Western Kentucky redshirt sophomore tight end Josh Simon runs drills during practice July 29 at Houchens-Smith Stadium.

Josh Simon saw football from a new perspective the past 11 months.

Western Kentucky had high hopes for its star tight end heading into the 2021 season with a revamped offense, but Simon suffered a season-ending knee injury in the opener against UT Martin.

After a long offseason to recover, the 6-foot-4, 235-pound redshirt sophomore is back to practicing with the Hilltoppers at Houchens-Smith Stadium this fall.

“It actually feels great (playing again). Sitting out for a whole year, you learn some things because you can just sit back and watch,” Simon said. “Actually being in between the lines and playing – man, it feels great to be back.”

Simon played in all 25 of WKU’s games in his first two seasons with 18 starts. In 2019 and 2020, Simon caught 63 passes for 800 yards and seven touchdowns. He was a Conference USA honorable mention selection by coaches both seasons, was a Phil Steele all-C-USA third-team selection in 2020, a 2019 C-USA all-freshman team selection and a 2019 The Athletic freshman second team all-American. Simon had six receptions for 106 yards in the 2019 SERVPRO First Responder Bowl and was the only tight end in the nation to have 100-plus yards in a game that bowl season.

His early production led to hype ahead of the 2021 season. The Dalzell, S.C., native was selected to the 2021 John Mackey Award watch list, the Athlon Sports preseason all-C-USA second team and the Phil Steele preseason all-C-USA third team prior to the season.

He showed why expectations were so high in the season-opening 59-21 win over UT Martin at Houchens-Smith Stadium. Simon had three receptions for 73 yards and two touchdowns – the first multi-touchdown game of his collegiate career.

But during that game, Simon suffered a torn ACL and meniscus. He had season-ending surgery the following week and began the rehab process from there. He sat out the spring but was back in action when the Hilltoppers opened camp July 29.

“I believe everything happens for a reason. The plan is already written for us. If it’s supposed to happen, then it’s going to happen.” – Josh Simon

“I’m still recovering. I still go to treatment. I was doing two-a-days for a long time. They told me it was like a 9-12 month recovery phase. I’m probably in month 11 right now,” Simon said. “We’re not even at the season yet, so I’m taking all of my days to recover, to stay healthy, because that’s the ultimate goal – to stay healthy and make it past game one this season.”

Simon has impressed in the two weeks that WKU’s been practicing, even though he’s still finishing his recovery,

“Josh, man, he’s looked great. It’s almost like how I remembered him. I know we only had him for fall camp and the first game last year, but it’s like how I remembered him,” WKU co-offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle said. “He’s tough, he’s strong, he’s athletic. Big, big body. He’s not afraid to stick his face in the fan in the run game. It’s been just unreal seeing him come back from that injury and almost not skipping a beat. Josh has been phenomenal.”

Even though he was unable to actually be between the lines for much of last year, Simon believes his game has grown. Watching his team from off the field allowed him to see things from a new perspectives

“I believe everything happens for a reason. The plan is already written for us. If it’s supposed to happen, then it’s going to happen,” Simon said. “It was eye-opening just sitting back on the sideline. It was my first time in a long time actually watching a football game from the sideline because I was playing for a long time.

“To actually watch it from a spectator’s point of view, it kind of helped me a little bit just to see it’s not as complicated as you may make it seem in your brain. It’s a whole lot more simple. You can see the space a whole lot better on the field when you’re not on it. You get to look down on it and actually see the schemes and how stuff’s supposed to work. I feel like it kind of helped me.”

When Simon went down Sept. 2, WKU lost one of its top playmakers, but despite that, still had one of the best offenses in the country. The Hilltoppers finished second nationally in scoring offense and total offense and had the top passing offense in the country – quarterback Bailey Zappe broke FBS single-season records for passing yards and passing touchdowns. The Hilltoppers went 9-5 with a Conference USA East Division and Boca Raton Bowl title.

“If you go look back at the first game, you’ll see we’re as productive, but it looked a little bit different, right? It looked a little bit different having two good tight ends. It helps in the run game and it helps put the defense in strains, it adds extra gaps and they have to worry about this guy,” Arbuckle said. “Whenever we lost him last year it was one of those deals where thank goodness we had a bunch of other really good players where we could put the best 11 on the field and Bailey just went to work with what he had.

“Missing him last year, it definitely changed what we did, but it didn’t change how we produced.”

Joey Beljan took the majority of snaps in place of Simon and got his first significant action after appearing mainly on special teams when he played throughout his first three seasons. He caught 14 passes last season for 91 yards and six touchdowns and received recognition as a Burlsworth Trophy nominee and all-conference honorable mention selection.

The 6-foot-3, 250-pound tight end said he and Simon have learned from each other, and Beljan now returns as a redshirt junior with a season of experience under his belt.

“It was a big adjustment at first. You’re going into the season thinking you’ll get 15, 20 snaps, to all right, now you’re getting ready to go play them all,” Beljan said. “It really helped me to get some experience for this year. I feel more confident when I’m playing now. I feel like the game slowed down. Overall, I’m really looking forward to this season.”

WKU also has Dane Saltarelli, Alex Williams and River Helms on the roster at tight end.

While others stepped up to fill the void left with Simon’s injury last year, the Hilltoppers are happy he’s back. His 66 career receptions are tied with Tyler Higbee for fifth all-time by a WKU tight end and his nine touchdowns are fourth. Simon – whose 19 career starts with the Hilltoppers leads the team’s offensive players – has been named to the Mackey Award watch list and was preseason first-team and third-team all-conference by Phil Steele and Athlon Sports, respectively.

“We’re excited to get Josh back. He’s definitely a playmaker. You saw in the game last year against Tennessee-Martin he made some good plays for us. We’re excited to utilize him again and get him back in the flow of the offense,” said WKU assistant head coach Andy LaRussa, who serves as the team’s special teams coordinator and tight ends coach. “The other guys did a good job stepping up for him and filling the void for him, but just getting Josh back really gives us another wrinkle to our offense.”{&end}