#15 Michael Helms Jr.
Class: RS Junior
Hometown: Morganton, N.C.
High School: Freedom HS
Height / Weight: 6-2 / 235
Position: TE
2014 (Redshirt Sophomore): Played in all 12 games with four starts at tight end, each coming at home … Caught six passes for 80 yards including a season-long 28-yard reception against Wofford (Oct. 11) … Tallied a season-high two receptions in the season-opener at USF (Aug. 30) … Also credited with three tackles … Named to the 2014-15 Southern Conference Honor Roll … Sat out during most of 2015 spring drills.
2013 (Redshirt Freshman): Saw action in 11 of the team's 12 games, missing the season finale at Appalachian State ... Made six starts at tight end ... Hauled in 10 passes for 181 yards and a touchdown ... Caught a career-best two passes in three different games ... Recorded his first career reception on a 15-yard completion against FBS-foe, Virginia Tech ... Tallied a pair of receptions for a career-best 79 receiving yards at Samford, posting a career-long catch of 65 yards - the second-longest reception by a Catamount on the year ... Caught an eight-yard touchdown pass in the home overtime win over Elon for his first collegiate score ... Was also credited with two tackles ... Named to the SoCon All-Freshman team.
2012 (Freshman): Did not see game action, taking a redshirt ... Converted from quarterback to wide receiver early in the 2012 season ... Made the move to tight end during spring drills ... Enrolled at Western Carolina for the spring semester in January, 2012 and participated in 2012 spring drills with the Catamount football team ... In the annual spring game, completed all three pass attempts for 13 yards while rushing for 27 on the ground.
Prior to Western Carolina: Two-time Burke County Player of the Year and a three-time All-South Mountain Athletic Conference selection ... Garnered the league's offensive player of the year plaudits as a junior after throwing for a school-record 2,652 yards and 30 touchdowns, adding 361 rushing yards and eight rushing TDs ... For his three-year varsity career, threw for 6,227 yards and 77 touchdowns, adding 1,008 yards rushing and 20 scores on the ground ... Set and matched a school-record with 30 passing touchdowns as both a junior and senior, collecting five passing touchdowns in four different games ... Selected to play in the North-South Shrine Bowl ... Also ran track and played golf as a prep.
Personal: Is the son of Mike Sr. and Barbara Helms ... His father, Mike, is a former football standout at Lenior-Rhyne and the head football coach at Freedom High while his mother played collegiate basketball at Wake Forest and currently coaches girls basketball at Hickory High ... Has a younger brother, Brandon.
Courtesy WCU Athletics Media Relations
