Signee look: Linebackers

February 11, 2008

Drew Champlin

For the first time in a while, Troy didn’t go to the JUCO ranks to look for a linebacker. Jacoby Thomas of Mobile and Kanorris Davis of Perry, Ga., are expected to come in and compete for playing time immediately, while Johnny Thompson of Valley is expected to grayshirt and enroll in 2009.

According to defensive coordinator Jeremy Rowell, Thomas emerged as a possibility late, though Troy had been on him from the beginning.

“We’re going to fulfill our needs for this year and next year,“ Rowell said. “We changed up in the process when we had a chance to get Jacoby. We had been recruiting the whole time and he ended up coming on late for us and we had a chance to get in there late and get him and we did, which was a great get for us.“

Thomas and Davis will compete with returning junior Boris Lee, senior David McDowell, junior Bear Woods and three redshirt freshmen - Donnell Golden, Xavier Lamb and Lennie Richardson for playing time next year.

“We’re going to have a lot of young guys,“ Rowell said. “We’ve got David McDowell and Boris coming back and some redshirt guys and the two freshmen coming in. We’ll have two older guys with a lot of young guys behind them, so they’ll have a lot of opportunity to get good experience there.“

Signee look: Defensive line

Drew Champlin

Troy pretty much reloaded on the defensive line and signed some guys who coaches feel have a lot of potential. Junior college transfer Mario Addison has a chance to play at defensive end and freshman James Searcy is also a defensive end. Tim Lamb, who prepped at Tallahassee-Lincoln and went to Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va., has a ready-to-play body at defensive tackle. Chigozie Nwankwo is likely to end up at defensive tackle and Tony Davis is likely to end up at defensive end, depending on how their bodies fill out.

All five are slated to be on campus this fall. Defensive end Brandon Boudreaux grayshirted and is on campus.

“We feel like we got some really good talent, guys with good athletic ability and guys who can grow into positions,“ defensive coordinator Jeremy Rowell said. “They may start out someplace and move someplay else. There’s some definite edge guys and definite inside guys and some guys who could do both depending on how their bodies fill out.

On Mario Addison: “Mario is a big-time athlete. He played tailback in high school. He’s got great speed.“

The other signees are all freshmen.

“It’s tough to play down in there sometimes as a freshman because of strength,“ Rowell said. “You can play out wide easier as a freshman because the strength factor doesn’t come in as much but raw ability does. We’ve got some guys coming back on the interior but we need a little help.“

On Tim Lamb: “Tim’s obviously the first guy who can be physically ready. He’s a year removed from high school. He’ll end up like a redshirt freshman but still with five to play four.“

On Tony Davis and Chigozie Nwankwo: “Tony and Chigozie are two guys we’ve got to grow a little bit, but both are athletic and can run, so we’re hoping their upsides are unlimited as to what they can do.“

On James Searcy: “Searcy’s a big-bodied guy, he’s a good athlete with great strength. We’ve got him at D-end right now and we’ll see how his body does and how he plays there and see where it goes from there.“

Little baseball note

Drew Champlin

Took a stadium tour of the renovated Riddle-Pace Field today. Everything looks pretty good except for the still-under-construction coaches’ offices/clubhouse, but that will be done by the end of March.

Senior Ryan Ellison will get the opening day start on the mound. The righty’s been very, very, very good at times and very, very, very bad at times. When he’s on, he’s got top 3 stuff in the league.

On injuries, senior JJ Whetsel is throwing live as is junior Steven Morelock. Both missed all of last year with arm injuries. Senior Jeff Green and JUCO transfer Jordan Mathers are getting there. Both have had arm surgery in the last year.

Troy falls to South Alabama

February 10, 2008

Drew Champlin

Justin Jonus gave Troy fans something to cheer about with his 10 3s and 32 points, but Troy fell to league leader South Alabama 90-72.

The 10 3-pointers are a school record, but Jonus didn’t get much help otherwise. It didn’t help that South Alabama was red-hot too. For the most part, Troy played well, but they just aren’t as good as South Alabama. The Trojans can play with every team in this league, but it hasn’t shown that it can beat most of them. It’s all a four-game season for the bulk of the league, so if Troy’s playing well at the end, it has a shot in the tournament to do a little bit of damage.

Troy-South Alabama game update

Drew Champlin

Junior Kenny Ware draws his first start at forward, replacing Trayce Macon. Not sure why or where this move came, but you can’t blame Troy for trying to change things up. Ware’s definitely in for his defense and hustle.

HALFTIME - South Alabama leads 44-37. Troy’s not playing that bad, except for in the last four minutes when the shot just went cold. Biggest difference in the game? South Alabama 9-of-10 from the FT line. Troy 0-of-0.

What has to happen in the second half? Troy has to be hot from the outside. The looks are there. Tough, though as South Alabama stars Demetric Bennett and Domonic Tilford are lights out when given just a glimmer of space.