Troy’s Dantavious Parker feels at home in south Florida

TROY — Dantavious Parker’s family and friends from back home in Miami watched him razzle and dazzle on ESPN2 last week, as the backup quarterback ran for 83 yards on six carries for two touchdowns in a 31-7 win over Middle Tennessee.

Today, they’ll get a better look as Parker and Troy play at Florida International, which isn’t far from where Parker went to high school at Christopher Columbus. He expects at least 30 family and friends there as the Trojans (3-2, 2-0 Sun Belt) play the Golden Panthers (1-4, 1-1) at 6 p.m. at FIU Stadium.

“I’ve been looking forward to it since the Middle win,” Parker said. “I had seen it on the schedule early, but had to wait until the time comes. Now it’s here, and my family and friends can see me in person instead of on TV, in the paper and on the Internet.”

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Troy writer Drew Champlin and sports editor Jon Johnson preview the Troy-FIU game.

 

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Parker, a sophomore, hit his first big pass against Arkansas State, an 18-yarder late in the fourth quarter on third down as the Trojans milked the clock in a 30-27 win.

He didn’t play in the first half against MTSU, but ran for a 28-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter and a 46-yarder in the third that set up his 1-yard touchdown run.

Parker rotates with starter Levi Brown, giving the Trojans a change of pace guy on short-yardage situations and giving the defense a faster look behind center.

Offensive coordinator Neal Brown said Parker’s improvement as far as being patient has gotten a lot better over the past two weeks.

“People think it’s easy to go out there and run the football,” Brown said. “He’s really progressed. If he had those same opportunities a couple of weeks ago, he wouldn’t have made those runs. He would have gotten five or six yards because at that point, he was really impatient.”

Parker said he had several text and voice messages after his performance against MTSU, where he ran for 83 yards on just six carries to lead the team. He said FIU recruited him, but cooled on him late in the process. He committed to Troy not long before Signing Day.

“They started slow-playing me and hit me with a preferred walk-on,” Parker said. “At that point, a light bulb went off, and it wasn’t going to happen there.”

Brown said Parker could be able to show even more this week.

“I really envisioned using the pass, but Middle came out running three down linemen, so we ran the ball,” Brown said. “He’s a more than adequate passer, and I think you’ll see that this weekend.

“The good thing about him is that he’s a low-key guy. He doesn’t get too excited or too down, so we won’t have to worry about calming him down.”