Watson, Whittemore shine as Grey tops White during annual T-Day game

Troy capped its first spring practice period under head coach Chip Lindsey with the annual T-Day game inside a windy Veterans Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

The Grey team defeated the White team 26-7 in a four quarter, traditional-style spring game.

The offense wore grey while the defense was in white, though the scoring was entirely dependent on the quarterback on the field.

Quarterbacks in red (Sawyer Smith and Gunnar Watson) represented the grey team and played primarily with the first and second units.

Quarterbacks in black (Jacob Free and Gavin Screws) represented the white team and played with the third team. Kaleb Barker was held out as he continues to recover from his ACL surgery.

Running back BJ Smith was limited to just a few carries in the first quarter before taking off the pads.

Watson led multiple scoring drives, one in each half. Smith led a scoring drive in the second half and Screws led one in the first. Walk-on quarterback Kade Young scored late in the game on a quarterback keeper.

Regardless of quarterback, points were hard to come by for the offense, especially early on. The defense carried the momentum it had gained last week into this game and pitched a first quarter shutout.

The quarterbacks combined to go 10/24, unofficially, in the quarter as the offense struggled against the wind through the air and a stout front seven on the ground.

“I thought we did a really nice job on defense early,” Lindsey said following the game. “Those guys ran to the ball well and they presented a lot of different looks.”

It was a different story in the second quarter, though. Watson dumped a pass down to running back Jabir Daughtry-Frye who split a pair of tacklers and raced about 40 yards downfield to the red zone.

On the next play, wide receiver Luke Whittemore made an impressive catch at the one yard line to set up a short touchdown plunge for running back DK Billingsley.

A similar drive then ensued the other way when Gavin Screws hit the field. The true freshman found receiver Timmy Gibson down the left side for a 32 yard gain to start the possession.

A few plays later and faced with a fourth and medium, Screws hit tight end AJ Lewis over the middle for a first down. With a fresh set of chains, running back Charles Strong took a hand-off, found the hole and outran the defense on his way to a 30 yard touchdown run.

Watson threatened to score again late in the quarter with a 37 yard pass to Whittemore but time ran short on the offense. Reserve kicker/punter Kyle Coale missed a field goal and that represented the final play of the half.

The red jersey quarterbacks led the game’s remaining touchdown drives. The next score came at the end of a highly efficient drive led by Watson, who went 6/6 on the possession with a 10 yard touchdown strike to Whittemore.

Watson finished the game 12/20 for 148 yards and a touchdown. Whittemore caught five passes for a game-high 94 yards.

Smith finally got in on the scoring action early in the fourth quarter, hitting receiver Reggie Todd in the back corner of the end zone on a fade route for six.

Young then entered the game and finished the contest at quarterback. His time behind center saw the game’s only turnover, a fumble on an quarterback-running back exchange, and the game’s last touchdown, a short quarterback keeper.

The new offense was put on display throughout the day, with a number of pass-catchers making multiple receptions.

Gibson caught three passes for 64 yards and Frye had four receptions for 53 yards. Demontrez Brown and Bee Hinton each had three receptions while Tray Eafford led all in catches with six for 46 yards.

Though the quarterbacks couldn’t be touched, seven different defenders recorded a “sack.”

John Hines got the game’s first sack and he was followed by KJ Robertson, Trevon Mathis, Ahdarrious Gee, Doug Salter, Pat Richardson and Zo Bridges.

Troy has a long summer and fall camp ahead, but on the other side is the August 31 home opener against the Campbell Camels.