Parker McKinney is a star at Eastern Kentucky. Will playoff success follow for the Colonels?

It’s easy to take a simplistic view of the potential success for Eastern Kentucky University football in the 2023 season: As redshirt senior quarterback Parker McKinney goes, so do the Colonels.

The reality, of course, contains far more factors and variables than just one player for head coach Walt Wells’ team.

But just the thought of being able to distill EKU’s season outlook down to one player is indicative of how good McKinney is, and the value he holds in Richmond.

McKinney, a 6-foot-3, 208-pound sixth-year quarterback from tiny Coalfield, Tennessee, has re-written the record book for EKU quarterbacks.

He owns the all-time EKU records for passing yards (9,718), passing touchdowns (74), pass attempts (1,300), completions (816) and total offense (11,164 yards). McKinney will begin the season as the Football Championship Series active career leader in passing yards and passing touchdowns.

The bulk of this historic success took place last season: As the Colonels compiled a 7-5 record and returned to the FCS playoffs for the first time since 2014, McKinney set school single-season records for completions (315), attempts (459), completion percentage (68.6%), passing yards (3,956) and passing touchdowns (33).

EKU also set a program record with 434 points scored last season.

“He’s a true field general,” senior offensive lineman Josiah Ezirim said of McKinney. “You can always trust that he’s going to make the right decision. ... He’s great at leading us and pulling us in the right direction.”

Adding to these already impressive feats?

McKinney will have played under two different head coaches, three different offensive coordinators and three different position coaches during his six seasons at EKU.

“Everything that we’re trying to talk to (Parker) about is being quicker in his anticipation and cleaning up his footwork,” EKU head coach Walt Wells said. “If he does those two things — obviously he had a career season last year — I think he can have another one.”

For all the progress that came in a chaotic 2022 season for EKU — a campaign that featured both a major health scare for Wells just before the season and a win at FBS program Bowling Green — the sting of how it ended still remains.

EKU lost to Gardner-Webb in the first round of the FCS playoffs at CG Bank Field at Roy Kidd Stadium in Richmond, which means the Colonels are still without a postseason win since 1994.

For all the individual success that’s already come McKinney’s way — and all that may still arrive for him at the next level — his focus is squarely on team success in 2023.

“All my (individual) goals kind of align with the team goals,” said McKinney, who posted a career-best 454 passing yards in that playoff loss to Gardner-Webb.

“I want to do my part. I don’t want to play a bigger role than I have to play. I just want to be a quarterback. I want to distribute the football to my teammates. Take the decisions and make the easy throws that are there for me.”

Plenty of preseason expectations surround McKinney, both inside and outside of the EKU program.

He’s been named an FCS Preseason All-American, as well as to the Walter Payton Award Watch List, which honors the FCS national offensive player of the year.

But with his sixth and final college football season on the horizon, what appeals most to McKinney is restoring EKU football to its past glory.

The Colonels were Division I-AA champions in 1979 and 1982, and the runner-up in 1980 and 1981, but are now approaching three decades without a postseason win.

Along with McKinney, Wells — who signed a new four-year contract through the 2026 season in February — has helped EKU return to the national stage.

“That is the standard at EKU, to make the playoffs and go deep into the playoffs,” McKinney said. “Hopefully go down to Texas and win that (FCS) national championship. I think if we set our goals any shorter than that, then we’re underachieving or not setting our goals high enough.”

McKinney has spoken plenty about his strong connection to EKU: It was the only school to offer him a football scholarship upon his high school graduation in 2018.

He turned down the opportunity this offseason to make the leap to FBS, despite significant interest from schools at that level.

“There’s honestly so many parts of this place that convinced me to come back,” McKinney said, referencing his coaches and teammates, as well as the Richmond community and the Maroon Fund, an NIL collective for EKU student-athletes.

And while EKU itself is certainly eyeing a seat at the FBS table, the immediate attention is on the 2023 season, which begins with a pair of high-profile road games against top-level opposition.

EKU visits Cincinnati on Sept. 2 (the Cincy debut for former Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield) and Kentucky on Sept. 9.

That visit to Lexington will be a homecoming for two new EKU coaches with strong ties to the UK football program: Former UK tight end C.J. Conrad is now the tight ends coach for the Colonels, and former UK quarterback Maxwell Smith is now the quarterbacks coach at Eastern Kentucky.

“I think (Parker) took it as a challenge,” Wells said of Smith’s arrival as the new quarterbacks coach.

“’I know the offense, but I want to know the finer parts of the offense. I want to know defenses better than what I know.’ And he’s taken it to that level with Maxwell.”

Scouting report

Head coach: Walt Wells (fourth season).

Last season: 7-5 overall, ASUN co-champions, first-round exit in FCS playoffs.

Outlook: Eastern Kentucky has enjoyed steady progress in each of Wells’ previous three seasons as head coach.

From a 3-6 mark in the COVID-impacted 2020 season, to a 7-4 record in 2021 and a 7-5 record last season, the Colonels are now firmly back on the national stage in FCS football.

Hopes are high for EKU again in 2023, largely due to the return of McKinney, but preseason praise also arrived for senior offensive lineman Joziah Ezirim, junior running back Braedon Sloan and redshirt senior defensive back Franky West Jr., a transfer from Illinois State who had one of the highest grades last season among FCS defensive backs from Pro Football Focus.

It’s also worth noting that EKU football is now a member of the United Athletic Conference (UAC).

In December, the football-only partnership between the ASUN Conference and the Western Athletic Conference became a full merger of each conference’s football league, which resulted in the creation of the UAC.

EKU was picked to win the UAC in the league’s preseason coaches poll.

The long-term goal for the UAC is for all of its member programs to move from the FCS to the FBS.

Question marks: EKU lost in the first round of the FCS playoffs last season because of its porous run defense.

EKU allowed more than 220 rushing yards per game during the regular season, then allowed 405 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns in its home playoff defeat to Gardner-Webb.

Shoring up that run defense — especially after losing several players from the front seven to the NFL, including star linebacker Matthew Jackson — has been a priority this offseason.

While the presence of McKinney quells most concerns about the EKU offense, the Colonels have lost last season’s top two receivers, Cornelius McCoy (768 receiving yards and eight receiving TDs) and Jayden Higgins (757 receiving yards and 10 receiving TDs).

Higgins is now at Iowa State.

Game of the year: While plenty of attention will be focused on EKU’s opening two games against FBS opponents Cincinnati and Kentucky, it’s an October road game that offers the Colonels a clear chance at revenge.

On Oct. 21, EKU will travel to Gardner-Webb with the chance to avenge last year’s playoff loss to the Runnin’ Bulldogs.

One month earlier on the schedule, EKU will host Southeast Missouri State, which also made the FCS playoffs last season as co-champions of the Ohio Valley Conference.

2023 EKU football schedule

Home games in all capital letters.

Sept. 2: At Cincinnati, 3:30 p.m. (ESPN Plus)

Sept. 9: At Kentucky, 3 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)

Sept. 16: WESTERN CAROLINA, 6 p.m. (ESPN Plus)

Sept. 23: SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE, 6 p.m. (ESPN Plus)

Sept. 30: At North Alabama, 7 p.m.

Oct. 14: TARLETON STATE, 3 p.m. (ESPN Plus)

Oct. 21: At Gardner-Webb, 6 p.m.

Oct. 28: At Utah Tech, 8 p.m.

Nov. 4: AUSTIN PEAY, 5 p.m. (ESPN Plus)

Nov. 11: At Central Arkansas, 5 p.m.

Nov. 18: STEPHEN F. AUSTIN, 2 p.m. (ESPN Plus)