Live Streams: East Division | West Division
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — A WKU Football trio heads to Irving, Texas, on Wednesday to represent the Hilltoppers for the 2018 Conference USA Media Kickoff. Head coach Mike Sanford will be joined by junior wide receiver Lucky Jackson and senior defensive back DeAndre Farris.
The event from July 18-19 will take place at The Star, which is the Dallas Cowboys' World Headquarters and just down the road from C-USA's main offices. WKU and the rest of the East Division members will have media obligations on Thursday from 8-11:30 a.m., while the West Division has hours on Wednesday from 1-4:30 p.m.
Live streams on Watch ESPN can be accessed via the links above.
There will be other events for the Hilltoppers, including a tour of the NFL facility and an evening outing at Pinstack Plano, which features bowling and arcade games. An annual tradition for the Red and White travel party is a lunch trip to Hard Eight BBQ for some authentic Texas eats.
Sanford enters year two as WKU's head coach on the heels of back-to-back record-setting recruiting classes. His 2017 signing class set a new record for the highest-rated recruiting class in school history. So, naturally, the 2018 signing class improved on that mark.
After leading his team to a 2017 Cure Bowl appearance - the Hilltoppers' sixth consecutive and one of just five rookie head coaches last year to do it - Sanford's sophomore campaign returns a wealth of youth but thin on statistics.
Jackson racked up 39 receptions for 600 yards and three touchdowns as a sophomore following an impressive opening campaign. He ranked second on WKU with 15.4 yards per catch, while his 600 yards receiving put him at third-most. He led the Hilltoppers with three 100-yard games and 10 receptions of 20-plus yards, three of which going for touchdowns.
He started his campaign with a bang, catching five passes for a career-high 144 yards, including and a 66-yard touchdown in the second quarter of the season-opener vs. Eastern Kentucky. He also added 135 yards receiving on Nov. 4 at Vanderbilt and 109 through the air on Nov. 17 vs. Middle Tennessee. His 93-yard score in the fourth quarter against the Blue Raiders tied for the third-longest catch in WKU history and was 1-of-8 pass plays of 90-plus yards in FBS.
Farris tied for the lead among WKU cornerbacks with 11 starts and led the team with 14 pass breakups. He recorded 54 tackles (39 solo, 15 assisted) on the season, including a career-high seven on three occasions. He made his second-career interception on Oct. 28 vs. Florida Atlantic, while also picking up a tackle for a six-yard loss and five total tackles on the evening.
His 14 pass breakups tied for 13th in FBS and tied for most among Conference USA defenders. He recorded multiple pass breakups in four games, including a career-high four on Sept. 23 vs. Ball State. Those four pass breakups tied a Hilltopper single-game record in the program's FBS Era.
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