 1,402 yards rank eighth and 87 catches are 16th. Meanwhile, Davis’ 763 yards and eight touchdowns ranked fourth on the Hilltoppers, while his 43 receptions were fourth. His 17.7 yards per catch led the team and ranked 14th in FBS among players with 40-plus catches.
In addition, the trio of Craig Burt, Jr., Ben Ratzlaff and Dakota Thomas combined for 34 receptions for 437 yards and three scores. Overall, the position group had 164 catches for 2,602 yards and 22 touchdowns, while averaging 15.9 yards per reception. Crawford began his coaching career in 2010 and spent the next 11 seasons coaching offense at some of Georgia’s highest-profile high school programs before joining WKU in January 2021.
Lankford has coached the tight ends group for the past three seasons in his return to The Hill. In 2019 and 2020, Joshua Simon totaled 63 receptions for 800 yards and seven touchdowns in his first two years at WKU. Simon had three catches for 73 yards and two touchdowns in the Hilltoppers’ 2021 season-opening win over UT Martin, but suffered a season-ending injury during the contest. Still, Lankford was able to have Joey Beljan step in to the starting role for the remainder of the season and make a positive impact. The former walk-on from Holland, N.J., made 14 receptions for 91 yards and six scores, while serving a crucial role in blocking schemes.
The Georgia native originally spent three seasons at WKU from 2014-16. His time coincided with three consecutive bowl victories and two consecutive Conference USA championships. Lankford assisted with the offensive line and helped to develop one of the program’s all-time greatest offensive line groups in 2015 and 2016. Those two units were also roundly considered some of the nation’s best with starters Forrest Lamp, Brandon Ray, Max Halpin and Darrell Williams leading the charge.
Vestal joined the Hilltopper program as a Defensive Analyst prior to the 2021 campaign and worked alongside Defensive Coordinator Maurice Crum. This season, WKU led the nation with 63 pass breakups and 84 total passes defended. The defense’s 21 interceptions ranked second in FBS while the 31 total turnovers were third. The team ranked seventh in the country with 15 forced fumbles and a plus-11 turnover margin. Overall, the defense’s 22 stops on fourth down (opponents were 19-of-41 overall) also led the nation.
The 20-year coaching veteran has been on the sidelines ever since his graduation from Texas A&M in 2003. Vestal has spent time at numerous high-profile programs, including Power Five schools Texas, Florida, Kansas and Maryland. Before coming to The Hill, he was at Rice University for four years as the Linebackers coach and Recruiting Coordinator. During Vestal’s time in Houston, linebacker Blaze Alldredge became one of the best defenders in C-USA before transferring to Missouri for his final season of eligibility.
Three other full-time assistant coaches will return from this past season: Crum, Defensive Line coach Kenny Baker and Cornerbacks coach Keynodo Hudson. Two new hires for the Hilltoppers will be announced soon.
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