Trevor Borland has made helping his teammates find success the priority of his college football career.

Need to push a linebacker out of a gap to open a lane for the running back? Borland is your man. Looking for a lead blocker on a run up the gut? Borland will take care of that.

It’s not glamorous, but it is necessary work that every offense needs to thrive.

Now in his second season at WKU after spending four years playing at Buffalo where he compiled 18 catches for 146 yards and one touchdown, Borland entered last Saturday’s road game at Middle Tennessee with one career reception for the Hilltoppers. Primarily a blocking tight end throughout his college career, Borland has accepted that role and performed it admirably for the Tops.

But when the moment arrived to step out and shine during his senior season, Borland wasn’t about to miss his chance – even if he had to blast through a pair of MTSU defenders to reach the end zone.

That’s what it took, as Borland flaired out to the right side on a fourth-quarter, third-and-goal play and pulled in a pass from redshirt sophomore quarterback Caden Veltkamp and headed for that goal line. Two Blue Raiders defenders awaited and the 6-foot-3, 250-pound Borland met them both head-on – one MTSU defender crumpled to the ground on that initial contact, and the Hilltopper tight end pushed past the remaining defender on a second-effort surge to the end zone for a 3-yard touchdown reception to put the finishing touches on a 49-21 win.

“It felt good to finally get in the end zone,” said Borland, whose previous TD was an 8-yard catch for the Bulls against Ohio three years ago. “It was actually my first touchdown since 2021, back when I was at Buffalo. You don’t get a lot of opportunities and so you can’t pass it up when one comes to you.”

Veltkamp, who entered the game in the first series in place of injured starting quarterback TJ Finley and proceeded to throw five touchdown passes in the 49-21 win against MTSU, said he was glad to help Borland find the spotlight.

“Trevor’s one of my best friends on the team and when we called the play in the huddle, he was the first read on the play so I was like, ‘Hey, if you’re there the ball’s coming to you. If they back up a little bit, this ball’s coming to you,’ “ Veltkamp said. “I know he was super excited to get in the end zone. I think he only had one catch all year last year and we kind of use him as a blocking tight end. He’s a bigger body and he does really well in the run game, but to be able to find him and for him to get his first (touchdown) here … I think his last one was in 2021 at Buffalo.

“I asked him was this one better than your first one? He said the first one because they tied the game up and it was a big moment. He was like, this one we were already up by like 28 points. That’s one of my best friends, so it was really awesome to see him get in the end zone.”

The win against MTSU was the latest indicator that the Tops’ offense is finding its groove even with the loss of Finley for at least several weeks due to injury. After putting up just 145 yards of total offense in a season-opening 63-0 loss at then-No. 5 Alabama, WKU regrouped and tallied 467 yards in a 31-0 win against Eastern Kentucky the following week before putting up a season-high 631 yards against the Blue Raiders in the Conference USA opener this past weekend.

“It was awesome, but kind of a long time coming, right?,” Borland said. “We put in so much work back in spring ball, through camp, even through the first couple games. You start to see things come together and you start thinking we’re going to do something pretty special.”

Heading into Saturday’s 6 p.m. matchup against Toledo at Houchens-Smith Stadium, Borland knows the Tops face a formidable opponent. The Rockets, out of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) are off to a 3-0 start and coming off an impressive 41-17 road win against Mississippi State this past weekend.

Borland, a Bolingbrook, Illinois, native, is well-versed in MAC football after having spent four seasons playing in that league for Buffalo.

“There’s a lot of similar players, guys that are hungry, physical, there’s a lot of athleticism,” Borland said in comparing the MAC to CUSA. “Kind of in the MAC, it starts to get colder when November rolls around so you’ve got to be able to run the ball. So guys might be a little bigger, but we’re big too. We’ve got a big team and we’ve got some good athletes, so it’ll be fun on Saturday.”