Blackshirts on the brain

For the second day in a row, Nebraska’s vaunted defense was a topic of conversation between the Western Kentucky football program and the media.

WKU defensive coordinator Clint Bowen – who saw plenty of the Cornhuskers during his 12-year stint at Kansas – offered up a few thoughts on a unit that finished last season No. 1 in the country in overall scoring defense.

“One thing that gives them a tremendous advantage is that they’ve got four very good players up front with their D-line,” Bowen said. “That allows them to not have to weight the box with an extra safety – they’re a gap short up there, but with those big guys, one of them will play two gaps. Not a lot of teams in college football have that luxury, but they do. It allows them to stop the run and get pressure with that front four.

“They’re a sound defense, they don’t allow big plays and you’re going to earn everything you get from them. … They’ve got players. (Coach Bo Pelini) and his staff have done a nice job recruiting over the last three years and getting some kids in there that are really legitimate guys.”

WKU head coach Willie Taggart basically echoed the same thoughts as Bowen with regard to Nebraska’s defense. But at the same time, he hinted that this year is a new season – and the same can be said for one of the top-ranked defensive units from a season ago.

“They’ve got a head coach that’s a defensive guy and he’s been good everywhere he’s been, so I’d expect them to be very good again,” Taggart said. “But I will say this – last year’s history, this year’s a mystery and today is an opportunity for us all to determine our legacy. Same with them. Last year’s history. Whether they were good then or not. We’ll see how it goes, if we come out and are sharp and play like we’re capable – I won’t be concerned at all.”

Sluggish afternoon

After generally being pleased following practices during fall camp, Taggart wasn’t exactly thrilled with his team’s effort Tuesday during the second day of its first game week of the season.

Taggart said that mental sharpness continues to be an issue, and things weren’t as crisp as he would have liked this evening. He spent a great deal of time Monday talking about how sharp WKU has to be in every way in order to contend with Nebraska on Saturday – those thoughts didn’t change this afternoon.

“It wasn’t up to my expectation. We did some good things, but we need to be more consistent preparing for Nebraska,” Taggart said. Too many little things we’ve been doing wrong, hopefully we’ll be a lot sharper (Wednesday). It’s just those little things that get to me, things that we can’t do come Saturday.

“We’re not as talented as everyone else to be able to just beat ourselves and still win a ballgame. I look at teams that lost to Nebraska last year – some of them beat themselves. We need to make sure we’re locked in and everyone knows what they’re doing on every single play.”

Not concerned with crowd noise

Outside of having to contend with Nebraska’s defense Saturday, WKU will also have to deal with more than 80,000 boisterous Cornhusker fans in Memorial Stadium.

But having played at Florida, at Alabama, at Tennessee and at Virginia Tech since the 2007 season, most of the Hilltoppers say that crowd noise really doesn’t bother them much any longer.

“That doesn’t bother me at all, we block that out,” WKU junior running back Bobby Rainey said. “You don’t play the crowd, you play an opponent – so that’s who you focus on.”

And while Rainey doesn’t necessarily doubt that Memorial Stadium won’t be rowdy come kickoff Saturday, he said he highly doubts it will get as noisy as it was when the Hilltoppers visited Virginia Tech and famed Lane Stadium in 2008.

“I don’t think it’ll ever get that bad again,” Rainey laughed. “That was the loudest place I’ve ever been. Me and (former WKU running back Marell Booker) were in kickoff return standing right beside each other and we couldn’t hear each other – I was like, ‘wow.’ We were at Alabama that year, too and it was just fine – I could hear, everything was cool.

“But at Virginia Tech? You couldn’t hear nothing. I don’t think we’ll play anyone where it’s that loud again, as far as I know anyway.”

Tops No. 1 – in Bottom 10

ESPN’s ever-popular ‘Bottom 10’ column made its debut Monday.

And as was the case for a good portion of last season, Western Kentucky enters the 2010 campaign at No. 1 on the dubious list.

In a Lady Gaga themed report, columnist David Duffey had this to say about the Hilltoppers:

“The Fame”: With 20 straight losses in two seasons, the Hilltoppers are clearly “in it for the fame, fame, baby. The fame, fame.”

WKU is joined in this week’s Bottom 10 by fellow Sun Belt members North Texas (No. 4), the F_U option (FAU and FIU) at No. 7 and the return of the ‘U-L Pick ’em’ at No. 9 (which includes both Louisiana-Lafayette and Louisiana-Monroe.

Willie Taggart media presser

Just returned from Western Kentucky football coach Willie Taggart’s first gameweek media briefing of the season, here are some snippets from Taggart about this week’s season opener at Nebraska on Sept. 5.

– On Nebraska overall

“It’s a big challenge, they’re No. 8 for a reason – they’re really good, in every area. There’s not a weakness there. In order to have a chance, we have to be on our A-game. They have an opportunity to win a national championship this year. But anything’s possible – we just have to be sharp and we can’t beat ourselves.”

“In the past (during 1-AA days) you’d look at (games like this) as games where you go in there, try not to get hurt and get out of there still healthy. But we’re not that way anymore. We’re looking to compete and try to win a ballgame. We’re not looking at it like they’re the big guy on the block, we don’t have a chance, we just want to stay healthy – if you go in with that attitude, you’ve lost anyway and you don’t stand a chance. That’s what happens to a lot of teams (in this situation). You see it all on TV and then you lose before you even step on the football field. We’re trying (to avoid that).”

“If you don’t believe, you don’t stand a chance and then you’re liable to do things that are uncharacteristic of yourself. We don’t need anybody else to believe. We don’t need to be bigger than them, we don’t need to be faster and we don’t need to be stronger – we just need to be sharper than Nebraska. If we want to stand a chance, and do the things we want to do, we just have to be sharp – if we’re not, we won’t have a chance.”

“We just have to play our ballgame. We want to be physical. That’s us, that’s WKU. We’re going out to play our ballgame and not get caught up in anything else. Sometimes even as coaches you can read up on how good other teams are and then you see things and sort of get away from things you normally do. That’s not good. Then the guys play that way also. Let’s do what we do best. If we’re going to get beat, we’re going to get beat doing what we do best.”

“You hear about how good their (run and pass defense is), they’re good at it all. They’re not changing anything, they do what they’re good at and that’s why they’re good. We can’t go in and try to do anything differently, that’s what the other team wants you to do. We have to do what we know and what we’re good at, that’s the only way we have a chance to compete and a chance to be in the ballgame.”

“Our plan is to go out and have fun and compete and get better. If we do that, and we don’t give up, I’ll be happy because I know that we’ll be in the ballgame. Nobody expects us to do anything, that’s a good thing. As long as our guys know our expectations and what we’re out to do – that’s all that matters. We want to impress Nebraska. When that game’s over with, we want Nebraska to be impressed with WKU football.”

“We’re 120 out of 120, that’s obvious. It doesn’t matter. Doesn’t matter what anyone thinks, we have to take care of business. We have to go out and take it – we’ve got to earn it. The best thing for us to do is believe in one another, believe in the plan and have confidence that we’ll go out and execute that plan.”

– On finally being on the doorstep of kicking off the 2010 season

“It’s very exciting, everything that’s going on, there’s a different pep in the step of coaches and players – it’s my first game as a head coach, so that’s exciting. We’re in game preparation and we’re ready to roll.”

“The true test will come once we get into the fire, once adversity strikes. That’s what I’m concerned with the most, what we’re going to do once adversity strikes. We’ve tried to put our guys in as many adverse situations as we could this offseason, now it’s time to put it to the test and see – that’ll show the true character of our football team. Are we going to fold or keep swinging? I prefer the latter.”

“(I’m not nervous yet), I’m sure come game time there will be. But it’ll be good nervous, not bad nervous.”

“Come game time I’m going to do what I always tell our players, take a deep breath. Take a deep breath, and let’s go get it. I’m excited and I’m fired up, I want to be the best head coach and this is an opportunity to start that all off. I’m doing everything I can, I know I’m prepared as much as I can be for a first game. I’ve been a head coach now since November, now I’m ready to roll. One thing that hasn’t changed, this is still a football game. And I’m still fired up about it.”

– On what needs to happen this week in order to prepare for No. 8 Nebraska

“We’ve got to just continue doing what we’ve been doing – playing ball and focusing on the day at hand. We’ve got to be better today, I have high expectations for practice today, for Tuesday and every day until Saturday. Then, we have to go put it out on the field – the honeymoon is over. We’ve got to go out there and just take care of business. They understand that we have a challenge here, we just have to go out and play our ball – don’t try to do anything spectacular, but just play ball and be sharp. Not beat ourselves.”

– On his relationship with former Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier, a player he backed up during his time at Manatee High School

“Tommie was always the guy. Always the guy in little league, always the guy in high school. When you picked teams, he was the first one. It was ‘I got Tommie.’ He’s always been the man, he’s always been a winner. It was same way in high school and he helped me develop an attitude about being the best at my position. When I was backing him up, he wasn’t too happy with me going in because he was that competitive. We talk still, not as much as we should, but when we see each other we talk. When I got the job I got a call from him. … I haven’t talked him (this week), but I have talked with (former Nebraska wingback) Shevin Wiggins (who also prepped at Manatee), he was most famous for that catch (against Missouri in 1997) where he kicked that ball and the other guy caught it. He sent me a text with a picture of (Memorial Stadium) and asked me if I was ready for ‘The Sea of Red.’ He was kind of messing with me about that, saying he didn’t know if we were ready. I had to remind him who I was, and that I don’t bow down to anyone – or any program.”

WKU football depth chart for Nebraska

Behold – the official two-deep for the season opener at Nebraska on Saturday:

Starters in BOLD

Left Tackle
77 Wes Jeffries 6-4 306 Jr. Bowling Green, Ky.
60 Ed Hazelett 6-8 305 So. Indianapolis, Ind.
Left Guard
74 Mychal Patterson 6-3 291 Sr. Stone Mountain, Ga.
67 Cody Widelski 6-2 283 So. Mayfi eld, Ky.
Center
65 Sean Conway 6-3 294 R-Fr. Nashville, Tenn.
63 Luis Polanco 6-2 280 R-Fr. Tampa, Fla.
Right Guard
76 Adam Smith 6-5 327 So. Murfreesboro, Tenn.
69 Luke Stansfi eld 6-4 298 So. Franklin, Tenn.
Right Tackle
68 Preston King 6-5 299 Sr. Bowling Green, Ky.
75 Seth White 6-5 289 So. Nashville, Tenn.
Quarterback
6 Kawaun Jakes 6-3 190 So. St. Augustine, Fla.
2 Matt Pelesasa 6-1 242 Jr. Redwood, Calif.
Running Back
3 Bobby Rainey 5-8 196 Jr. Griffi n, Ga.
28 Braxston Miller 5-11 205 Jr. Stanford, Ky.
Full Back
27 Rod Johnson 5-11 267 Sr. Lexington, Ky.
42 Nick Baisch 5-11 246 R-Fr. Louisville, Ky.
X Receiver
7 Quinterrance Cooper 5-11 191 Sr. St. Augustine, Fla.
86 Willie McNeal 5-10 160 R-Fr. Bradenton, Fla.
Z Receiver
9 Marcus Vasquez 6-1 192 So. Chula Vista, Calif.
16 Dustin Boyer 6-1 189 Sr. Mount Vernon, Ind.
Tight End
82 Jack Doyle 6-6 252 So. Indianapolis, Ind.
33 Tristan Jones 6-2 256 Jr. Mount Sterling, Ky.
Defensive End
5 Jared Clendenin 6-3 265 Jr. Stone Mountain, Ga.
98 Ketler Calixte 6-3 230 So. Port Charlotte, Fla.
Nose Tackle
42 Jamarcus Allen 5-11 277 So. Orlando, Fla.
45 Cole Tischer 6-4 273 So. Brentwood, Tenn.
Defensive Tackle
95 Kenny Martin 6-0 270 So. Orlando, Fla.
92 James Hervey 6-1 275 So. Tyrone, Ga.
LEO
93 Quanterus Smith 6-5 239 So. Loganville, Ga.
90 Bo Adebayo 6-4 270 Jr. Lawrenceville, Ga.
SAM Linebacker
10 Chris Bullard 5-11 237 Sr. Cataula, Ga.
50 Ben Duvall 6-3 225 Jr. Owensboro, Ky.
MIKE Linebacker
6 Thomas Majors 6-0 239 Sr. Nashville, Tenn.
40 Bar’ee Boyd 6-1 210 Fr. St. Petersburg, Fla.
WILL Linebacker
31 Orlando Misaalefua 5-10 220 Sr. Fort Campbell, Ky.
57 Tenerio Davis 6-2 226 Jr. Decatur, Ga.
Cornerback
2 Derrius Brooks 5-10 185 Jr. Fortson, Ga.
21 Arius Wright 5-10 186 Fr. Duluth, Ga.
Strong Safety
19 Mark Santoro 6-0 199 Jr. Greer, S.C.
29 Kiante Young 5-11 206 R-Fr. Gainesville, Ga.
Free Safety
46 Kareem Peterson 5-11 172 So. Lewisburg, Tenn.
15 Ryan Beard 6-0 192 Jr. Bowling Green, Ky.
Cornerback
18 Jamal Forrest 5-9 161 So. Miami, Fla.
22 Tyree Robinson 5-10 192 Fr. Dundee, Fla.

Cezar Guerrero update

I had a chance to speak with Rivals.com four-star point guard Cezar Guerrero, of St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower, Calif., this weekend about how things are currently going for him on and off the court.

Listed in Rivals.com’s Top 150 for the 2011 class at No. 61, Guerrero holds an offer from Western Kentucky – and according to our friends at InsideHilltopperSports.com, WKU is currently listed as ‘High’ with regard to his interest level.

The 6-0, 175-pounder with flashy ball skills currently holds offers from WKU, Cal State Northridge, Colorado, Fresno State, Loyola Marymount and UC Irvine according to Rivals.com.

As far as his summer was concerned, Guerrero said he felt that he was able to accomplish quite a bit in front of scouts on the AAU circuit – most importantly, being able to show people that he can be a true point guard.

“The summer was good, I put myself out there and showed people what I’m about,” he said. “I showed people my whole game, my shot, my handling, my athleticism, and I’m just blessed and thankful about how well it went.

“I just wanted to work on making my teammates better and really being a point guard. I want to become a point guard with multiple threats, but I really wanted to also be able to keep my teammates involved and just become a more complete player.”

Guerrero said that he does have plans to visit WKU in the coming weeks, but that he still wants to sit down with his high school coach to go over all his options before coming to any decisions.

“I’m still just trying to go through it all because there’s a lot more schools that have become involved,” Guerrero said. “I want to sit down with my coach once I get back to school and narrow things down to a top five and then really start making decisions.”

Guerrero said he hoped to be able to visit WKU “not this coming weekend, but the next weekend,” meaning the weekend of Sept. 11. Guerrero also listed Oklahoma, Indiana and several California-area schools as places that he’d like to take a deeper look at before coming to a decision.

As far as WKU is concerned, though, Guerrero said he’s currently all ears – as coach Ken McDonald and company were one of the first schools to make a hard push for him this summer.

Guerrero said that location isn’t a huge deal when it comes to picking a school, but having a family environment and a home-like atmosphere is.

“It’s going to be wherever I’m happy, wherever I feel like I have a home environment and am happy and whatever place just feels right,” Guerrero said. “But I’m still a kid, you know, I’ve got to be able to find a home away from home.”

Derrick Gordon update

It was a pretty big summer for Western Kentucky’s lone current commit for the 2011 season, New Jersey two-guard Derrick Gordon.

In what was his final summer of AAU basketball, Gordon’s play vaulted him into the Rivals.com Top 150 for 2011 prior to his final high school season this winter at St. Patrick High School Academy.

I had a chance to speak with Gordon this weekend about how the summer treated him, how much he’s looking forward to his final prep season and how anxious he is to make it official with the Hilltoppers.

“I just went all out with it being my last summer of AAU, I left it out on the court every game,” said Gordon, who said he spent a great deal of time working on his jump shot, ball-handling and overall scoring assertiveness. “I had a lot of chances to work on a lot of things before going out, a lot of  and I really think I was able to show a lot of scouts what I can do.”

Being more assertive with the ball was something Gordon said he really tried to work on, and hopes to continue – because just like last season, Gordon’s prep squad will feature one of the top-ranked high school players in the country.

In 2009-10, Gordon played alongside point guard Kyrie Irving – a Duke signee and a top five player in the 2010 recruiting class. This season, he’ll be on the same squad as Mike Gilchrist – Rivals.com’s No. 3 overall player for 2011 and a current Kentucky commit.

Long story short, Gordon says he’s used to fighting through a rather large shadow in order to prove himself.

“I feel that I’m one of the top guards at my position and one of the top players in the country, I feel I’m one of the most underrated players in the country,” Gordon said. “But it doesn’t matter if I’m No. 1 or wherever I’m ranked, I’m still going to go out there and show people and play the same way.

“I bring the chip on my shoulder every time, and I’ll have it again this year.”

Gordon continues to maintain that the mentality of playing with something to prove makes him a perfect fit at WKU, a school that historically has had top-level success but still fights with a national perception as a mid-major.

“Everybody underestimates Western, but again, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “If you’ve got guys on the team that play hard and play well at a school that’s about winning – you’ll be fine. I’m ready to go in there and show (coach Ken McDonald) what I can do and help bring the team to another level.”

Since giving McDonald and company his verbal in 2009, Gordon has turned into an unofficial fan-favorite of WKU basketball supporters without ever actually playing in a game. Something that could be perceived as a double-edged sword due to serious expectations from fans.

But not to Gordon.

“I’m going to be honest, I love attention,” he laughed. “I like being in the spotlight. If a lot of people (have high hopes) for me, it puts a smile on my face. Because that gives me confidence. I’m going to go in there and live up to that hype and show everybody that I can really play.

“(Signing with WKU is going) to be the best feeling in the world. I just want to make my parents proud and also make my uncles and aunts proud by signing. It’s good also because I’ll be able to get it out of the way, that way I don’t have to worry about other schools calling or whatever and I can just worry about what I have to do on and off the court to get better.”

Not only has Gordon become popular with Hilltopper fans over the past two years, but he’s also became sort of an unofficial recruiter as well.

Gordon said that the three WKU recruiting targets he’s spent the most time talking with recently are Warren Central power forward George Fant, George Rogers Clark big man Vinny Zollo and Bellflower, Calif. point guard Cezar Guerrero – Rivals.com’s No. 61 on the Top 150 list for 2011.

Fant has been a top target of WKU since his freshman season at nearby Warren Central, while Gordon said that Zollo and Guerrero both told him recently that they hope to make official visits to WKU in the coming weeks.

“Hopefully we can get them all, and if we can do that, I think we’ll have one of the better classes to come through WKU in a while,” he said.

WKU practice update 8/28

The Western Kentucky football team wrapped up its 2010 training camp this morning at Houchens-Smith Stadium, we’ll have a full story on that in Sunday’s Daily News.

Here are a few comments from coach Willie Taggart following this morning’s workout:

– On what exactly WKU was able to get out of this season’s training camp

“I really think we got better as a football team. I really like our football team and where we’re at right now, and I can honestly say we’ve gotten better. Especially since spring ball.

“I think guys have really bought into what I’m talking about when I talk about energy and juice, we’ve been having that out here consistently. And we’ve been having good practices because of it. Guys are out here running around and having some fun, and when things get tough for them – maybe it doesn’t seem as tough. That’s how it is, we’re going to have some tough times. We have to find something fun out of this to make it right.”

– On which group has improved the most

“The defensive line has really started to play like we’re asking them to play and that’s going to set the tone for the defense. They’ve got to do more than what they think they can do, and we’re going to need that. Also, our linebackers have gotten better, the secondary is now more competitive – when the ball goes in the air, they’re going after it and not watching it like they’re a fan. That’s what we want, we want some ball hawks out there. That’s another way to win ballgames.

– On how ready the team is to begin a game week

“Our guys are excited to hit someone else, and for us as coaches, we get back into the routine of breaking down game film and watching guys over and over and over again and gameplanning. That’s the really exciting part for us coaches.

“You go out and you win a ballgame, you get a reward. These guys are hungry to go back out on the field, compete again and try and get a win for this university and this community. Our guys are hungry and really eager to do that, we’re ready to get back to it. They had to wait the entire offseason for it, and now it’s here again. They know what’s at stake and how many people out in the community are counting on us to do it the right way. Nobody’s going to give us anything, we know that. They’re not. We just have to take it.”

– On what needs to still improve

“Everything. We have to just continue to get better, focus on the play that’s at hand. Not the last. Focus on the play that’s ahead. And we have to continue to be disciplined, we have to preach that every day – all the time. We can’t beat ourselves. Continue to be disciplined, be sharp. Guys have to be locked in to their job, don’t worry about the next guy, do your job.”

Team captains announced

Taggart said this morning that the team chose junior defensive end Jared Clendenin, sophomore tight end Jack Doyle and junior kicker Casey Tinius as its team captains for the 2010 season.

“That’s one of the most important awards you can get,” Taggart said. “Those guys are going to lead our team out, they’re going to lead us to the promised land, and we’re counting on them.

“There’s no better award than being picked captain by your teammates. That’s how it goes around here now. Anytime your teammates pick you, it’s deserving. We’re not going to sugar coat things and put guys in that role, we’re going to do it the right way – guys are going to vote for who represents the team. That’s how you find true captains and the guys that are going to do whatever it takes to take care of this football team.”

Jakes ready

Sophomore quarterback Kawaun Jakes said this morning that this year’s training camp was especially beneficial for him, not just because he recently won the starting job, but also because of how much he’s been able to grow as both a football player and a person.

“I’m just trying to learn how to be a leader, that’s the biggest thing I’ve learned (in camp),” Jakes said. “Coach Taggart has just taught me a lot over these three weeks.”

Jakes said the biggest difference in camp this season as opposed to the previous two he’s been involved in at WKU was the fact that the staff has demanded more out of the team – and because of that, the group has demanded more out of themselves.

“They’ve been on us, they’re demanding a lot out of us,” Jakes said. “And as a team, we wanted to better ourselves. Going two-a-days, working and coming out here trying to be a better person and a better player.”

And perhaps finally putting the biggest blunder of his young career behind him, Jakes said that he and the coaches can now take a moment to laugh about the mistake he made during spring practice when he injured his ankle in a pickup basketball game.

“We do laugh about it,” Jakes said. “It was a dumb mistake. I hate even talking about it, but you just have to learn from it – it was a learning experience.”

And when asked where exactly his basketball shoes were these days, Jakes replied that they won’t be within arm’s reach any time soon.

“They’re in the closet,” Jakes laughed. “They’re way back in the closet. I haven’t put them on since, so I guess they’re gone now.”

Andrews continues to work at QB

Former Kentucky Mr. Football Antonio Andrews worked out with the quarterbacks for the second straight day.

Mostly taking snaps with the scout offense, the former Fort Campbell standout quarterback showed off a relatively strong throwing arm at times during the latter half of practice.

Taggart said earlier in the week that the plan, for now, was to use Andrews as a running back – but as he told reporters on Friday, it won’t be out of the question for Andrews to get a chance to prove himself at quarterback during his time at WKU.

MTSU’s Dasher ruled inelibible

Not good news for the Sun Belt’s best player.

For the full story, click HERE

Purples OL gets offer from Tops

Bowling Green Daily News prep reporter Chad Bishop spoke with Bowling Green High School football coach Kevin Wallace this afternoon and was informed that 6-7, 310-pound Joe Manley – part of the Class of 2012 – has picked up an offer from Willie Taggart and Western Kentucky.

Manley recently picked up an offer from Kentucky, and is also garnering interest from Alabama and Auburn.

Check out Chad’s blog HERE

WKU practice update 8/26

Just returned from practice, here are a few highlights:

– Coach Willie Taggart talked about how today’s workout was more of a ‘communication’ practice – meaning that the team needs to start focusing in on dealing with the hostile environment it will be put into next weekend when it visits Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Neb.

Taggart said that next week the team will start pumping artificial noise into practice in an effort to simulate the crowd atmosphere as best they can.

“We said that if we don’t do anything today, we at least want to communicate,” Taggart said. “We got the coaches off the field and let guys communicate with each other because once you get out there next week, they’ll be all by themselves without coaches telling them what to do.

“Next week we’re going to start (pumping sound in), you have to. We’ve never been in there, guys probably won’t be able to hear and guys aren’t prepared for that sometimes and we have to be. It’s the first game, I’m sure (Memorial Stadium) will have a lot of energy – we’ve got to be ready for it.”

Taggart added that players seem to be getting rather antsy at this point, as is often the case late in training camp, and feel ready to take on a challenge from another opponent.

“They’re tired of coming out here and not playing for anything outside of practice, they’re getting fired up,” Taggart said. “Hopefully they’re starting to believe, because that’s what it’s going to come down to.”

The team continued to add parts of its gameplan for next week’s season opener against Nebraska today. Offensively, WKU will be facing quite a challenge – as Nebraska was No. 7 in the country last season in total defense. The Cornhuskers do lose all-world defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh, but they still return plenty of talent.

Even still, the Hilltopper offensive unit seems to be taking an optimistic approach into its first official game week.

“It’s going good, we’re getting excited about what we think we can do against it,” WKU sophomore tight end Jack Doyle said of Nebraska’s vaunted defense. “Coaches see different things, we think we can run the ball against them. We’re getting excited about what we think we can do as an offense line and in the running game, and we’re just getting excited.”

Taggart has spent plenty of time preaching confidence and overall belief in the system since taking over the job, and that message seems to be hitting home hard as camp begins to wind down.

“We think we can do anything,” WKU sophomore receiver Marcus Vasquez said. “We just have to go out there with confidence. We’ve got talent, we’ve got a good offensive line, we’ve got good skill players. We think we can go out there and beat them, come Saturday, we just have to go out there with confidence and do what we know best – and that’s just play football.”

– Speaking of Vasquez, we spoke with him this afternoon about how much easier it’s been for him at the receiver position this fall as opposed to last.

As most may recall, Vasquez entered fall camp last season as a quarterback – before eventually being moved over to receiver during the campaign’s opening weeks.

After playing quarterback his entire life, the transition wasn’t easy for Vasquez. But as the year progressed, he did as well – finishing the season with 19 catches, 176 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Heading into this season’s training camp, Vasquez says his overall comfort level is much better.

“I’ve got a whole year playing the position (under my belt),” Vasquez said. “Last year was a transition and I didn’t really know everything. This year, I had the whole offseason playing receiver, I worked out at receiver (in camp) and I think I’ve actually gotten to learn to play receiver.

“I think the hardest part was just learning how to play receiver. Playing quarterback I know how to read defense, I know the routes, but running those routes – that’s been the hardest part. … I’m a lot more comfortable. I wasn’t a great route-runner last year – I’ve practice that a lot, tried to get more crisp and have sharper cuts. The more you do that, the more you get open.”

Taggart said he’s been impressed with the sophomore wideout’s overall game this fall, and his off-the-field maturity level. At 6-1, 192-pounds, Vasquez’s size and overall athletic ability in the open field make him a prototype for a No. 1 receiver in the West Coast offense. Something Taggart says could come in time.

“He’s starting to understand what it takes to play receiver and he’s starting to grow up and mature,” Taggart said. “He’s having a phenomenal camp. He’s still got a lot of improvement to make, but he’s a talent. He can really help our football team. Marcus understands that and he’s working at it every single day. He’s been totally different than he was in the spring, and he’s here to compete and things are starting to come for him.

“He’s got some dropped balls in there too, but we tell him ‘we can’t have that, we need you to be the guy.’ … He has the talent to be a No. 1, he has the talent to be an all-conference player. But he’s got to work every single day. Can’t take a day off. He needs to have that mindset.”

– Taggart confirmed this afternoon that sophomore linebacker Chuck Franks will be out for the season with a torn ACL and MCL in his right knee. Franks will be able to redshirt this season, however, as he played in all 12 games in 2009.