Thursday links

October 30, 2008

By Drew Champlin

DOTHAN EAGLE: Chandler back in QB mix - my feature on Jonathan Chandler, who has gotten the nickname “Slash” lately.

THE NEWS STAR: Weatherbie not fazed by down year

Inside the game: Troy 45, UNT 17

October 29, 2008

By Drew Champlin

Actually, all I’ve got for you right now is Jorrick Calvin’s kickoff return for a score. Short and sweet this week. Thanks to TrojanVision for the clips.

I wrote a feature on Calvin today. Scroll two posts down for the link.

Special teams coach Shayne Wasden on the return: “Jorrick did a great job of hitting the hole and running where he was supposed to. He was untouched on the thing. We’ve been close on several this year and we finally popped one. Jorrick’s got a lot of god-given ability and a lot of speed. He’s got that knack of hitting a hole in a hurry and he has a burst.

“At the point of attack, Sam Sellers had the big block. Xavier Lamb had a big block on that one and Daniel Sheffield. Those were the three at the point of attack that got us up the hash.“

“We try to bring it right up the hash – either right hash or left hash. Jorrick got to the hash and those guys did a great job of getting him there.“

Wes Potter’s Heisman campaign is back on

By Drew Champlin

Some of you remember the faux Heisman campaign started by redshirt freshman offensive lineman Micah Grimes on his blog for teammate Wes Potter this preseason. The goal was 0 yards in everything.

The campaign was pulled at the start of the year. Now, Potter has some stats. Minus-two yards on a reception from a batted ball in last week’s game against North Texas. The 320-pound Potter caught a pass, broke three tackles, tried to go forward and was tackled. He dang near lost the ball on a fumble. Heck, most of you guys weren’t there. Had Potter not caught the pass, Levi Brown’s completion percentage drops from 80 percent to 78 percent on the night. Had Potter not caught the pass, Brown finishes with 393 yards passing instead of 391.

“I now have the proper clearance, and the honor to announce the return of the Wes Potter For Heisman Campaign,“ Grimes said in a super-exclusive interview with the Dothan Eagle. “Wes wanted to allow others the chance to win the award. But, with such a lack of players unwilling to step up, Potter has decided to rejoin the race. He made his statement this past week at North Texas. 1 reception, -2 yards. He’s humble. He doesn’t want to get all greedy and gain yards, and things like that.“

Grimes said he would try to blog about it when he finds time.

It’s very possible that Potter is truly last in the country with his (-2) receiving yards. If anyone can find someone that has negative yardage receiving, maybe a receiver who has just caught one ball this year and lost yardage on it, please let me know. Potter was tied with some several thousand players in college football, including Grimes and his other linemen teammates, with 0 yards receiving.

Potter has started the last two games at right guard. With the return of Danny Franks to center from injury and Steven Adams shifting back to right guard, it’s not looking like Potter will take Jerrel Jernigan’s spot at the H-receiver spot.

“That’s the last time I need to see him with the ball,“ offensive coordinator Neal Brown said. “He came to junior college as a tight end. Obviously he ate his way out of that.“

Here is Potter’s catch, thanks to Trojanvision

Wednesday links

October 28, 2008

By Drew Champlin

DOTHAN EAGLE: Troy’s Calvin makes his mark - feature on Jorrick Calvin. I’ll have video clip of his kickoff return later. That’ll be your ‘inside the game’ segment.

More links later, I suppose.

On Jernigan: What I know, what I can generalize

By Drew Champlin

I must apologize for not being around the blog for the last, oh, four hours. Was tending to some personal business. Everything’s cool.

But, if you get my TWITTER updates, or have checked out our web site, you know what’s up. Jerrel Jernigan had his knee scoped today in Birmingham. I didn’t find this out until today. The MRI said knee bruise yesterday, which is true, but it seems like doctors wanted to go in and make sure that was correct and see if anything else was up in there. As far as I know, that diagnosis is still true.

However, a procedure like that can keep you out a couple of weeks. But, Larry Blakeney did say he’s had a running back come back from it four days later. I can’t remember the name of the kid or when it was, but it happened. The knee scope that comes to mind immediately is Mike Felix, who pitched and played outfield in 2006. He hurt his knee on a Sunday, got the procedure done on Tuesday, didn’t play that weekend when Troy won the Sun Belt, but came back next weekend for the Sun Belt tournament.

So, it all depends on how fast Jernigan recovers. Like I said in earlier blog posts based on what coaches said, I don’t see him playing this weekend. Likely not next either vs. Western Kentucky. LSU? Who knows. The two important games are Nov. 22 and Dec. 6. ULM’s not going to win the league, so a ULM upset won’t kill Troy’s chances unless it wants to win the title outright.

But after watching Levi Brown direct this offense, I’d still say it’s in good hands. He’s a tall guy with a rocket arm and the team seems to be following him. He puts it on the money and we’ll see how he reacts to a good defense this weekend.