Troy Football Breakdown – Bandits - Troy University Athletics

They Said It – Assistant Coach Bam Hardmon
"The guys have experience in this group and continue to work on their craft, which is awesome anytime you have guys who have a lot of game experience, and they are still willing to put in the work and work hard. Our bandit is a hybrid position between the defensive end and the linebacker; they have the ability to drop into coverage but mostly are a pass rusher. "

Players to Watch
Possibly no position on the field has two players who play at as high of a level as Troy has at bandit with junior Richard Jibunor and sophomore Javon Solomon. Solomon earned All-America honors last season after he led the Sun Belt and ranked 12^th nationally in tackles for loss, in addition to ranking eighth nationally in sacks.

Solomon set the Troy school record with five tackles for loss at Southern Miss and posted the second-most sacks in a game in school history with 3.5.

Jibunor averaged a pressure every 4.97 pass rushing snaps, which ranked fifth nationally among players with at least 150 pass rush snaps. He became just the fourth player in Sun Belt history to reach eight sacks in the first seven games of the season.

"That's going to be a strategy that we try to put in place," Hardmon said of trying to find enough snaps for the two. "They'll end up being on the field at the same time in some of our packages and splitting time a little bit where they don't get exhausted. We feel confident as a team that the next guy can come in and get the job done without a drop-off when one of them needs a break."

Behind Solomon and Jibunor are two young guys waiting in the wings in redshirt freshmen Phillip Lee and Eric Shaw. Lee impressed throughout fall camp and was a top 90 defensive end nationally coming out of high school, while Shaw shifted to the defensive side of the football after transferring in from South Carolina. Coming out of Reeltown High School, Shaw had the 247Sports Composite rank him as the 10th-best player in Alabama and the seventh-best "athlete" in the country.

Position Notes
• Troy's bandit position has produced some of the best the Sun Belt has to offer under coach Bam Hardmon. Troy's starting bandit has earned All-Sun Belt First Team honors in five of Hardmon's seven seasons -- Javon Solomon – 2021, Hunter Reese - 2017 & 2018 (Former walk-on), Rashad Dillard - 2016 (SBC Defensive Player of the Year), Tyler Roberts - 2015

• Richard Jibunor (35) and Javon Solomon (37) combined for 72 total pressures from the bandit position last season.

• The combo of Solomon and Jibunor could not be stopped at Southern Miss in 2021 ... the pair combined for 16 tackles, six sacks, 7.5 tackles for loss and an interception.

• Jibunor was the only player in the country with at least eight sacks, 10 tackles for loss and two interceptions in 2021.

Parting Shot
"I've been blessed to have a good group of guys who are willing to learn and are coachable," Hardmon said of Troy's success at the position. "Not all of them have been the most athletic, but they've all been able to put in the work to perfect their craft, so that's what I credit it to. We've always tried to put them in a good position so they can succeed."

Troy University Athletics

Troy Football Breakdown – Bandits

Players Mentioned

Richard Jibunor

Phillip Lee

Eric Shaw

Javon Solomon

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