Some notes from Monday
August 27, 2007
***Austin Silvoy has jumped into the No. 1 position at the Y receiver. The redshirt freshman had a great fall camp. Cornelius Williams, the projected starter, is now third behind Silvoy and Josh Allen. Offensive coordinator Tony Franklin attributed that to Silvoy’s strength and play-making ability and Williams has been struggling with “dead (tired) legs,“ which is bad if you’re not a speedster.
***Sophomore Cameron Sheffield is listed ahead of senior and returning starter Shawn Todd at right defensive end. Todd lost a lot of weight in the summer at air force boot camp and has gained some back, but Sheffield’s a player. You’ll hear a lot out of him and Brandon Lang this fall. Lang is listed ahead of Kenny Mainor at left defensive ends. So basically, you’ve got two defensive ends that started 13 games each last year for a Sun Belt championship team who got beaten out by younger players. In reality, it’s not a bad thing because Mainor and Todd are still good.
***Franklin isn’t satisfied with the offensive line performance, at least not right now. The only guaranteed starters are Chris Jamison at LT and Dion Small at RT. Will Chambliss will likely be at LG, but a true freshman walk-on named Tyler Clark is giving him a run for his money. Danny Franks has struggled lately at C and he’ll battle Steven Adams this week. Steven Merkel has been dinged up a little bit at RG, and Wes Potter, a JUCO transfer, is giving him a run for his money.
Franklin’s happy with Dion Small. He thinks Wes Potter will be a good player, but he’s still got to lose 30 pounds (already lost 20) to be able to play every down. He’s also high on Tyrell Curtis, another JUCO transfer, but Curtis needs reps. Curtis is backing up Chris Jamison at LT and it’s feasible to think he could eventually start there and move Jamison back to a guard. Windham Rotunda, another JUCO transfer, has struggled and is down the line.
***The only injuries of significance are DT Maurice Coleman (knee) and DT Steve McClendon (chest). McClendon should play Saturday if he’s cleared. Coleman’s out for a couple more weeks. There’s about 15 guys listed on the Troy notes who dealt with something this fall camp, but most of them aren’t key contributors, won’t play at all, or just simply don’t have serious injuries.
Team flies out at 2 p.m. from Dothan Regional Airport Friday.
