Troy football notebook: week two

Week two of practice is underway as Troy marches toward a week one opponent that, as of this writing, is still unknown. Head coach Chip Lindsey noted after Saturday’s scrimmage that players are beginning to move up and down the depth chart. Our guess at that depth chart can be found here and will be updated each Saturday this month.

Injury updates

Troy wide receiver Luke Whittemore sustained a lower right leg injury late in the first week of practice and will likely miss the rest of August camp, according to Lindsey.

“He’s probably a couple of weeks from being back,” Lindsey said on Monday. “It just depends on how it heals. He basically just came down funny on his foot. Luckily it’s not real serious and it’s going to take probably two to three weeks for him to get back.”

On a positive note for the Trojans, running back BJ Smith has been cleared for full activity 11 months after sustaining a torn patellar tendon against Southern Miss.

“He is finally released so he is a full go,” Lindsey said. “He rotates in just like the other guys. Obviously he’s going to be our bell cow, so to speak. He’s doing well.”

Smith is Troy’s active career leading rusher with 1,554 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Sorting through the running backs

While Smith remains the go-to option in the backfield, the Trojans are working with plenty of options to work into the rotation. Namely, true freshman Kimani Vidal and redshirt freshman Jamontez Woods have caught the attention of the staff.

“Kimani Vidal has been very impressive,” Lindsey said. “Really, really pleased with his progress. I think Jamontez Woods has really been a bright spot, as well. In the scrimmage I thought he did a lot of good things. He did put it on the ground one time but other than that I thought he had a great day.”

Texas A&M transfer Charles Strong has also made his presence known in the backfield, coming into camp weighing in at a healthy 235 pounds. Strong has the size and the talent, but still has some areas to improve on, per Lindsey.

“Charles Strong is very, very talented,” Lindsey said. “He just needs to put it all together. You can’t just be good when you run the ball, when the ball is in your hand. You got to be good without the ball in your hand. Pass blocking and understanding all the details of route running. We throw the ball to the backs a lot so we want to make sure he knows how to get open. He’s making a lot of progress.”

Lindsey says he has a good group of backs that he’ll rely on and even said he plans on running a lot of two-back sets.

Progress at quarterback

Troy came into camp with a wide open quarterback battle among its four scholarship players at that position. Lindsey says he’s ready to start trimming the list but will wait for the next scrimmage to do so.

“I think we’ve narrowed it down some,” Lindsey said. “I think Gunnar (Watson) has done well, I think Jacob Free has improved. Kyle Toole has been impressive. To say we’ve narrowed it down we’re probably going to wait to get through the scrimmage to do that. I don’t know that I’ll rep all four of them with the ones. We’ll see how the week goes.

“If we feel like we got our guy then that we’ll start the season with then we’d love to be able to do it but I’m not going to do it until I feel great about it.”

Whoever that quarterback is will have plenty of wide outs at their disposal. Kaylon Geiger returns on the inside of that group with Tray Eafford, though the spots behind them and Bret Clark remain up for grabs.

Lindsey points to true freshman Tez Johnson and Bryce Childress as two players who have stood out, while former cornerback Orlando Lacey continues to work with the inside receivers.