Troy University Athletics
Media Day Means Football Is Here
7/21/2009 9:15:00 PM | Football
It's official now. College football is here again, which is music to the ears of Trojans fans across the world.
Expectations are high across the board. Fans are expecting big things, the players are expecting big things, and the coaches are expecting big things. If the Sun Belt Conference preseason poll and all-conference teams are any indication, opposing coaches and members of the media are expecting big things from the Trojans this year.
I hope you have been enjoying the positional previews that have been running on TroyTrojans.com over the last couple of weeks. We have three more of those lined up to take us right up to the start of training camp at the end of the month.
Taylor Bryan, the graduate assistant in the Athletics Media Relations office, has been responsible for the short video clips that have been included with the preview stories. We are going to try to include video clips of that nature with a lot of our preview stories from events this year.
If you haven't done so already, check out the Troy Athletics channel on YouTube. That is where we will be loading all of our videos through the year.
Today coach Larry Blakeney and senior quarterback Levi Brown participated in the first Sun Belt Conference video teleconference media day. In past year, Coach Blakeney, myself and a player loaded up on a Sunday in late July and drove to New Orleans for two days. It was a costly trip, both in terms of time and expense.
The new video conference format cost the athletics department nothing, which, in this economy, is a very big positive.
The only negative I saw in the event was the limited time each coach and player had to speak. Each team was allocated 30 minutes and, even with the extra 10 minutes Coach Blakeney and Levi took, there were media members who were unable to get a question in.
You can see what Coach Blakeney and Levi had to say today by watching the following two video clips.
With summer school coming to an end this week, the players who have been on campus all summer will get a short break to go home before the time comes to get down to business. I can't remember a summer in the past when there were more players on campus working hard than this bunch has.
After their mini-vacation, the players will report to camp on Thursday, July 30. Friday's schedule will be filled with meetings. The players will meet with compliance, academics, strength coach Richard Shaughnessy, the training staff, the ticket office and, finally, media relations for a little media training.
On the morning of Saturday, August 1, we'll have picture day and the team will finally take the field for the first time on Sunday, August 2.
For the first time, probably ever, the Trojans will not have a single two-a-day practice during camp this year. With school starting for the fall semester on August 12, there just wasn't enough time to work in two-a-days.
There will be scrimmages on Saturday, August 8, and Saturday, August 15. There will also be a scrimmage for young players on Thursday, August 20, and a special teams scrimmage on Saturday, August 22.
Camp will end with a mock game on the evening of Thursday, August 27 as the Trojans move into game week for the Thursday night opener at Bowling Green State University on September 3.
Coach Blakeney will also be the kickoff speaker for the Montgomery Quarterback Club this year. The first meeting of the year will take place on Tuesday night, August 25. The cost to attend is $30 per person. Contact Darrell Orand by August 18 to reserve your seat. He can be reached at 334-207-6196.
Football won't be the only sport getting cranked up this August. The Trojans soccer and volleyball squads will both open training camp to start the month and will both be playing by the end of the month.
Chris Bentley's second season as Trojans soccer coach will start on Friday, August 21, when the Trojans host Alabama A&M in an exhibition game at 3 p.m. The regular season will start two days later, at 1 p.m., when Southern Miss visits.
Coach Sonny Kirkpatrick's Troy volleyball squad will open the season on the road in a tournament at Georgia Southern. The Trojans will play Stetson, Presbyterian and the host GSU Eagles the weekend of August 28-29. The Trojans will play at Auburn on Wednesday, September 2, before opening at Trojan Arena against Samford on September 7.
Another squad that will be in action in August is the Troy men's basketball team. Coach Don Maestri's squad is getting an early jump on the year with an eight-day trip to Europe where they will play games against club teams in France, Belgium and Holland. Athletic trainer, and chief blogger, Alyson Steed will be on the trip with the team and we look forward to her many updates.
Remember, you can follow me on Twitter at @TroySID. You can also get general Troy Athletics updates @TroyAthletics and follow other Troy related tweets at the following: @dothaneagletroy, @Tjarome_SID, @tabryan and @CoachNealBrown.
Until next time ...
Go Trojans!
