The 2015 season was a great one for Western Kentucky.

It included a 12-2 record, Conference USA and Miami Beach Bowl championships, crushing wins over rivals Middle Tennessee and Marshall and a No. 24 ranking in the year’s final AP poll.

It was the Hilltoppers’ best season as an FBS member. And now it’s over.

“It’s a new year,” right guard Joe Manley told the Daily News on Wednesday. “Last year’s championship was great, but that was in 2015. It’s 2016 now. We’ve got a new team with new goals.”

Manley and his teammates and coaches were in the Harbaugh Club on Wednesday morning, meeting with reporters as part of WKU’s annual Media Day. They were set to have their first practice of 2016 fall camp later on in the day.

One of the themes that consistently popped up during an opening news conference and interviews afterward was how the Hilltoppers would build on the 2015 campaign heading into this season.

WKU’s gradually built its program since completing the move to FBS in 2009. Milestones included a first winning season in 2011, a first bowl appearance in ’12, a first eight-win season in 13 and a first bowl win in ’14.

Then last fall the Hilltoppers exploded with one of their best years ever behind an explosive offense and improved defense.

Obviously it’ll be hard for the 2016 Toppers to top all that the Brandon Doughty-led WKU squad of 2015 accomplished. But the quest to build on that success rather than reflect on it helped the team avoid complacency this offseason, Manley said.

“Coach (Jeff) Brohm, he instilled it and the players took it on,” said Manley, a redshirt senior and former Bowling Green High School standout. “The team’s been grinding hard this offseason and this summer. We’ve developed in areas we need to develop in and should be ready to go.”

The Hilltoppers have a month of fall camp before kicking off the season at 7 p.m., Thursday Sept. 1 at home against C-USA foe Rice. All practices through Aug. 13 are free and open to the public.

The month of August will be used by WKU to sort out some position battles – most notably at quarterback, where four candidates are vying to replace Doughty. The record-setting three-year starting QB for the Tops is finally gone after six total years in the program, now in training camp with the NFL’s Miami Dolphins.

Some other big names are no longer there. Tight end Tyler Higbee and cornerback Prince Charles Iworah were drafted by the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers, respectively.

Kicker Garrett Schwettman, the school’s all-time leading points scorer, is now coaching at Murray State. Other former standouts like wide receiver Jared Dangerfield, linebacker Nick Holt and cornerback Wonderful Terry also graduated.

But many of the players who’ll be sliding into starting spots this season were on the field last year at various times and will be ready to take on bigger roles, Brohm said.

“Our team understands that this is a new team,” Brohm said. “We lost some key players and there are some people out there that think with the fact that we lost them, we’re not going to be as good.

“It’s up to our guys on this team to prove they were a big part of the reason that we had success.”

WKU has plenty of things going in its favor when it comes to its 2016 roster, notably up front. The entire starting offensive line returns, a group that features 2015 First Team All-C-USA left tackle Forrest Lamp.

Record-breaking wide receiver Taywan Taylor returns, as do fellow wideout Nicholas Norris and running backs D’Andre Ferby and Anthony “Ace” Wales.

“I feel like we have the same amount of playmakers” as the team did in 2015, redshirt sophomore wide receiver Will Bush said.

Returning defensive starters include linebacker T.J. McCollum and safety duo Branden Leston and Marcus Ward. The additions of Louisville grad transfers Nick Dawson-Brents at defensive end and Keith Brown at linebacker also help bolster the defense.

But the 2016 group of Hilltoppers weren’t tabbed by C-USA media members to defend their 2015 crown.

WKU was picked to finish second in the C-USA East Division by league media in the preseason poll. The Hilltoppers were selected behind MTSU, a team they drilled 58-28 a season ago.

“We’ve got to earn our respect and that’s kind of our mantra,” Brohm said. “Sometimes when you’re not picked as high as you’d like, it’s a good motivational point.”

The chance for the 2016 WKU squad to leave its own legacy and repeat as conference champion begins in less than a month with the Rice game.

How the Toppers play that night and in the games that follow will reveal whether they can build on the 2015 team’s success and keep it rolling.

WKU is now in full preparation mode for this season with fall camp underway.

“This is it,” redshirt junior quarterback Mike White said. “It’s crunch time. There’s what, 30, 29 days, something like that until Rice? It’s starting to get real.”

-Follow Daily News sports reporter Brad Stephens on Twitter @BradBGDN or visit bgdailynews.com.