Troy Football Spring Practice Notebook: Week Three

Week three of spring ball is in the books and the Trojans have made big strides under the new regime. Troy has gone through the full install multiple times, allowing for more development and depth sorting.

The team held its first scrimmage of the spring on Saturday, getting to play live football inside Veterans Memorial Stadium for the first time since November. We’ll get to that and more in this week’s notebook.

Health Update

It’s been so far, so good for Troy in the health department. There’s little-to-no new news to report as far as injuries go. Bandit Zo Bridges was out of uniform this week and tight end Sam Letton put on a yellow jersey. Both were in good spirits, though.

“We’re pretty good right now,” Lindsey said after Thursday’s practice. “We’ve got some guys with nicks and bruises but nothing serious.”

Quarterback Kaleb Barker is progressing well with his knee injury. Barker participates in all 7-on-7 drills and some team work. He started Saturday’s scrimmage but only played the first series.

“He’s doing great, during 7-on-7 you can see flashes,” Lindsey said. “He’s in good shape right now. He’s holding up well physically and we’re just going to get him to fall camp to get him into some team situations.”

Reggie Todd and Chip Lindsey

In last week’s notebook I mentioned wide receiver Khalil McClain’s connection to Chip Lindsey from the recruiting trail. McClain, along with receiver Reggie Todd, was being recruited by Lindsey to Kansas.

The two shared an official visit, but neither knew of the other’s commitment to Troy on early signing day.

Todd’s connection to Lindsey goes back a little bit further than McClain’s, though. According to Todd, Lindsey gave him his first scholarship offer out of high school while Lindsey was the offensive coordinator at Southern Miss.

“Chip’s my guy, I love Chip,” Todd said after Saturday’s scrimmage. “Everything happens for a reason and it’s a blessing to be here.”

Neither decided on Kansas, but both are still working under Lindsey’s offense in a twist of fate. Lindsey enjoys having both at his disposal, though.

“Both of them are great kids,” Lindsey said. “They’re working hard and trying to get better everyday. They got a great attitude, that’s the number one thing that sticks out to me.”

Scrimmage

The highlight of the week was the first scrimmage of the spring practice period on Saturday. The team practiced inside the Vet for just the second time this spring and live-tackled for the first time.

Troy worked the ball up and down the field while mixing and matching personnel in various packages.

The offense looked sharp during the first hour, especially with Sawyer Smith at quarterback. During one stretch, Smith completed five of six passes with three touchdowns.

Standouts at receiver included Todd and Tray Eafford, who got behind the defense twice and outran the secondary on his way to a pair of touchdowns.

Todd made a couple of eye-opening plays, himself. He took a screen pass to the house early in the scrimmage, breaking three tackles in the process. One possession later, he caught another screen pass, reversed field and picked up a first down.

Bret Clarke had a strong day, as well. He slipped away from the defense with a skinny wheel route on a play-action and took a pass from Smith into the end zone. Clarke also caught a toe-dragging touchdown in the back of the end zone later in the scrimmage.

Of the quarterbacks who did get multiple series’ to work with the offense, Smith is the one who, unsurprisingly, jumped out the most. He was closely followed by Gunnar Watson, though.

“I think Sawyer (Smith) took care of the ball, which is good,” Lindsey said. “He made a few plays. I thought Gunnar (Watson) did some nice things early.”

There’s still work to be done at the position, however.

“The big thing for us is we can’t hold the ball,” Lindsey said. “We’re holding the ball too long, the ball has got to come out of your hands and for that to happen they’ve got to know exactly where they’re going with it.”

Quarterbacks can’t be hit, but there were a couple of occasions where a play was blown dead due to a “sack.” Most notably, Carlton Martial squeezed through the A gap and “sacked” the quarterback before he could even finish his drop back in an incredible display of athleticism.

The defense did come around, though, and finished the day with three interceptions. The first one came early when a Barker pass tipped of of his receiver’s hands and into Justin Whisenhunt’s.

Linebacker KJ Robertson picked off a Jacob Free pass over the middle. Free was picked off again later in the scrimmage by corner Will Sunderland, who made an acrobatic dive to get to the ball.

The defense may have had an up and down day, but the group is confident it’ll be better going forward.

“We made a couple of mistakes,” safety Koby Perry said. “We’re going to keep pushing and by the fall we should be very polished.”

Defensive coordinator Brandon Hall shared those sentiments, mentioning there were some good moments and then some bad moments during the scrimmage.

“We gave up some touchdowns early,” Hall said. “I really liked the way our defense overcame some adversity. I thought we played well toward the end, much better than we did in the start.”

Hall expressed the importance of the defense being mentally and physically prepared for the next scrimmage, one that many on the team expect to be a much faster affair.

Lindsey estimated that the team ran 70-75 plays on Saturday but wants to run at least 100 going forward.