Troy Football Notebook: Fall Camp Rewind

TROY, Ala. – Fall camp at Troy technically wrapped Tuesday as classes began on campus yesterday, but head coach Gerad Parker considers Saturday's second scrimmage as the true closing chapter. With the season opener against Nicholls on Aug. 30 at The Vet just over two weeks away, Parker likes the progress his team has made compared to last year; he says there is still more to be done.

"You can't help but compare where you've been a little bit, but I just think that the whole process of fall camp we were better in how we communicated," Parker said. "We were better in what it looked like holistically – how we ate, how we interacted, our plans, how we discussed the sports science piece of where we would be and how we would recover from practices.

"We've got an accountable group, a player-led group that I think is just a whole lot better than where we were. I think being player-led just makes things so much easier to deal with the hard that is going to inevitably come, because we're going to have adversity at some point in the year. Every team does, every season does, and the more people are built to handle adversity and lead, it's just easier to put out those fires."

Fans can get a look at the Trojans in person on Saturday beginning at 10:30 a.m. when the gates to The Vet open for Fan Day. Fans can watch the end of Troy's second scrimmage, enjoy free hot dogs, drinks and get autographs from their favorite players.

Staff Continuity Paying Off
Parker brought back all but one of his on-field coaches from last season, retained two analysts, and added Troy legend Corey Robinson to the staff. The continuity, he says, has made a clear difference.

"Our staff is more connected," Parker said. "I love how the defensive staff has tightened up plans and does a better job in group, teach and walk through, and same with our offense; just getting more done to teach the game. We did more football 101; football IQ stuff during the spring at night or during fall camp at night, just to grow the intelligence of our football team."

Year Two Comfort
The jump from assistant to head coach comes with a steep learning curve. Parker says he's much more comfortable in his second year, having learned the balance between big-picture leadership and day-to-day demands.

"I am way more comfortable knowing what my job is," Parker said of the 365-day difference from last season. "Setting direction, expectation and accountability of the program every minute of every day – it's just trying to think about everything and not the thing. Because you're just thinking about so much, or so much to fix, or so many concerns. Now, it's I know you; you know me. I know the staff, they know me. I know the community. They know me, Kandi, and the kids. We know our team, they know us.

"I think just full circle to answer the question; knowing what my job is, and focusing on that job – setting direction, accountability, every single day, every minute, I think that's the thing that I feel confident in knowing the difference."

Building on Last Season
The Trojans closed 2024 winning three of their final four games, ranking 19th nationally in offense and 24th in defense in November. One glaring weakness throughout the season was the lack of turnovers from the defense; they forced only nine all year, ranking 130th out of 133 teams.

"As with any team, we're going to take our personnel and get them on the field in different ways to be disruptive on defense and explosive on offense," Parker said. "Defensively, we've made a larger commitment to ball disruption and tackling. How can we do those jobs better? You practice them and emphasize them better, which is what we've done."

Offensively, quarterback Goose Crowder returns after an injury-shortened season to lead an attack that found its rhythm in the final month.

"We're going to throw out multiple personnel groupings, multiple ways of doing things on offense; a lot of what we did at the end of the year," Parker said. "The key is finding ways to be more explosive overall and especially in the run game, where our long runs find the end zone."

Depth Taking Shape
Last season's roster was one of the least experienced in the nation, ranking third in scholarship newcomers and ninth in fewest returning players. This year, deeper rotations are evident; Troy's third-team players took 327 snaps in spring ball compared to just 95 a year earlier.

"Now you've got a player, instead of saying he doesn't know how to practice, or he's not prepared to play, he's developed himself into being able to now be prepared to compete for a job instead of not even being close," Parker said. "That player becomes a better player, learns how to practice and understands expectations. Then, when he is a scout team player, he's a better player for our first team guys, and he prepares us better."

Position Check
Some areas of the roster already give Parker confidence heading into the season.

"I like our defensive line play, our ability to rush the passer, and hopefully create havoc," Parker said. "That has to be the biggest step we've taken. I sleep good on that. We're also playing the ball better in the secondary. We still have steps to take, but we're better there.

"The wideout group is still a work in progress. We've got to keep filling holes and fill guys in as they continue to ascend. Then the running back position is hard to evaluate until you tackle."

Inside "Muscle Beach"
Visitors to a Troy practice might notice a small group in blue jerseys working off to the side with the strength staff – cycling, rowing or throwing medicine balls. This is "Muscle Beach," a targeted program for injured players.

"Muscle Beach is part of practice for the guys who can't go physically for various reasons," Parker said. "It takes a special person to coach over there, because every one of those players wants to be practicing.

"It provides cardiovascular activity to get those guys sweating and moving and keep some semblance of lung capacity and stamina when they do return. The second piece is to help develop the other pieces of their body or supplement the part of their body that is hurting, to help them get healthy, which gets them on the field quicker. It's like anything, if you're stale and standing and watching parts of practice, your mind wanders you. You forget what your purpose is sometimes. So, I just think keeping them active is healthy for them, their mind and body."

Troy University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Goose Crowder

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