BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Houston Baptist made headlines during the 2020 season for the mind-boggling passing numbers the Huskies put up under offensive coordinator Zach Kittley.
In only four games – three of which were against FBS opponents – quarterback Bailey Zappe completed 141-of-215 passes (65.6%) for 1,833 yards, with 15 touchdowns and one interception. A trio of wide receivers – Jerreth Sterns, Josh Sterns and Ben Ratzlaff – combined to produce 89 receptions for 1,256 yards and 12 touchdowns.
In early December, WKU Football head coach Tyson Helton called upon Kittley to come to The Hill and coach the Hilltoppers’ offense beginning in 2021. Only three days later, Jerreth and Josh announced their transfer to WKU, and Zappe followed about a week after. On February 4, Ratzlaff also made the decision to join his former teammates in Bowling Green to make the quintet whole once again.
Although Ratzlaff won’t be on campus until the summer, Kittley and the other three players have been participating in winter workouts and were in Houchens-Smith Stadium on Tuesday for Day 1 of spring practice.
“To be honest with you it was really good to get on the field, to be around the guys and the coaching staff – everything about it,” Kittley said in a Zoom press conference with local media that evening. “Just the feet hitting the turf and knowing we’re going to get after it and get to work. I thought the kids had great energy and it was a pretty good first day.”
Spring ball will be extremely important for Kittley and the Hilltoppers, as the team will be able to practice installing his Air Raid offense over the next month. Although Zappe, Jerreth and Josh are more familiar with the offense, they all start in the same standing among all the other quarterbacks and wideouts on the WKU roster: Competing.
“The more competition [there is], I feel like everybody will get better all around,” Josh said. “If there wasn’t competition, people would get satisfied with where they’re at instead of trying to get better to beat the person in front of them. So I think competition’s very important.”
When asked about what skill traits they bring to the offense, Jerreth noted that he wanted to be the “gritty dude” who never drops a pass and always moves the chains on third down. Josh simply stated – with a smirk and a laugh – “I’m a deep threat. I take the top off.”
Jerreth and Josh join a group of receivers that includes a talented group of returners who caught passes last year in Craig Burt, Jr., Malachi Corley, Dakota Thomas, Mitchell Tinsley, Terez Traynor and Dayton Wade. Newcomer Daewood Davis from Oregon – who impressed both Kittley and Zappe with some nice catches in his team practice debut – also joins the mix.
They all give major credit to their new teammates for welcoming them so warmly to their new school back in January. In a team setting, there can sometimes be awkward adjustments or weird treatment to the new faces who join the squad, but not here at WKU.
“It’s been really smooth because all the people who have already been here just took us in real well,” Jerreth said. “There wasn’t any hating going on, they just took us in as one of their own. I had Dayton Wade and Malachi Corley showing me around, showing me how things worked around here. So it’s been good and really nice to have those guys help me get adapted.”
Meanwhile, Zappe joins a quarterback room with returning senior Tyrrell Pigrome, second-year freshmen Darius Ocean and Grady Robison, and transfer Drew Zaubi. With limited reps right now, Kittley says he’s focused on creating competition and evaluating everything that comes from practices, workouts and position meetings.
Just like Jerreth and the wideouts, Zappe expressed the same team camaraderie among the quarterback group.
“We’ve all five built a really good relationship,” he said. “There’s no animosity even though we’re competing. We all want the best for each other and I really like that.”
They’re on the same page about building team chemistry because they’re on the same page for the team’s goal: Win.
After a 5-7 season in 2020, the Hilltoppers are hungrier than ever to return to the winning expectation that gave WKU back-to-back Conference USA Championships in 2015 and 2016, and a 9-4 record and a bowl victory in Helton’s first season in 2019. Heck, even though HBU averaged 458 passing yards per game in their four contests, they went 1-3 in a limited 2020 campaign.
Everybody’s on the same page about what’s really at stake, as well as the importance of quality spring practices to get them on the right track to reach their goals.
“Everybody here wants to win, and they’ll do everything they can to accomplish that,” Zappe said. “Coming here, they got some freaks at receiver and O-line. It’s awesome to be playing with some guys like that and I’m really excited to build that chemistry together the rest of the spring and onto fall.”
He continued, “We got a heck of a defense, some freaks at receiver and a heck of an O-line and I’m joining a winning tradition here and it’s really exciting. My one goal is to win and we’re going to do everything in our power to do that.”
