The comparisons are inevitable, Maverick McIvor knows that.

The new quarterback at Western Kentucky arrived from a smaller Texas program trailing his offensive coordinator to a new job at an FBS program, hoping to bring the gaudy offensive numbers amassed at their previous stop to WKU.

This has all happened before.

Four years ago, WKU head coach Tyson Helton hired an intriguing young offensive coordinator from FCS-level Houston Baptist (now Houston Christian), and Zach Kittley brought his quarterback with him. Over 14 games in that 2021 campaign, Kittley’s offense led by quarterback Bailey Zappe rewrote the record book — for all of FBS, not just at WKU — with a potent passing attack that produced 5,987 yards and 62 passing touchdowns. Both set FBS single-season records.

Zappe, a graduate senior, moved on the next season as an NFL draft pick by the New England Patriots. He’s currently the backup quarterback for the AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs.

McIvor arrived at WKU as a graduate transfer quarterback from another FCS program, Abilene Christian, following his offensive coordinator Rick Bowie after those two orchestrated another explosive offense at ACU.

The comparisons are natural — and McIvor is good with that, and why not? That similar trajectory taken by Zappe certainly turned out well for all involved back then.

“Man, I hope so — throwing for 6,000 yards and what was it, 60 touchdowns?,” McIvor said. “If I can do that, we’re going to be pretty good.”

McIvor has already shown he can be more than pretty good in the right situation. The 6-foot-2 native of San Angelo, Texas, had to wait for his opportunity. Unlike Zappe, who had just the one college offer from Houston Baptist coming out of high school, McIvor was a highly-touted prospect when he signed with Texas Tech.

Then for three years, McIvor worked and waited for a shot that never came.

McIvor, the son of former University of Texas and NFL quarterback Rick McIvor, opted to move on to Abilene Christian. McIvor won the starting job there in 2022 and proceeded to put up solid numbers over the next two seasons.

Then Rick Bowie arrived from NCAA Division 2 Valdosta State as Abilene’s new OC and quarterback coach — that’s when McIvor’s career made a leap. Under Bowie, McIvor threw for 3,828 yards and 30 touchdowns to seven interceptions on 312-of-499 passing – an average of 294.5 yards through the air per game – while leading his team to the United Athletic Conference title and berth in the FCS Playoffs, where the Wildcats beat Northern Arizona in their first game.

The change was evident in the season opener, when McIvor got a chance to go against his former program Texas Tech. McIvor lit up the Red Raiders, completing 36-of-51 passes for 506 yards and three touchdowns in a narrow 52-51 overtime defeat.

Leaving Abilene, where McIvor passed for more than 8,000 yards and 63 touchdowns as an entrenched starter, was a risk he wanted to take.

“It was hard to leave Abilene,” McIvor said. “I love those guys, those are my teammates through and through. I can’t thank that old coaching staff enough for all that they did. But for me, I just wanted to play a little bit bigger brand of ball. Since I was in diapers, I wanted to play D1 ball — obviously FBS, G5 it doesn’t matter. For me, I just wanted to come … it’s kind of QB U. I’ve kept up with the Hilltoppers for awhile and it’s something I want to do. And with my OC coming here it was just kind of like, why would I not do it?”

Bowie was happy to have McIvor join him at WKU. The Hilltoppers have a largely untested QB room after the transfer departures of incumbent starter Caden Veltkamp (South Florida), season-opening starter TJ Finley (Tulane) and backup Turner Helton (Georgia Southern). McIvor’s fellow QBs on the WKU spring roster are redshirt freshmen Tucker Parks and Rodney Tisdale Jr. — neither has thrown a pass at the college level.

That leaves McIvor in strong position to win the starting job, even if more competition is brought in for the fall.

“It’s always good to have continuity of some kind,” Bowie said. “Rarely has that happened when you switch programs. in today’s college football world, you see a little bit more of that at times. I would say it’s a relationship-based business. Maverick and I are close and that’s an exciting piece to bring along with you. I’m just pleased with his ability to kind of grow within this program as well. Obviously there’s a lot of continuity between myself and Maverick, but there’s a lot of continuity between the way we play offense and this place.”

McIvor considers himself an extension of the coaching staff on the field, a role even more important considering how well he knows Bowie’s offenses.

“It’s comes with the job though, right?,” McIvor said. “As a quarterback you have to be able to teach, you have to be able to have guys rely on you. And knowing the system and playing in it for a year, it’s just a smooth transition. So coming in the guys are asking me questions, I know how to respond to them Day 1 — extra routes, extra throws, throwing on Saturdays, all the good stuff that comes with it to win a championship. We did it last year and I think it’s something we can build off and learn here.

” … It’s been awesome For me, it’s just kind of merging in with the new guys. Being the new guy on the block is kind of weird, transferring in, but bringing our system with my old offensive coordinator — so bringing Bowie here with me, it’s been a huge help for not only me but for the guys … the learning curve for them, not me.”

McIvor said the Tops will feature the Air Raid-based offense he ran for Bowie at Abilene Christian, with a few tweaks here and there.

“We carried a lot of our own stuff, but obviously Helton is a beautiful offensive minded head coach,” McIvor said. “He’s a genius, so any tidbit that he’ll throw in we love to add and we add it. I think he and Bowie work really, really well together, but the majority of it is our offense.”