Hilltoppers DC White has top-25 defense ready for next challenge
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (BVM) — Last season, the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers quietly had one of the best defensive performances in the country. Though the Conference USA squad may not grab the headlines like some of their Power 5 counterparts, it is fair to say that the strength of last year’s 9-4 team was their defense. The Hilltoppers finished the season 24th in the country in total defense as well as 19th in red zone defense, 22nd in scoring defense, 28th in passing yards allowed, 34th in rushing defense and 35th in team passing efficiency defense. Though the Hilltoppers finished 40th in the country in passing offense, no other offensive category came as close to the defense’s rankings.
A lot of that success can be attributed to the man in charge of running the defense. Hilltoppers defensive coordinator Clayton White will be entering his fourth season as the leader of the WKU defense, but in his three short seasons with the team, White has made quite an impact. Upon his arrival in 2017, White turned around the defense with a strong secondary led by cornerback DeAndre Farris, finishing the season 40th in the nation in pass defense – a 79-spot improvement from the previous season.
While he started his defensive play-calling career strong, last season was a coming out party of sorts for White and his defense. White’s defense was able to produce success through strong execution of fundamentals during key parts of the game. The Hilltoppers defense held opponents to a 29.7% rate on 3rd down attempts, which ranked sixth in the FBS while also finishing third in the FBS with only 82 missed tackles all season long. These strong fundamentals resulted in WKU only allowing 142 plays of 10-plus yards all season, which ranked tied for 10th in the country.
In addition to the overall defensive success, White was also able to mentor one of the best Hilltoppers individual seasons as well. Defensive end DeAngelo Malone became one of the most effective pass rushers in the country for WKU last season as a junior, finishing the year with 11.5 sacks to go along with 99 total tackles including 21 for loss. With his performance, Malone was named the C-USA Defensive Player of the Year in 2019, the first time a Hilltopper won the award and the team’s first league Defensive Player of the Year since linebacker Xavius Boyd won it in the Sun Belt Conference in 2013.
“It’s definitely been great to have a guy like (DeAngelo) on our defense,” White said. “I think our players enjoy playing for him because of what he does on the field and what it does for them as well. It gives them an opportunity to know that he’s going to be in his spot and vice versa. He loves playing with his teammates just as much as they love playing with him.”
Members of the industry took notice of the Hilltopper duo of White and Malone heading into this season as well. In his college predictions for this season, ESPN senior writer Mark Schlabach listed Malone as his favorite to win the conference’s defensive player of the year honors again saying, “Malone might be the best returning pass-rusher in the FBS.” In the article, Schlabach also listed White as the conference’s coordinator on the rise. Though flattered by the selection, White doesn’t put much weight behind the decision.
“Those things are cool and dandy, but it’s time to play football now,” White said. “The award season is not really until the end. To me it shows what our guys have done, how far we’ve come here as a defense and it says a lot about our defensive staff as well.”
Now the defense, led by White and Malone, is looking to avenge one of its worst performances last season when it takes on Louisville on Saturday. Last season, the Cardinals put up 38 points against the Hilltoppers, the most allowed by the team during the season, as well as over 400 yards of offense at Nissan Stadium in Nashville. With many of the starters from a year ago returning to the matchup, there is a sense of wanting to end the series with Louisville with a win.
“We want to win,” redshirt sophomore cornerback and Louisville native Beanie Bishop said. “They won the last two games, we feel like we were in the last two games and we should’ve won those in my opinion. We just gotta finish and coach Helton is pushing us hard. We can’t let them sweep us in the series.”
Perhaps most glaring were the big passing plays the Hilltoppers gave up to Cardinals wide receiver Tutu Atwell who caught four passes for 141 yards and three touchdowns including two from over 40 yards. The success did not go unnoticed by WKU as they prepared for this season, with much of the focus being brought to Atwell and his ability to break the game open.
“He’s definitely an electric football player, he did the same thing in the ACC throughout the year,” White said. “I think the most important thing is to just be aware, play smart, understand his strengths and make sure we use our strengths to our advantage as well. Just do a great job of understanding where he is located on the offense and the things he likes to do.”
Though Atwell was able to get to the Hilltoppers last season, one wouldn’t realize it with the defensive unit oozing with confidence for their upcoming matchup in Louisville this week.
“We’re always motivated,” Bishop said. “We practice with the level from 7-10 so when it’s game day we don’t have to turn up that much. We always practice with high intensity. We want to play every game with high intensity. Bring that energy to the defensive side of the ball and have them scared.”
Although the defense had a stellar year last season, they are not satisfied with just another top 25 performance. They’re looking to continually improve as the team looks to make a statement in the C-USA this season.
“We want to always improve,” Bishop said. “Last year we had a great season on defense, but obviously we want to take the next step. We want to be better. We want to have a top 15, top 10 defense in the nation. The whole team we want to win the conference this year. That’s the big goal to win the conference.”
WKU will begin its effort for a conference championship Saturday when they take on Louisville at Cardinal Stadium at 7 p.m. CT. While the matchup could be anybody’s, one thing is certain, the Hilltoppers defense and their leader, White, will be ready for the Cardinals come kickoff.
