Chandler back in Troy QB mix

TROY — Jonathan Chandler’s dreams of being the starting quarterback at Troy were put to a halt in the spring, but at the rate things are going, it might only be a temporary halt.

Last week’s win at North Texas saw a second quarterback go down to injury, as Tanner Jones was lost for the season with a knee injury. He and Jamie Hampton, the original starter, are expected to have season-ending knee surgery next week. Hampton got hurt Oct. 7.

Starter Levi Brown threw for 391 yards, but behind him is now true freshman Dantavious Parker, and Chandler, who decided against transferring despite being told by coaches he wouldn’t be in the mix for the starting quarterback job.

Instead, he moved to wide receiver and has been working at the inside slots.

“It’s not by choice, but it looks like I’ll be splitting reps,” said Chandler, an Opelika native. “I know most of the stuff from the past. It’s nothing new to me, but some of the new stuff I’ll have to touch up on.”

Offensive coordinator Neal Brown said Chandler and Parker would battle for the No. 2 spot. He had to make a quick decision early in the spring as the quarterback battle went from four to one.

Chandler also had to make a decision — transfer, receiver, or safety — another position he had experience at. He was born and raised an Alabama fan, but his father started taking him to Troy games after Mike DuBose was named Alabama’s head coach in 1997.

“To me, Troy was my home away from home,” Chandler said. “Troy was my Auburn-Alabama. Coming here was a dream for me and I had no intentions for leaving.”

Neal Brown said Chandler’s reps would mostly be at quarterback now. He could overtake Parker as the No. 2 for Saturday’s game at Louisiana-Monroe, but his receiver reps will be limited since he’s further back in the rotation there.

“He wanted to stay,” Neal Brown said. “We gave him that option (to transfer) since he’s a really good kid and we wanted him to be happy. He didn’t think about it very long and came back a couple of hours later and said he wanted to play here.”

Chandler came in at receiver to start the second half vs. UNT. He took the pass from Jones, who had also come in from that one play. He faked a run and threw back to Jones, who went 48 yards to the UNT 1. He had no idea that Jones, his roommate, had seriously injured his knee.

“I was more mad that he hadn’t scored than he had gotten hurt,” Chandler said. “No, I’m kidding. He’s a winner and he wants to play. Him going down is hurting him on the inside.

“I thought he scored and I went over there and picked him up. We were high-fiving and he had a smile on his face. We went to the sideline and I was going to talk to him about it but I didn’t see him. All of the sudden, he’s on the table and he said my knee hurts really bad. They said he tore his ACL. It was bad.”

Chandler played sparingly as a true freshman in 2006, but redshirted last season. Trying to catch one of Jones’ bullet passes late in the spring left him with a broken right index finger, which also set him back.

Next year, he could be Troy’s long snapper. He’s also Troy’s emergency punter, sparking a nickname from one of his favorite players growing up — former Pittsburgh Steelers do-it-all Kordell Stewart, who was nicknamed “Slash.”

“Somebody called me Slash the other day,” Chandler said. “Long snapper, punter, receiver, safety, quarterback. I guess I can do it all.”