Troy Football Preps for Final Scrimmage of Camp, Fan Day

TROY, Ala. – Saturday is a big day for Troy Football with the return of Fan Day and the Football Kickoff Party taking place in the afternoon and evening hours, but for the 120 players in the locker room, Saturday is also one last chance to make an impression before the team transitions from training camp mode to game mode. The Trojans' second and final scrimmage is set for 9 a.m. in The Vet.

"Next week, we'll transition a little bit into what we call a mock game week; the rhythm and flow of practices almost like a game week, and a week from Saturday, we'll do a mock game where we throw every situation we can at them," head coach Jon Sumrall said. "This scrimmage tomorrow is the last moving day to make significant jumps to prove or solidify where they start the season. Obviously, guys can elevate throughout the year, but we'll lock in a bit towards getting game ready next Monday."

Classes started on Troy's campus Wednesday, which is always a transition and adjustment for the players.

"You always worry about when school starts how does their mindset in regards to football and the practice and rhythm and being dialed in and focused," Sumrall said. "We did not practice the day school started for that reason. Wednesday was just meetings only, and yesterday was the first day we practiced with classes, and it was our best day so far of all training camp; really pleased with their response so far."

Troy scrimmaged last Saturday, focusing more on game flow and an open playbook. This week's affair will be slightly more controlled by the staff as they work to put the players through different in-game situations.

"Tomorrow, we will put the ball down and play," Sumrall said. "We'll do a lot of situational stuff – coming out or backed up for the offense, we'll play from the open field, the red zone and some two-minute situations. We'll have a Sun Belt officiating crew here, which will be nice to be able to get a crew from our conference to work the scrimmage and get to spend time around our players and answer questions. We'll go about 80-100 plays total tomorrow. Everybody will go some tomorrow; some guys will go a drive or two and then be out."

Coming on the best practice in camp on Thursday, Sumrall dialed back Friday's practice to helmets and shorts with a 6 a.m. start time to put some distance between the practice and Saturday's scrimmages.

"Today was a big day to polish a lot of things and keep the wear and tear off the body," Sumrall said. "We went early in the morning to recover and not stack the practices too close together. Yesterday was the best practice we've had in training camp. The physicality, the competitiveness, it actually looked like a football team from top to bottom to me for the first time, which was exciting. Expect the guys to come out fired up and ready to go and be physical tomorrow."

Troy University Athletics

Troy Football Preps for Final Scrimmage of Camp, Fan Day

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