Ranking Troy’s Position Groups 1-9

In 10 Saturdays, Veterans Memorial Stadium will fill up once more with fans ready to see what the next era in Troy football holds. Head coach Chip Lindsey will lead a roster with plenty of talent across the board through another highly anticipated season in Troy.

While talent is bountiful, some positions have more of it than others. Some groups are also deeper than others, such as the infinite college football roster balancing act goes.

I’ve ranked Troy’s position groups today 1-9 to help give a better understanding of where each position stands.

Note: the defense is Multiple and can be seen as 4-3, 3-4 or even 4-2-5. I’ve always viewed it as a 3-4, throwing the bandits and spears in with the linebacker group.

1) Offensive Line

The top-ranked position group was an easy choice. The projected starting five (Austin Stidham-Dylan Bradshaw-Kirk Kelley-Tristan Crowder-JL Gaston) have a combined 91 career starts.

That includes just two career starts from Bradshaw, who still saw over 300 snaps as a utility interior lineman last season.

Sophomore left tackle Stidham went into the 2018 season as the lone question mark on the offensive line and is going into 2019 as a strong point. Stidham had an average grade of 89.9 in the regular season, trailing only Gaston’s 93.1 on the team. Stidham also graded out at 93 against both Boise State and Nebraska.

The pieces behind the starting five are inexperienced but received plenty of reps in the spring, especially later on as the injuries began piling up.

2) Defensive Line

Winning the line of scrimmage wins a lot of games in college football, regardless of how drastically the rest of the sport evolves. In Troy’s case, the Trojans are going to be in position to win a lot of games this season thanks to some seriously solid LOS play.

Troy got 38.5 tackles for loss out of its defensive line in 2018, which is more than Navy got out of its entire defense (37). The Trojans return 31.5 of those tackles for loss across the line for 2019. Jarvis Hayes and Antoine Barker are back as a relentless 1-2 combo at defensive end. The two combined for 20 stops behind the line of scrimmage and nine sacks last year.

Sophomore Will Choloh, Jr had a breakout game at South Alabama with three tackles for loss and led all Sun Belt freshmen with 4.5 tackles for loss on the year. The group is rounded out by returning interior linemen Travis Sailo and Marcus Webb.

3) Quarterback

The Trojans went into the offseason with five scholarship quarterbacks and are coming out with four following Sawyer Smith’s transfer to Kentucky. Troy still has Kaleb Barker, who started the first six games of last season before missing the remainder of the year with a knee injury.

Barker played enough to set the school record for completion percentage by completing 72 percent of his throws. Barker tossed 10 touchdowns to only two interceptions and completed an astounding 83 percent of his pass attempts over his last three games.

Redshirt freshman Gunnar Watson has settled in as the backup following a strong spring and newcomers Jacob Free (JUCO transfer) and Gavin Screws fill out the scholarship quarterback room.

4) Running Back

Senior running back BJ Smith came just one yard shy of Sun Belt rushing title holder Darrynton Evans with 1,186 yards in 2018. Smith tallied at least 100 rushing yards in a school record five consecutive games before facing a who’s who of top Sun Belt front sevens to end the season.

Smith failed to crack four yards per carry in the last three regular season games against Georgia Southern, Texas State and Appalachian State as the lack of depth at that position began to show.

Speedster Jabir Frye is back as a lightning option following a healthy, productive spring. Frye stands to be more involved in Lindsey’s offense than Neal Brown’s as a pass catcher.

Troy is still waiting on a decision from the NCAA on Texas A&M transfer Charles Strong. If accepted, Strong’s eligibility will be a game changer for Troy’s offense, giving it depth it has not seen since Jordan Chunn and Josh Anderson graced the backfield.

5) Special Teams

Kicker/punter extraordinaire Tyler Sumpter is doing the heavy lifting here as a consistent place kicker and one of the Sun Belt’s top punters. Sumpter was 18/24 a season ago and made all 35 extra point attempts.

As a punter, Sumpter was second in the conference in punt average and NET average at 45.1 yards and 42.5 yards. On the return side, Troy has to replace specialist Marcus Jones but still has Frye and several other playmakers to rotate in.

6) Wide Receiver

Preseason predictions across blogs, magazines and tweets are going to peg this group as the question mark of the offense but it could end up being one of the Sun Belt’s best wide out groups by season’s end.

Junior Tray Eafford is the leading returning receiver having caught 24 passes for 292 yards last season. Sophomore Luke Whittemore returns as a big play threat, as well, after averaging 16.7 yards per catch in 2018.

They’ll likely be joined in the starting rotation by a host of newcomers. JUCO transfers Reggie Todd and Khalil McClain have already worked in the offense as early enrolees. Another JUCO transfer, Kaylon Geiger, will have a chance to work himself into the rotation as a speedster slot guy during the fall.

7) Linebacker

Factoring in the bandit and spear position, Troy lost three of four starters this offseason and only one to graduation. The Trojans will have to replace uber-productive bandit Hunter Reese, coverage will linebacker Tron Folsom and breakout star at spear Tyler Murray.

Carlton Martial is back at mike linebacker after leading all Sun Belt freshmen in tackles with 76 last year. Junior Justin Whisenhunt (47 tackles) and early enrolee Ahderrious Gee make this particular position one of the strongest across the defense.

Troy will turn to juniors Kevin Nixon and Zo Bridges at bandit while senior AJ Smiley will get a shot at the starting will position. The depth at spear is currently critical, with Murray transferring after spring practice where former spear backup Will Sunderland was moved to full time cornerback. Jeremiah Jones and Shon Spralling (10 tackles) will get the first looks here.

8) Defensive Back

Attrition took a heavy toll in the defensive backfield this offseason. Corner Blace Brown graduated along with starting safety Cedarius Rookard. Troy then lost another corner in Marcus Jones, leaving Troy a little thin.

There is light, though. Man coverage specialist Terence Dunlap is back with five career pass breakups and one interception. As mentioned, Sunderland has moved to outside corner and gives Troy some size at that spot. Jawon McDowell and Levon Fletcher will be joined in the battle for the nickel and fourth corner spot by incoming freshmen Reddy Steward and Dell Pettus.

Melvin Tyus (125 career tackles) is back at cat safety but a battle still persists for those vying to fill the hole Rookard left. Junior Kyle Nixon and JUCO transfer Koby Perry are neck-and-neck for the spot. Nixon had 11 tackles last season while Perry had a strong spring.

9) Tight End

This group isn’t last due to lack of talent but rather lack of depth. Sam Letton returns with 25 career receptions as the lone experienced option. Redshirt freshman AJ Lewis is an athletic, high ceiling player who has yet to see any game action.

Letton missed a lot of time during the spring, which gave Lewis plenty of action within the offense.

If either goes down, Troy will have to look to walk-on Trey Coryell as the backup tight end. It remains to be seen just how often the position will be used in Lindsey’s offense, though.