I WANNA ROCK
Turn the power up.
- Twisted Sister, band
TURN IT DOWN YOU SAY. But all I got to say to you is time and time again I say no! No, no, no… I’m bringing the funk once again with an FCS transfer that simply must not go undrafted in any regular CFF1 league right now.
Prairie View A&M’s Jyzaiah (Jay) “Twisted Sister” Rockwell was the fourth leading receiver in the FCS last year with a mouth-watering 72 receptions, 1132 yards and seven scores in 14 games. Against the one FBS program PV played, Rice, Rockwell secured six receptions for 92 yards. That’s definitely encouraging, particularly after Rockwell’s first two years spent at Sam Houston, where he only caught a total of 13 passes.
Even more intriguing is his landing spot. The Western Kentucky program has made a living in the 2020s off of FCS transfers, particularly at the WR position. We need only think of the likes of Jerreth Sterns, Kisean Johnson, and most recently, Matthew Henry, who each led the Hilltoppers in receiving in 2021, 2024, and 2025, respectively.
Rockwell appears reasonably well positioned to be the next in line. There are several other cooks in the kitchen—yes—but no other receiver on the roster currently has the level of production Rockwell comes in with, albeit at a lower level.
He’s also a bigger player who is more likely to play on the boundary, whereas some of the most productive players in the past were slot receivers. Though we’ve seen the occasional boundary player fill in as WR1, and if we count Mitchell Tinsley in 2021, there have been three of these types that finished with a season of over 900 receiving yards (Lucky Jackson in ‘19, Tinsley in ‘21, Johnson in ‘24).
Do you know there is actually a place called ROCKWALL in Texas, which is only a 45 minute drive from Rockwell’s birthplace of McKinney? We were so close with the names there to make this a neat fun fact. And I'm irrationally frustrated by the near connection.
I’m actually going to be visiting Texas for the first time in my life in August—Austin to be specific—for one of the Scottfish Tadpole drafts with a bunch of other CFF nerds.
I’m really hoping to get some authentic Texas BBQ… I think that’s the thing I’m looking forward to the most. Hopefully I don’t get shot along the way.
Back to the topic at hand, let’s dive deeper into the WKU system under Helton & co., which oddly enough, I don’t think I’ve covered in an article before. At least, not that I can remember. This is strange considering how coveted the players from this program have been in recent years within the CFF community.
COACHING & SYSTEM
WR1 PPG AVERAGE (2018-2024) — HC: 17 — OC: 14 (half ppr)
While there have been some notable OCs who have come through the ‘Hill and morphed the offence in their image, this is really head coach Tyson Helton’s system at this point. There is a new OC, Bodie Reeder, who is joining from MTSU, and a co-OC who was promoted from offensive line coach this spring.
Helton joined the program in 2019 after spending the 2018 season as the OC of the Tennessee Volunteers. The stats from this season are not included in the table below, but Tennessee’s WR1 that season only caught 37 passes for 592 yards and two scores. Helton has also spent time as the passing game coordinator and QBs coach at USC (2016-17), and was previously the OC at WKU in 2014 and 2015.
Helton’s time as OC at the program is outside the scope of the table, so I’ll include the details of each season’s WR1 here for your convenience:
Taiwan Taylor (2015) 86-1467-17
Jared Dangerfield (2014) 69-825-11
The OC, Bodie Reeder, is joining after two seasons spent at MTSU. His time with the Blue Raiders is not overwhelmingly encouraging. In his first season, it was TE/slot receiver Holden Willis who led the squad in receiving. In his second season, Myles Butler only produced 518 yards and two scores.
But presumably if he’s joining this esteemed program that we know as the WKU Hilltoppers then he will acquiesce to Helton’s mode of operation when it comes to WR1 production.
The one bright spot of Reeder’s track record as OC is that he was the play caller at North Texas during 2019 when Jaelon Darden had a 25% target share (nine per game) and averaged over 15 PPG in PPR formats.
At QB, there are not a lot of options on the roster. Rodney Tisdale returns after starting in (from what I can tell) five games last season. The fact that he is currently engaged in a battle for QB1 duties after getting his shot last year tells us all we need to know here—clearly Helton wanted to see something better from his pivot and thus here we are.
Tisdale is competing with FSU transfer Brock Glenn, who similarly struggled when given his opportunities over the last three years. Furthermore, Glenn did not participate in the spring game due to an undisclosed injury.
It goes without saying that many times the success of the WRs is predicated on the success of the QB position. Though there are plenty of examples throughout the history of CFF of poor QB play that still supported elite WR production. Sometimes it can be a good thing if the QB just locks onto his go-to guy.
And who will the go-to guy be this year? Like I said earlier—a lot of cooks in the kitchen over there, so picking one out and definitely declaring them as the guy to draft right now would be silly, but Rockwell is probably a name worth taking a shot on and I don’t see why he isn’t being drafted more.
Jay Rockwell (6’2, 215)
2025 RECIEVING STATS: 72-1132-7 (FCS)
Rockwell began his career at Sam Houston during the 2022 season. He was actually a big get for SMHU at the time, given that he was rated a three-star prospect by 247 Sports and held offers from P4 programs like Kansas, Nebraska, and Illinois. In addition to those offers, G5 programs like UTSA, North Texas and Arkansas State also wanted Rockwell’s signature.
In the end, then-FCS program SMHU won out, but ultimately Rockwell would fail to make a noticeable impact with the Houston-based program during his three seasons there.
He redshirted his first year after enrolling in the spring of 2022. In 2023, he appeared in 10 games, catching seven of his 19 targets for 42 yards and one score.
In the following season he must have picked up an injury because he apparently only played in seven games, catching six of seven targets for 50 yards.
The 2025 campaign with FCS program Prairie View is where our man finally found his footing. And while it is concerning that he failed to make a mark during the two seasons he played in the FBS previously, I would guess that he has developed into a different player in 2026 coming off a career year in 2025.
Other names to consider on this roster include K.D. Hutchinson, who returns as one of the lead receivers from a year ago and is likely to occupy one of the slot positions. Former Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket Zion Taylor is transferring down a level and joining WKU. Another former SMHU Bearkat—Qua’Vez Humphreys—also makes his way over to Western Kentucky. There are others to consider as well.
I’m not so worried about Hutchinson given his presumed role, but a player like Humphreys probably presents the biggest obstacle to Rockwell’s ascension as the target master in this offence.
And maybe this is one of those years where there just won’t be a notable CFF asset at WR from this program? Never say never, even if every full season Helton’s been here produced at least a viable CFF asset at WR. Every streak comes to an end eventually.
Either way, I would be targeting Rockwell as an end-of-draft Hail Mary that has a decent shot of becoming a WR1 in what has been a coveted offence for CFFers during Helton’s tenure. ◾
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