Top Gun Maverick: WKU Bringing Back 2021 Zappe Vibes With This Transfer QB
FCS Transfer Maverick McIvor is an oddly similar player to former Hilltopper and current NCAA record holder Bailey Zappe.
You! You are still dangerous. But you can be my wingman any time.
- Val Kilmer (RIP), Top Gun (1986)
In the world of today’s college football, it is not uncommon to see one program import an entire offensive system from another via the acquisition of the coaching staff and the transfer of a few key players en masse.
However, I want to take you back to a time when this wasn’t so commonplace—where one avant-garde coach kicked off one of the most prolific trends of the 2020s.
And before I carry on any further, let me extend my sincerest apologies to the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers for failing to write an article on this great program until now, more than two years after initiating this publication.
I’ve punished myself accordingly via a three-day fast (including liquids) with the only exception being an occasional glass of red Kool-Aid; a luxury I’ve afforded myself only because there’s a striking resemblance between the two mascots, which felt appropriate at the time.
Prior to the year 2021, I had not spent a lot of time thinking about the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. Shocking, I know. However, during this offseason a discovery was made: not only did WKU have a sick mascot, but this was truly a program of visionaries, forward thinkers… degenerate sickos, if you will.
At this time, the transfer portal had not yet descended into the unmitigated chaos that we see today, nor had NIL officially gone into effect yet. No, in fact, this season was one of the last (and maybe the actual last) seasons of the ‘old era’ of CFB.
WKU’s decision makers—instead of hiring one coach, or taking one transfer— doubled down on a bet to improve their offence via the import of what was essentially the entire Zach Kittley air raid system from Houston Baptist, an FCS program.
These components included: the aforementioned Zach Kittley, who was the architect of the system and was hired as the OC at WKU; Ben Arbuckle, who worked as a quality control analyst with Kittley at HBU from 2018-2019 (mostly working with the QBs); the QB himself, Bailey Zappe; his best two receivers, Jerreth Sterns and Ben Ratzlaff; and Sterns’ younger brother, Josh Sterns, for good measure (after all, you want to make sure you get the right one, and these two looked so damn similar you might as well bring both along).
Oh, and fun fact for you: one of the co-OCs and WRs coach for that historic 2021 WKU team was none other than Josh Crawford, current UGA RBs coach. This was a young and potent staff I tell you. Someone (probably head coach Tyson Helton) had an eye for talent.
And maybe the above mentioned facts aren’t blowing your mind. After all, in the year 2025 coaches do this shit all the time. But the crux of the matter is: nobody was doing this in 2021. You just didn’t see programs import an entire ecosystem from another place into theirs the way WKU did with the Houston Baptist group.
It’s probably the understatement of the century to say that the bet paid off in the end. Records were broken, wins were added to the stat sheet, and most importantly: degenerates all over the world crushed their competition with an absolutely devastating Zappe-Sterns stack in their CFF lineup.
That brings me to today’s topic—WKU QB Maverick McIvor is an FCS transfer QB from Texas. In his last season with Abilene Christian, he threw 30 TDs to only seven INTs. He completed 62.5% of his passes; 312 completions out of 499 attempts for 3847 yards. Unfortunately he’s not much of a rusher as he finished 2024 with negative yardage and zero scores.
Looking back at Zappe’s FCS stats; in his last full season (2019) at Houston Baptist—who for whatever reason seemed to have changed their name to Houston Christian—Zappe threw 35 TDs to 15 INTs, completing 63.8% of his passes, or 357 out of 560 attempts for 3811 yards. He had zero rushing yards and zero rushing scores.
Zappe’s 2019 season numbers are remarkably similar to Maverick’s, though Zappe was a little more dangerous with the pigskin throwing nearly double the INTs.
Joining McIvor is his wingman and former OC/QBs coach Rick ‘Ice Man’ Bowie. Clearly Helton learned from his previous experiment bringing over the HBU boys and is now doubling up with the Abilene Christian duo. It would have been nice if there were even more continuity coming over from ACU like in 2021, but this’ll suffice.
And speaking of Bowie, let’s take a look at the air raid system he’s bringing to Bowling Green.
Coaching & System
QB1 PPG AVERAGE — HC: 28.5 — OC: NA (five point passing TDs)
Helton’s numbers are included in the subheading above, but unfortunately since Bowie doesn't have any FBS play calling experience in the sample from 2018 to 2024, his numbers are not included in the database.
However, we can simply look to Bowie’s previous teams and deduce what his patterns are from there. Starting with his 2024 group at Abilene Christian, it really doesn’t get much better than the season they just had.
In addition to the standout QB Maverick McIvor, there was a RB who ran for over 1300 yards and 14 scores, and not one but two WRs who surpassed 1000 yards receiving.
One of them, Blayne Taylor (6’5) was a boundary player, the other Nehemiah Martinez (5’9) presumably played in the slot. So this is not all that different when you look at Kittley’s old HBU teams. Retzlaff was the boundary guy, and Jerreth Sterns was the chain mover in the slot in that system.
Prior to ACU he was the OC/QBs coach at Valdosta State in 2022 and 2023. His 2023 QB1 completed 327 passes out of 494 attempts, accumulating 4223 yards and 34 TDs to 11 INTs in 14 games played. Two receivers caught over 60 passes, with one hitting 1008 yards on 70 receptions and six scores. The RB room was a committee.
In 2022, the VSU QB1 attempted 364 passes in 11 games, completing 193 for 2770 yards, 27 TDs and only six INTs. The lead receiver finished with 42 receptions, 726 yards and six scores. Once again the RB room was a committee.
Beyond this experience Bowie was coaching at the high school level, which includes some time spent as OC and QBs coach at national powerhouse St. Francis Academy.
Looking towards head coach Tyson Helton, his numbers are all over the place due to the rotation of OCs that have come under him. During the aforementioned 2021 season with Kittley, the QB1 went bonkers averaging nearly 40 points a game.
Ben Arbuckel, Josh Crawford and co. kept the flame alive in 2022 with a very strong 31 PPG average with Austin Reed at the helm.
By 2023, there were no more remnants of the HBU import from 2021 as Ben Arbuckle took a role on Washington State’s staff. The numbers suffered accordingly. Ditto for 2024 with Caden Veltkamp. In fact, the WKU QB PPG numbers have been sliding for three straight seasons since that magical 2021 campaign.
So we can conclude from this that the OC is really the main driver of what the success rate will be for the WKU QB from a CFF perspective. Helton is sort of just along for the ride.
From an outsider's point of view, it looks like Helton is going back to the well that served him successfully the first time with the package deal acquisition of Bowie and McIver from the FCS level. The system Bowie runs in particular strikes a resemblance to what Kittley used to do.
In particular, we can infer from the attempt numbers of Bowie’s VSU and ACU teams that WKU is going to be throwing the football around a lot once again in 2025. This is an important stat because they had gotten away from this in 2024, averaging a mere 29 attempts per game. A stark contrast from the 39, 43, and 49 passes per game the three years previous.
This of course has trickle down effects on the WR group. When Bailey Zappe is throwing it 49 times a game, it’s not so unheard of for a Jerreth Sterns to see 15 of those a game; not to mention his trusted wingman Mitchell Tinsley, who himself caught 87 passes over the course of the season. When Velt is only attempting 29 per game, it’s a little harder to create CFF magic.
Though former FCS transfer Kisean Johnson did have a solid season. Ditto for Easton Messer, who coincidentally reunited with Veltkamp at FAU this offseason under none other than Mr. Zach Kittley himself.
I’m guessing we’re going to see the attempts per game number in 2025 resemble more so the teams from 2021-2023 rather than last season. It might not necessarily be 49 per game, but getting to 35 seems reasonable.
Maverick McIvor (6’2.5, 195)
2024 PASSING STATS: 312/499 - 3847 - 30/6 (13 games)
It just goes to show how difficult it is to become an elite CFF asset at QB as a non-dual threat player when you consider that McIvor’s otherwise great season last year would have only accounted for about 22 PPG if you convert his stats using five point passing TDs and minus two points per INT.
As an air raid QB, understandably the passing scores figure becomes incredibly important for CFF success. To achieve a stronger 25+ average, we’re looking for McIvor to actually increase on his FCS numbers at the FBS level, which is a precarious line of thinking.
However, the continuity with his OC/QBs coach makes me more confident that it can happen, and the fact that we’ve seen this storyline literally play out at this program before via Zappe, who had similar numbers himself at the FCS level before breaking every FBS passing record around in 2021.
Now you probably won’t believe me when I tell you that Maverick is a C/O 2019 player. Yes, it’s true.
He ironically started his career at Texas Tech, the place where the previous record holder for passing yards in a season (2003) played until ol’ Zapster came along in 2021. Not to mention that this was also where Zappe’s old OC, Kittley, coached following that monster season.
Unfortunately, McIver had a hard time breaking through at the FBS level and transferred down to ACU in 2022, where he started for three seasons. His ACU passing stats are provided below:
What’s even more interesting is his high school background. He was apparently second team all-district in 2-6A Texas ball as a WR in his sophomore season. It seems he moved to QB as a junior and played one season there before missing his entire senior season in 2018 with injury.
Then, of course, he didn’t really play from 2019 to 2021, so 2022 was actually his second year ever as a starter at QB, from what I can tell. This context perhaps supports the argument that McIvor is potentially still scratching the surface of his ability, despite being officially in college now for his seventh(!) season.
And look, he’s not going to be going in the first round of the NFL draft any time soon, but can he become a good, potentially even great CFF asset at QB in 2025? I definitely think that there is a strong possibility.
I like McIvor right where he’s at currently in drafts which is essentially an undrafted/late round type of player. Due to a deep QB class this year, I would expect McIvor will stay in this range throughout the offseason, making him a solid, cheap dart throw at the end of drafts. ◾
If you enjoyed this content and would like to read more, I recommend joining the Pigpen, a community of thousands of degenerate college football fans: