Western Kentucky football coach Tyson Helton has named TJ Finley as the Hilltoppers’ starting quarterback for Saturday’s season opener at Alabama.

Helton made the announcement during Monday’s news conference leading into the matchup at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Finley, a first-year transfer from Texas State, had been competing with redshirt sophomore Caden Veltkamp for the first-string job since arriving on campus for spring practice.

“TJ will run out there first, but what I’ve told both quarterbacks is they both need to be ready to play,” Helton said. “We’ll see how the game goes. I felt like in camp either one of those men were deserving of being the starter. You could flip a coin, to be quite honest with you, and somebody has to run other there first so TJ will run out there first.

“But you could expect to see Caden in there – wouldn’t be shocked if he gets in there. And we’re going to continue to evaluate both quarterbacks throughout the early part of the season, just because I think both quarterbacks can win for us. I don’t want any one particular guy looking over his shoulder or feeling pressure. I know what that feels like, but I do think competition brings out the best in everybody so we’ll continue that piece of it.

“Really like how both quarterbacks are leading our football team. They work well together, our guys respond well to them and I think that they understand that team success equals personal success and both of those guys are about the team.”

Finley had the decided edge in previous game experience in the competition with Veltkamp, though none of it came playing for WKU. Last season as Texas State’s starting quarterback, Finley passed for 3,439 yards and 24 touchdowns with just eight interceptions on 279-of-414 passing while starting all 13 games. He also rushed for 81 yards and five touchdowns.

Finley set the Texas State program record for passing yards in a season, finished 17th in the country in passing yards, ranked 23rd in the nation in passing yards per game and passing touchdowns, ranked 16th in the country in completion percentage, and was 23rd in passing efficiency. He helped the Bobcats have the 15th-best offense in the country (457.6 yards per game) and the 28th-best passing offense (270.9 yards per game).

“TJ is a very mature guy, he’s a veteran guy, he’s been in a lot of fires,” Helton said. “And so it does make it a little easier to let him go out there first.”

Prior to his one season at Texas State, Finley played three seasons at LSU (2020) and Auburn (2021-22), where he made a combined 11 starts and appeared in 18 games.

Finley, a 6-foot-7, 238-pound native of Ponchatoula, Louisiana, also has starting experience against the Crimson Tide.

Playing for LSU in 2020, Finley got the start at Tiger Stadium in a 55-17 loss to top-ranked Alabama. Finley was 14-of-28 passing for 144 yards and a touchdown.

The following season, Finley – who had transferred to Auburn – again drew a start against Alabama in the annual Iron Bowl matchup. In a quadruple-overtime 24-22 loss at Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium, Finley helped the Tigers push the third-ranked Crimson Tide to the max by completing 17 of 26 passes for 137 yards and a pair of touchdowns with one interception. He was also sacked six times after getting dropped four times by Alabama the previous season at LSU.

Helton said Finley’s direct starting experience against Alabama – ranked No. 5 in the Associated Press preseason top 25 poll – wasn’t something he gave much thought in determining who would start.

“For me, it’s more of how do I feel about the early part of the season and what are we trying to do and all of those kind of things,” Helton said. “I know that he’s been in a lot of those environments and that certainly helps. But Caden was in an environment in a bowl game last year that’s a tough comeback victory, one of the greatest of all time in bowl history, so he certainly can handle the pressure as well.”

Veltkamp, a 6-6, 236-pound Bowling Green native who starred at South Warren High School, rallied the Hilltoppers from a four-touchdown deficit for a 38-35 overtime win against Old Dominion on Dec. 18 in the Famous Toastery Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina. Having seen just limited snaps as a backup in two previous career appearances, Veltkamp came on in relief of bowl starter Turner Helton and threw for 383 yards and five touchdowns on 40-of-52 passing. He also ran 53 yards on 19 attempts in his first significant action at the college level to earn the bowl game’s Offensive MVP honors.

WKU first-year offensive coordinator Will Friend, who was Auburn’s offensive line coach during Finley’s two-year stretch with that program, said both Finley and Veltkamp are quality options to play quarterback for the Tops.

“Both guys had really good camps and they’re really good players,” Friend said. “We’re fortunate enough to have two guys that can really play at a high level at that position. That means a lot. That position is so valuable – it’s hard to find one. We’re blessed with the fact we’ve got two on there who are good players. Everyone knows you go how your quarterback goes, so having two guys that have been able to compete and been able to play well in their careers and are good players is really a big plus.”{&end}