Neal Brown Era Opens Saturday

TROY, Alabama – The work has been hard and the hours have been long for Troy football team, coaches and staff since the Dec. 1 announcement of Neal Brown as the new head coach of the Trojans.

Saturday night in Carter-Finley Stadium will display the early returns of that labor when Troy opens the Neal Brown era at NC State. Kickoff is slated for 5 p.m. (CDT) and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN3.

The Troy Sports Radio Network will have full coverage of the game beginning with the pregame show at 3 p.m. (CDT) on the full 16-station network. Fans are also encouraged to engage on social media using the hashtag #RebuildTheWall.

The opening challenge won't be an easy one for Troy, as NC State ended the year with wins in four of its final five games, including a bowl victory over Central Florida.

"It's game week. It's finally here and I think our guys are ready," Brown said at his weekly press conference. "A tremendous challenge here in week one going to Raleigh, N.C., playing North Carolina State, a group that I thought was probably the hottest team in the country at the end of last year. They played extremely well on both sides of the ball."

Troy also played its best football down the stretch last year as the Trojans won two of their final three games and led UL Lafayette at halftime in the other contest. Troy averaged 34 points over those final three contests and now sophomore quarterback Brandon Silvers threw for 618 yards (34 percent of his season total), six touchdowns (55 percent of his season total) and no interceptions, while completing 81.3 percent of his passes.

"I think it is hard to speak on confidence until you've played. If you want to talk about trust, I trust them," Brown said. "The guys we're going to roll out and play, I trust them. They've done what we've asked them to since we got here. To a man, from an academic standpoint, from an off the field behavior standpoint, to the way we've worked in the weight room and then on the field during preseason camp, they're a group that I trust and I'm going to be confident in them to go out there an execute our game plan."

Troy returns a handful of starters on offense, but only two on an offensive line that will see a true freshman (Deontae Crumitie) start a season opener for the first time in over 30 years. Silvers is more than capable under center after breaking Sam Bradford's NCAA record for completion percentage by a freshman (70.5 percent), posting an 11/3 touchdown to interception ratio and rushing for five touchdowns.

With all that said, and a similar offense in tow from pervious years, Brown is still not expecting to open up the playbook quite yet.

"Our game plan will be simple, as most teams are early in the season. I want our guys to play. I don't want to be worried about making a mistake. I want them to go out there and play and grow as we continue," Brown said. "You know, if you look at our schedule, the way it's set up, playing 12 games, we've got three games and a bye week. For those first three games, we have to play a lot of people. We have to play a lot of people and find out who is going to step up and make plays and compete when the lights come on and who are some guys that maybe aren't ready yet. We've got to use these first three games to find that out before our true test, which is the Sun Belt Conference."

Defensively the Trojans will turn to veterans on the line and in the secondary to lead a group that is eager to send a message. Senior bandit Tyler Roberts is a three-year starter for the Trojans, while safety Montres Kitchens made national headlines last season following a three-interception game.

"We want to start out strong and prove everybody wrong who doesn't think we're going to be as good as we think we are," Roberts said. "I'm confident in the defense, obviously we'll have to get the first-game jitters out of the way and this will be the first time that a lot of us have played together. We've built a lot of chemistry together in camp, but now we'll see how that chemistry translates to a Saturday."

Pulling the strings for the defense will be Vic Koenning, who returns to the school where he began his impressive run of top-20 defenses. Koenning-led defenses have ranked in the top 20 in total defense or tackles for loss in eight of the past 10 years. In the two years outside the top 20, he improved Kansas State and Illinois' defenses by 77 and 53 spots nationally, respectively, in his one season at each stop.

Dark horse Heisman candidate Jacoby Brissett leads a NC State offense that averaged 30.2 points per game with a balanced rushing (204.5 ypg) and passing (204.0 ypg) attack. The Wolfpack will be without leading rusher Shad Thorton (907 yards, 9 TDs) after he was suspended for the first two games of the season.

"When you talk about North Carolina State, it starts with their quarterback, Jacoby Brissett. I think he's a Heisman Trophy candidate," Brown said. "He's a guy that is a dual-threat- big, physical runner, and can also throw it. He is extremely accurate and threw the ball really well at the conclusion of last season."

While it will be the first game for quite a few of the players, including the 10 freshmen on Troy's depth chart, it will also be a new experience for Brown.

"We've got our hands full, but it will be fun," Brown said. "It will be a different experience. I think any time, it's obviously the first time I'm going to run out there as a head coach, there will be some things that I will have to get used to, but I'm looking forward to it. It's a great venue to play at. I played there when I was a player at UMass; several of our coaches have competed there. I think they will do a good job. Their crowd is right on top of you, so our guys are excited about playing for sure."

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Players Mentioned

Deontae Crumitie

Montres Kitchens

Tyler Roberts

Brandon Silvers

Troy University Athletics

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