Thursday links

July 10, 2008

By Drew Champlin

I’ve got a Q and A with Will Chambliss.

We also wrote on Adam Godwin making the Southern League all-star game.

Coming Thursday

July 09, 2008

By Drew Champlin

We’ll have a Q and A on OL Will Chambliss, plus a report on former Trojan baseball player Adam Godwin, who made the Southern League All-Star team.

Spent some time in the weight room yesterday and talked to Chambliss and Brandon Lang, next week and the summer’s final Q and A as Media Days starts July 21. Linebacker Boris Lee - a potential Preseason SBC Defensive Player of the Year - will represent Troy. He would get my vote in that, but I don’t have a vote this year. I would imagine the LB from FAU will get it.. I didn’t see that many guys, as it was later in the afternoon. DE Kenny Mainor is finally making that weight gain that he needed to become even more of a dominant force. He’s put up some pretty good numbers even at around 220 pounds, but he’s around the 240 mark and says he’s determined to make the best of his senior year - especially staying out of trouble.

One guy who hasn’t been talked about much is freshman DE Brandon Boudreaux. He grayshirted and was there for spring ball. He’s short for a DE—only about 6’1 or so, but he’s got some huge arms. I don’t know how much he’ll play this year, but he’s a guy to watch starting next year and beyond.

Other guys I saw around were LB Lennie Richardson, LB David McDowell - he’s slimmed down and S Daniel Sheffield, a JUCO transfer who still has three years of eligibility left. Sheffield’s got a good frame but could add a little thickness.

Summer classes end pretty soon, July 23 I believe for the full summer term. The first term, a shorter term, ended July 2, so we’ll find out if any more guys didn’t make the grade for the upcoming year pretty soon. One to watch for is WR signee Tebiarus Gill, who must pass a math class here at Troy that he didn’t pass at JUCO.

A few basketball dates

July 08, 2008

By Drew Champlin

Caught a glimpse of the men’s hoops schedule and here are a few tentative dates.

The season opens Sat. Nov. 15 (bye football week) vs. UAB at home. Nov. 17 is at UNC-Wilmington. UNC-Wilmington comes to Troy Dec. 22. Troy’s making a couple of trips to Louisiana, playing at Centenary Nov. 20 and Alcorn State Nov. 22 (says both of those games are in Baton Rouge.

UNC-Wilmington is a replacement for VMI (Va. Military), but VMI backed out for some reason. The way Troy and VMI play, the final score might be 140-139.

Troy plays host to Georgia State Nov. 25 - GSU has a bunch of high-level transfers on their squad now so that should be a good game. Nov. 29 and Nov. 30 are vs. Northwestern State and LSU supposedly at LSU’s home floor.

Dec. 2 is at Dayton. Sun Belt opener is Dec. 11 at Middle Tennessee and home opener Dec. 18 vs. Florida Atlantic. Rematch with UAB is in Birmingham Dec. 20 and Troy is at Jacksonville (Fla.) Dec. 29.

Only obscure team I saw was William Carey at home Jan. 5.

Supposedly, the SBC schedule is out of whack this year. There aren’t any road-road or home-home weekends except when teams are playing Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee. Apparently, those are the only ‘travel partners’ and obviously those two will be predicted to compete for the league title. Plenty of teams will go play at FAU on a Thursday, come home for a Saturday game, and go play at FIU the next Thursday. There’s no real rhyme or reason for Sun Belt scheduling.

Thursday reading

July 03, 2008

By Drew Champlin

Figured I’d update this with links to other SBC papers’ blogs, so if you choose, you can read about what’s going on with them.

Florida Atlantic - Ted Hutton’s blog from the Sun-Sentinel. Marcus Nelson’s blog from the Palm Beach Post.

MTSU - Adam Sparks’ blog from the Daily News Journal

North Texas - Brett Vito’s blog from the Denton Record-Chronicle

UL-Lafayette - Joshua Parrott’s blog from the Daily Advertiser.

UL-Monroe - Paul Letlow’s blog from the News-Star in Monroe.

Florida International - Pete Pelegrin’s blog from the Miami Herald.

Arkansas State - I’m not seeing a blog at the Jonesboro Sun, but they cover the

Indians

Red Wolves very well. As does the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Thursday link

July 02, 2008

By Drew Champlin

Here is my question and answer with freshman kicker Michael Taylor.

One thing I forgot to mention in all my updates on QB Jamie Hampton. The big reason he’s put on so much muscle is because, in the weight room, he treated last year like he was a redshirt. Most freshmen come to college and spend that first year as a redshirt, where it’s spent getting stronger and basically living in the weight room. Hampton worked out on the ‘redshirt’ schedule, though he still played.