Interviews: OC Adams | OL Witt
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — The WKU offense faces perhaps its biggest in-conference challenge of the season Saturday evening in Huntington, West Virginia, with Marshall boasting the nation's 22nd-ranked defense. The Thundering Herd allows only 328 yards per game overall - 131 on the ground and 197 through the air.
Quarterback Mike White and the Hilltoppers will be ready to challenge that unit for a 5:30 CT kickoff with a rejuvenated Lucky Jackson on the outside. At Vanderbilt, the redshirt sophomore wideout tied a career high with seven receptions and had 135 yards receiving, which was the most since a career-high 144 vs. Eastern Kentucky in Week 1.
"It came from a good week of prep. I want to say that was one of his best weeks of practices that he had since Fall Camp," offensive coordinator Junior Adams said. "He was in watching film, he came to meetings and took good notes and he was assertive."
Another part of the offense with fresh faces is the line, with freshman Cole Spencer making his collegiate debut with the start at right tackle and redshirt freshman Tyler Witt continuing his progression at right guard. Although Witt saw time at the position in each of the first seven games of the season, he has started there in the past two contests.
"It's really nice to see that all my hard work in the weight room and the extra stuff on the side has all paid off," Witt said. "I'm pretty physical and hopefully they see that on tape and on the field."
"We've seen the development as the season went on and we saw it last week in practice," Adams said of the young men in the trenches. "[Then] they went out against an SEC opponent and what really stood out to me is they battled and the way they came off the ball. They do have some pop."
Even though WKU put up 355 yards through the air against the Commodores, the -6 net rushing yards were a low for the program in its FBS Era. The Hilltoppers know a one-sided attack will not prove to be effective in the final three games of the 2017 Conference USA season.
"A lot of us had a wake-up call watching that tape, because we're a lot better than what we showed on tape this past weekend," Witt said. "And it showed today. We had a really good day of practice and we just have to keep going."
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