Know your Trojan: Will Chambliss

December 19, 2008

Drew Champlin

I caught up with senior offensive lineman Will Chambliss after the luncheon. We talked about his faith, his getting married in the spring, going to seminary, interest in being a youth minister and a freak accident that happened earlier this year.

Enjoy as I head out to practice.

Friday links

Drew Champlin

DOTHAN EAGLE: Troy hoops earns conference win - Troy beat FAU last night. Jon Johnson covered it for us. That’s a good win against a talented team that isn’t playing well at the moment. But still a good win.

And, for the New Orleans Bowl coverage

DOTHAN EAGLE: The Huddle: New Orleans Bowl edition

DOTHAN EAGLE: Troy defensive coach faces former team - spoke to defensive ends coach Randy Butler about facing USM, plus other Troy notes

DOTHAN EAGLE: Former Charles Henderson lineman stars for Southern Miss - short story on Micah Brown, who starts at left guard for USM. He’s from Troy.

SUN HERALD: Nelson closes book on career at Southern Miss

HATTIESBURG AMERICAN: Gone bowlin’: Eagles make time for fun

HATTIESBURG AMERICAN: Patience pays off for USM

New Orleans Bowl Day 2 videos

December 18, 2008

Drew Champlin

We’ve got four videos - a scan around practice, and chats with Tanner Jones, Jamie Hampton and Jorrick Calvin.

VIDEO 1 - Troy head coach Larry Blakeney talks with New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton, and players warm up. The guy with the camcorder is former Trojan punter Jason Wright, who boomed a 52-yarder at the New Orleans Bowl two years ago with his final career punt. But he chose sports information/media relations work over the NFL.

VIDEO 2 - Sophomore quarterback Jamie Hampton talks about his rehab from knee surgery.

VIDEO 3 - Sophomore quarterback Tanner Jones talks about knee rehab, what he can’t do in New Orleans because of the knee surgery, and the play he got hurt on. It’s a good one, so watch.

VIDEO 4 - Junior cornerback Jorrick Calvin talks after the team’s first practice at the New Orleans Saints facility

A couple of Thursday notes

Drew Champlin

Back from practice and ready to write and upload videos.

On coaching searches like I told you about a few days ago. Head coach Larry Blakeney said today that North Alabama HAS contacted Troy for permission to speak to inside receivers coach Kenny Edenfield as UNA searches for a head coach. Edenfield came from UNA prior to this season after coaching for several years at UNA. Read more on the overall situation at UNA from the Times Daily.

On another note, Blakeney/Troy HAS NOT been contacted for permission to speak with outside receivers/special teams coach Shayne Wasden for an assistant spot under new head coach Gene Chizik.

The only for sure recruit letters that came in yesterday were from WR Jason Bruce and OL James Brown. I believe there were more, but haven’t been able to find out yet. All the coaches are here, so they don’t know if a letter came in for sure or not. You should be excited about Brown, the massive offensive tackle. He’s big (6-4, 6-5, 330) and has to shed some pounds, but supposedly he has great footwork.

I’ll have video up later from Jamie Hampton, Tanner Jones and Jorrick Calvin. Those are sure to be a treat, so check back.

Thursday football links/hoops talk

Drew Champlin

I should have plenty of content for you guys this week.

I wrote a story on the QB situation with details on the 2009 plans. Check it out.

I also went to the Hilton Riverside and visited with Southern Miss head coach Larry Fedora and a few players. Today, I wrote about DeAndre Brown and took a look on how Southern Miss pulled the huge fish out of a pond.

On a basketball note, Troy hosts FAU in Sun Belt play. Jon Johnson will be covering the game and he wrote a preview for the game.

Troy is 0-1 in conference play, getting blown out at MTSU a week ago. They’re catching FAU at a good time, as the Owls looked bad in a loss at Denver a couple of nights ago. Though stud forward Carlos Monroe is back, the Owls loss to a lesser-talented Denver team, so it is possible for Troy to steal a win. I think FAU’s too talented, though. I remember seeing these guys last year and swingman Paul Graham is a real talent.

Here’s what Sun-Sentinel beat writer Ted Hutton had to say about the state of FAU at the moment. Here is Ted’s blog

“FAU is in struggling now and I think Troy has a good shot at beating them.
They had to play their first nine games without Carlos Monroe (6-8, 245) their best player, as he served a penalty for an eligibility violation. He came back last night in Denver, but the rust was evident, as he scored 10 and had 6 rebounds in the loss.
While Monroe is back, they are now without Xavier Perkins, who was having a good start, averaging 12.4 points and was FAU’s leading rebounder with 6.5 per game in Monroe’s absence. Perkins has grade issues after the first semester and did not make the road trip.
Add to that new coach Mike Jarvis is tinkering with the system and trying different combinations on the floor every game, and you have a team that will be very different a month from now than it is now.
Paul Graham and Monroe make FAU go, so until Monroe is back to speed, FAU is going to have problems beating anyone.
Freshman point guard Alex Tucker is still getting used to the college game, as are two other freshmen, Shavar Richardson and Chris Watson. They are the nucleus Jarvis will be building around in years to come, but right now don’t expect much from FAU.“