WKU HEAD COACH TYSON HELTON
Opening statement:
““It was a good first win, a lot of positives and a lot of things to build off of. Felt like the guys were in it the whole game they were playing for each other and really happy for the overall performance. Now if we got to go back to the drawing board correct some mistakes we had and correct some things that get you beat, but it was a good first win and we celebrate all wins. So, very happy for this football team.”
On Bailey Zappe:
“We are petal to the metal all the time, and he (Zappe) tried to take an early shot versus man coverage, left the ball a little bit inside. But that is what I love about him, he is one snap and clear, he doesn’t have a memory when it comes to that kind of stuff. So, he went right back out there and probably lit a fire underneath him to go out there and do what he did tonight. With the style of offense, we play you are going to have to live with some of that, but it was good to see him rebound very quickly from that.”
HILLTOPPER PLAYERS
Graduate senior quarterback Bailey Zappe
On fans’ high praise for the offense:
“It’s an amazing feeling, personally I am a big football fanatic… I have personally went back to watch the Doughty days and to be able to see him do what he did on the field is incredible, and then you had Mike White right after him and then Ty Storey… You know those three back-to-back to-back QB’s are all great QB’s and did great things here. Just to be able to be compared to those guys is awesome… You know we are only one week in, hopefully we can carry it on for the next 11 to 12 weeks… It’s an awesome feeling to be compared to those guys, they are WKU greats, so it’s really nice.”
Junior wide receiver Jerreth Sterns
On playing his first game at an FBS program:
““You know it’s honestly just an awesome feeling… It’s truly just a blessing to even be in this position, I never thought I would be playing FBS football and be doing it alongside my little brother and Bailey who I have come to be best friends with and its honestly just a great feeling.”
Senior safety Antwon Kincade
On seeing a lot of fans in the stands:
“The atmosphere was crazy, it reminded me of my first year with Mike White at quarterback we had a whole lot of fans out there. It was a great atmosphere and great energy. So for fans to come out and be in the white out and be behind us was so amazing, the Berm was full with students yelling with their crazy selves and yelling give the opposing team havoc. Thank you all WKU fans, staff creating a perfect atmosphere like that, and God bless college football for blessing us to be able to have all the fans back in the stands.”
Redshirt sophomore cornerback Miguel Edwards
On grabbing an interception in his first WKU game:
“First game here it was a great atmosphere really, I felt good coming in and then just my first game back after a long while going JuCo and then coming back here and my first game catching an interception. I would say it was a blessing and it definitely felt good.”
UT MARTIN HEAD COACH JASON SIMPSON
Opening statement:
“Honestly not very good. Any time you give up 50-something points and eight touchdown passes, you can’t be pleased with that. You’ll go through the tape and there’ll be some victories that you’ve had, some stops. But that’s how the game goes. On defense, you get three good games in a row and one guy gets out of coverage and that’s what we had tonight. They ran by us and they scored. Give them credit, give Coach Helton credit, they did a good job, had a good game plan. We’ve got to coach better, we’ve certainly got to play better and we’ve got to hold ourselves more accountable. It’s my job to put a competitive team on the field and I can’t wait to get back and watch the tape.”
