Famous Toastery Bowl: WKU Will Likely Look To Head Coach's Nephew At QB

The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers have developed a good reputation for an offense based heavily on Air-Raid principles. In short, they rely pretty heavily on the

© Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers have developed a good reputation for an offense based heavily on Air-Raid principles. In short, they rely pretty heavily on the passing game. 

As they put the finishing touches on their preparation for Monday's Famous Toastery Bowl against Old Dominion, the Hilltoppers will be without regular starting quarterback Austin Reed (per a report from ActionNetwork's Brett McMurphy) as he prepares for April's NFL Draft. WKU will then look to the three other quarterbacks on the roster. This includes redshirt freshman Caden Veltkamp (who has stated he will enter the transfer portal after the game), Weber State transfer Bronson Barron, and redshirt freshman Turner Helton.

As far as 2023, we didn't see much of any of those names, just a little bit of each. Barron obviously played quite a bit at Weber State, but it's Turner Helton who has shown the most promise this season. He's the nephew of WKU head coach Tyson Helton.

Turner has only played in two games this season, but he's a perfect 8-8 on pass attempts for 82 yards and a touchdown. 

Turner Helton is also the son of current Georgia Southern head coach Clay Helton. 

RELATED: Clay Helton's Wholesome Reaction To His Son's First College Touchdown

The fact that Turner chose WKU over Georgia Southern is a noted point of pride for his uncle. 

WKU enters the fall with a QB competition. West Virginia transfer Jarret Doege and West Florida transfer Austin Reed are the frontrunners, but WKU also has Tyson Helton’s nephew, Turner, in the QB room.

“We won the recruiting battle. I beat my older brother. His own daddy.” pic.twitter.com/f6VtqbsBo2

— Jared MacDonald (@JMacDonaldSport) July 28, 2022

Thankfully for whoever gets the starting nod at quarterback, WKU will have additional help from star receiver and and another noted 2024 NFL Draft prospect, Malachi Corley. Corley restated this week that he will play in Monday's contest. 

WKU plays Old Dominion in the Famous Toastery Bowl on Monday afternoon at 2:30 PM ET. Fans can tune in on ESPN.