With just a week of fall camp left, Western Kentucky football coach Tyson Helton and his staff continue to shift through the roster to determine roles – who starts, who can contribute – with the season opener at Alabama fast approaching.

In Saturday’s closed intrasquad scrimmage at Houchens-Smith Stadium, Helton might not have gotten a lot of definitive answers, but the competition provided more information on the players who may most be able to provide an impact for the Hilltoppers this season.

“Pretty normal, was pretty happy overall with our team performance,” Helton said. “There were some good things on both sides of the ball, bad things on both sides of the ball. One thing I did like is we’ve got some depth at positions, some competition at some positions. We’ve got one more week of camp, so we’ll make decisions. A lot of guys rose up today – and that was good to see – and some guys took a step back, so they’ve got to get better too. But overall I was satisfied with today’s performance.”

The scrimmage, plus another closed scrimmage this coming Saturday, offered the Tops the chance to perform in more of a game-type situation than normally exists in the daily practice schedule. It was a welcome opportunity for defensive end Deante McCray.

“I’m feeling like we did pretty good,” McCray said. “ … We had a lot of hats running to the ball, a lot of physicality and I love to see it. I like where we’re heading. I feel like this is going to be a great season for us overall as a team, but especially for this defense.”

WKU defensive coordinator Tyson Summers’ group tested the Tops’ offense during Saturday’s scrimmage, Helton said.

“I thought defensively, really had some big stops, got us into third-and-long situations,” Helton said. “I thought at times had really good momentum on defense. Offensively, we had way too many penalties – operations, penalties, those kind of things. Ball moved well at times with the offense. Some of the skill players that were young that haven’t gotten a lot of reps I thought came in and did a nice job. We need to get those guys some more reps. Overall, I didn’t have one particular guy. I thought just as a team we got better today.”

Helton is pleased with the competition in fall camp and gave an update – of sorts – on the high-profile battle for starting quarterback between Texas State transfer TJ Finley and redshirt sophomore Caden Veltkamp, who came off the bench for his first extended collegiate action and led the Hilltoppers back from 28 points down to a 38-35 overtime victory against Old Dominion in the Famous Toastery Bowl.

Helton has said since the spring session that he likely wouldn’t name a starting quarterback until late into the fall camp and that has not changed.

“I’ll probably wait about another week, week and a half,” Helton said. “Even then, if I don’t feel good about it I’ll keep it going. But both quarterbacks have had a really good camp so far. Both guys, we’re very blessed to have and both guys are doing a really nice job of leading the team. And I just want to let those guys keep competing and see what happens, but we still have a lot to go with those quarterbacks as far as the competition piece.”

Helton offered no specifics on what he’s looking for in a new starting quarterback to replace two-year starter Austin Reed, now playing for the NFL’s Chicago Bears.

“Really for me, it’s just a feeling,” Helton said. “You can look at stats all you want, but it’s more of a feeling deal for me. And I think it’s going to take both our quarterbacks for us to go make a run this year, I really, really do. I think both those kids are good for the team. I think we’ve got a strong quarterback room overall and at the end of the day you could probably flip a coin on either one of them. They’re both good, quality players – good leaders. We’ve just got to keep rolling with the competition piece.”

Competition for starting spots on the Tops’ offensive line has also been exceptional – Helton said there is little difference between WKU’s first- and second-string linemen, promising plenty of depth along with the headache of sorting out who fits in best as starters.

“I think offensive line, we’ve got a lot of good battles in there,” Helton said. “Our one- and two-deep, there’s really no drop-off so it’s really you’ve got to pick your best five. I think we’ve got some good competition in the d-line. Coach Summers has got to find those pieces of the puzzle, the way they fit. Coach Summers has a lot of different groupings and packages, so all those guys will have an opportunity to play and we’ll maximize their skill traits. But as far as deciding who is the first 11 to run out there, we’ve still got to make a lot of decisions with a lot of competition left.”

Senior right guard Quantavious Leslie, a two-year starter for the Tops, expects the offensive line to be a strength this season with a mix of returning starters and game-tested reserves supplemented by a few transfers who also bring plenty of game experience.

“We added some veterans,” Leslie said. “We’ve got a lot of older guys this year, a lot of seasoned guys. I think we’ve got a lot of knowledge up front. We’re going to be good together once we get that relationship going.”

Helton expects the sorting process to continue right on into at least the middle of the month for the Hilltoppers.

“It really comes down to who the coaches trust the most, right?,” Helton said. “Sometimes you trust them both, but somebody’s got to run out there first and competition brings out the best out of everybody. So we’ve just got to keep rolling with that. But at the end of the day, I’m not a huge stats guy. I reference it, I take every piece of information that I can find, but I’m going to go with my gut every single time and so are our coaches.”

McCray welcomes the competition as part of a process to make him a better player, along with his teammates.

“We just need to keep elevating, keep stacking days – get better, day by day,” McCray said. “If we get 1% better every day, after 100 days we’ll be 100% better so just got to keep getting better.”