Troy Football Notebook: Practice 2
Troy rattled off practice number two behind Trojan Arena on Saturday as the college football world continues to move toward an unknown future.
On the field, save for the trendy masks, everything appeared normal. The Trojans worked through its second straight day of no-injury camp and the Alabama sun failed to send anybody to the tents.
Even I, writer, survived the day to put together this notebook for free.
Stronger bodies
The players have had plenty of time to work with new strength and conditioning coach Rusty Whitt between winter and summer workouts and the results are coming in. Quarterback Parker McNeil called Whitt the best strength coach he’s ever been around on Friday.
Chip Lindsey called out junior college transfer wide receiver Marcus Rogers on Friday as a standout player and did so again on Saturday as someone who is looking a little different this fall.
“A guy that comes to mind is Marcus Rogers, who is one of wide outs from junior college,” Lindsey said. “He looks like he has gotten considerable stronger since he was out here in March.”
Lindsey says player maxes are moving up as team strength continues to rise. The players are also well conditioned with zero players having to leave the field for heat-related reasons through the first two days.
Can never have too much
Troy has close to 20 wide receivers on roster and over 20 offensive linemen up front. Lindsey sees the depth as a necessity in his offense.
“You always want to have depth and you can never have enough,” Lindsey said. “The O-line is extremely important and the way we play offense you got to have plenty of wideouts because the season is long and guys get banged up. I think we’ve done a nice job building some depth in both of those areas and now it’s just a matter of finding the right combination.”
The wide receiver group still has its big names at the top of the depth chart but the offensive line unit must find three more starters to plug alongside the established players in Dylan Bradshaw and Austin Stidham. Jake Andrews started two games in 2019 while playing in all 12 and will have a spot along the starting five as an interior lineman. The other spots, though, are up for grabs.
“I think right off the bat Bubba Hudson is a guy that really stood out for us,” Lindsey said. “I think Bubba has really changed his body. Bubba has always been a great kid. Intelligent, prepares, gets here early, gets his body prepared for practice. I’ve been really pleased with him.”
Lindsey says that Grant Betts has also been a pleasant surprise and is in the mix for the right tackle position. Junior college transfer Jordan Chapman has stood out, as well, according to Lindsey and could be the inside guard opposite Andrews come gameday.
Having fun with hybrids
A staple in Troy’s defense during the Vic Koenning was the disruptiveness of the two hybrid linebacker positions: the bandit and spear. Hunter Reese had 14 sacks in two years as bandit and Tyler Murray picked off three passes and recorded 5.5 tackles for loss in the 2018 season at spear.
Troy looked to four different players at bandit to replace Reese with little to show for it while TJ Harris was pulled from his safety position late in fall camp to fill in the spear role.
Defensive coordinator Brandon Hall says Harris is starting to settle into his new home at spear.
“This year he’s getting really comfortable playing the position,” Hall said. “He got thrown into that position last year the week before the first game, I think on the Tuesday before we played Campbell. Obviously now having spent a year there and then having some time to reflect has been really good for him.”
On the other side, Hall is looking at a pair of new options to play the all-important edge rushing position.
“Right now I think we have two really good ones in Richard Jibunor and Javon Solomon,” Hall said. “I think both of those guys are very capable of being really good players in this conference.”
For Jibunor, the Auburn transfer is leaning on his experience up the highway to learn the bandit position, as well as some others who have helped him get acclimated.
“I really feel comfortable playing it because it’s kind of like what I played before in Auburn,” Jibunor said. “We called it buck there and we call it bandit here. Being with the guy who played it last year, Jarvis Hayes, I really learned a lot from him and Zo (Bridges).”
As for the rest of the defensive line, Jibunor says the group has been “awesome” and that “the chemistry is good with (Will) Choloh and John Hines.”
The Trojans continue fall practice through the weekend and into the days leading up to school starting, where Troy will then switch to afternoon practice times.