WKU football to display a revamped offensive line in 2026

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU football’s offensive line returns just one starter from the 2025 season.

With another year of high roster turnover, fans should expect to see almost an entirely new slate of guys up front for the Hilltoppers this season.

“This has kind of been the norm for us – getting a bunch of different guys from different places, and then making them one,” co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Joe Bernardi said. “The hard part is making them one and that’s what training camp is… but love the room, love the men. They’re working their tails off.”

Bernardi has served as the offensive line coach for the past two seasons, and was promoted to co-offensive coordinator in the offseason.

In those two years, Bernardi and his o-linemen helped WKU have the No. 1 passing offense in Conference USA in 2024 and the No. 1 scoring offense in 2025.

Karsten Upchurch is the squad’s returning starter at right tackle, while the rest of the line includes transfers from all over the country.

One of those guys is Nonso Omezi, projected to play left guard.

The Houston Christian transfer shared how grateful he is to be spending his senior season on The Hill.

“I wanted an opportunity to prove myself at a higher level, and coach (Tyson) Helton believed in me and gave me the opportunity,” Omezi said. “They were the first ones to reach out to me when the transfer portal opened, so I felt a lot of gratitude. Coach Bernardi said he vets people and makes sure the men that he recruits are the type of standard to his program. So, when he gave me the opportunity, I jumped at it.”

In 2025, Western’s offensive line allowed the second fewest quarterback sacks in CUSA.

Even so, with the amount of open spots after that season, Bernardi wanted to get more size on the line, which he believes he did, and these guys are ready to use that size to their advantage and hold themselves to a high standard this year.

“Every single one of us, we’re bigger offensive linemen, so we wanna see big push at the line of scrimmage,” Omezi said. “We wanna see a lot of communication, a lot of gelling and no sacks. We’ve got our little money-maker (Rodney Tisdale Jr.) at 16 back there, so we got to protect him. (I hope fans see) a whole bunch of cohesion and unity.”

Omezi and the Hilltoppers are set to open the 2026 season at Nevada on Saturday, September 5.