Troy Football Notebook – Scrimmage No. 2, Ole Miss Prep, QB Depth

TROY, Ala. – As Troy draws closer to the two-week mark to its season opener at No. 21 Ole Miss, the pieces to Jon Sumrall's Trojan puzzle are beginning to take shape with position battles winding down and focus shifting towards the Rebels.

"After this Saturday's scrimmage, we'll start to transition in the direction of Ole Miss," Sumrall said. "We've been focused on Troy since the start of camp and who will be the guys we take to the game with us. There have been some calls that we like better against certain opponents we've worked in, but next week we'll start to transition even more. It will still be some good on good, but in a game-week setup."

Saturday marks Troy's second scrimmage of camp after the Trojans went through around 100 plays in The Vet last weekend. While last week's scrimmage featured more of a traditional setup, Sumrall expects to use Saturday as a situational experiment with Troy opening backed up on the 2-yard line, moving to open field plays, followed by a two-minute drill and finally overtime to close out the day.

Fans are welcomed to The Vet beginning at 11 a.m. on Saturday for Fan Day, where there will be free Conecuh Dogs, drinks and signed posters from the football team. Additionally, fans are welcome to come on the field after the scrimmage to take pictures where their favorite players.

"We're excited to see our fans," Sumrall said. "One of the greatest things about Troy University and Troy University Football is we've got the best fan base in the Sun Belt Conference, and our players are excited about engaging and connecting with them Saturday."

Sun Belt officials will also be on hand for Saturday's scrimmage to give Troy's players and coaches a first-person account on how to expect games to be called.

"We've got the Sun Belt officials here this week to help us," Sumrall said. "We're grateful they are taking the time to do so because we now get the opportunity to get our officials from our league to check us and help us see what we need to do a little cleaner."

Doege is a Trojan
News hit the wire late Thursday evening that a new quarterback had enrolled at Troy and participated in practice. Former West Virginia quarterback Jarret Doege (DAY-ghee) is indeed on campus, a member of the Troy football team and eligible to play this season.

The FBS active leader in career passing yards (10,494) and passing touchdowns (79) joined the Trojans at practice Thursday wearing jersey No. 9 after spending the spring and early part of the fall at Western Kentucky.

"We've added a quarterback in really a unique situation," Sumrall said. "Jarret has played a lot of college football, and there is no substitution for that experience. So, bringing him in is about what our quarterback room looks like concerning experience more so than whether we like who we have."

There is plenty to like in the QB room, with junior Gunnar Watson leading the charge along with a trio of redshirt or true freshmen in Peter Costelli, Quayde Hawkins and Tucker Kilcrease.

"We love the young players in that room, and I believe all three of them have very bright futures and huge upsides," Sumrall said. "When you look at Gunnar, who has played a lot of football in his own right, he has done some great things in training camp and stepped up as a leader."

Doege, who began his career at Bowling Green, has played in 46 career games at the FBS level, completing 952-of-1,488 passes averaging 228.13 yards per game. Last season for the Mountaineers, Doege completed 65 percent of his passes with 19 touchdown strikes and 234.5 yards per game.

"We're adding a very experienced piece to that room so that we can be prepared for a lot of different scenarios that could happen," Sumrall said. "The young men in that room understand our situation, and the only quarterback who has played a college game was Gunnar Watson. I want to ensure that the other guys are fully prepared and ready when their number is called, so this provides everyone with a buffer.

"Those guys handled it the right way (adding Doege)," Sumrall said. "They are all team guys and are bought into what we are doing. They understand we have to do what is in the best interest of our football team to help us have the right pieces in place to play 13 and 14 games and not just 12."

Training Camp Progression
Fall camp is about stacking days and building up the team for four weeks before the opening game. Both sides, as is expected, experienced some ups and downs, but for Sumrall, the pieces are starting to come together.

"As we've gone through training camp, our offense has started to create an identity and develop some confidence," Sumrall said. "We're not anywhere near a finished product, but we've seen a lot of improvement on that side of the ball. I'm excited to see their continued growth as they begin to play with a better attitude, a better edge and a lot more physicality.

"Defensively, when you see our first group out there as a whole, you feel pretty good about the direction we're headed. I do think one thing we have to keep honing in on is eliminating the explosive plays. We must make them earn every yard and don't give them cheap free big plays; especially in game one, we're going to play an opponent that thrives off explosive plays.

"The kicking game is coming into focus, especially last Saturday where we had some really good field goal kicking between Brooks Buce and Scott Taylor Renfroe. I feel confident in both those guys; Brooks is a proven kicker, and ST has made some major strides and development and gotten stronger. I like our punting situation with Michael Rivers; he is hitting the ball well. Now, we need to get on the details for the unique situations that will come in the games."

Troy University Athletics

Troy Football Notebook – Scrimmage No. 2, Ole Miss Prep, QB Depth

Players Mentioned

Brooks Buce

Peter Costelli

Jarret Doege

Quayde Hawkins

Tucker Kilcrease

Scott Taylor Renfroe

Gunnar Watson

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