DeANGELO MALONE, BAILEY ZAPPE NAMED TO 2022 REESE’S SENIOR BOWL WATCHLIST
MOBILE, Ala. — A WKU Football duo was named to the 2022 Reese’s Senior Bowl Watchlist, it was announced Thursday morning. Defensive end DeAngelo Malone and quarterback Bailey Zappe were mentioned by the high-profile event as representatives from the Hilltoppers. Zappe is 1-of-26 quarterbacks while Malone is listed as a linebacker and is 1-of-69 from the position group.
Over the past few weeks, Malone has earned Watch List spots for the Chuck Bednarik Award, Bronko Nagurski Trophy and Rotary Lombardi Award, while being voted Conference USA Preseason Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight year. He enters the 2021 campaign as one of the most accomplished defenders in WKU history.
In 48 career games – 39 of them starts – he has made 255 total tackles (135 solo, 120 assisted) while racking up 42.5 tackles for loss and 25 sacks. Malone’s 25th sack on Nov. 14, 2020 vs. Southern Miss set the program’s FBS Era (since 2009) record, while his 42.5 tackles for loss entering the 2021 season stands only 0.5 behind Andrew Jackson for that record as well.
In 2019 he produced 99 tackles – including an FBS Era-record 21 for loss – to go along with 11.5 sacks and 16 quarterback hurries. He was voted C-USA Defensive Player of the Year, the first Hilltopper to earn the distinction since WKU joined the league prior to the 2014 campaign. His 99 total tackles were the third-most by an FBS defensive lineman in a single-season over the past decade.
Zappe, meanwhile, was recently named to the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award Watch List – Texas’ premier honor for a Division I offensive player – and enters the 2021 season as college football’s active career passing leader after throwing for 10,004 yards in four seasons at Houston Baptist.
In the four games of the Huskies’ fall 2020 schedule, Zappe completed 141-of-215 passes (65.6%) for 1,833 yards, with 15 touchdowns and only one interception. At 458.3 yards per game, Zappe’s average led all of college football and ranked 101.3 yards above the leading FBS passer – Dillon Gabriel of UCF, who averaged 357 yards per game – in 2020.
The Reese’s Senior Bowl is the nation’s most prestigious college all-star game, as it annually serves as the first step of the NFL Draft process. The event had 106 total players drafted (41% of all the picks), including 36 selected in the first three rounds of the 2021 NFL Draft. This year’s game will be held on February 5, 2022, at the University of South Alabama’s Hancock Whitney Stadium and air on the NFL Network. Practices throughout the week will be live on ESPN and NFL Network hosts a daily recap show each evening in primetime.
There have been eight previous Hilltoppers to participate in the Senior Bowl: Mike White (2018), Deon Yelder (2018), Forrest Lamp (2017), Taywan Taylor (2017), Tyler Higbee (2016), Antonio Andrews (2014), Jack Doyle (2013) and Joseph Jefferson (2002). All eight were either drafted or signed later in the process.How to Follow the Hilltoppers: For complete information on WKU Hilltopper Football, follow the program via social media @WKUFootball on Twitter and Facebook.
-@WKUSports-
