Super Bowl Update

At least I think it's Thursday, I lose track of my days when Christmastime is here.

I was not at the Troy-UTSA hoops game tonight because I'm visiting family. Dad apparently got a big bonus at work and treated us all to Ruth's Chris, so I'll take that.

But Troy lost to UTSA, dropping to 5-6. Don Maestri said UTSA was very good and it looks like he was right.

Being away, hard to do much original reporting, but not hard to type up a blog. Wes Johnson (not to be confused with the Minnesota Timberwolves shooting guard) was at the game and said backup PG Nic Combs was no longer on the team. Not sure why, but the big blow there is that Mo Weathers won't get a break on the court. He was playing 36 mpg anyway and played 40 tonight.

At 5-6, with Troy having a bunch of newcomers, that's not really a terrible start. This is a rebuilding year, but the Trojans are a little further along than I thought. The hope is to finish strong and build momentum for the new arena next year.

***ESPN reports that Northeast Miss. linebacker Eli Canton signed or is signing. Canton, a big linebacker, is a guy I told you about who visited a few weeks back and he'll be a sophomore for the Trojans. I'm not real surprised he signed but will try to get up with him at some point.

So, you've got Canton, fellow linebacker Wayland Coleman-Dancer, defensive end Brandon Timmons, offensive lineman Chris Hawkins supposedly for sure coming from JUCO ranks, and cornerback Shaquille Beverly coming from high school, all for spring practice. The wild card is QB Deon Anthony, who isn't going to Pittsburgh, and a post from his twitter to someone indicated "probably Troy" but he looks to still be deciding.

When I'm able to get a full list of guys, and that could be tomorrow or it may not be until Dec. 28 or so, I'll pass it along, but the guys I mentioned above, and perhaps another JUCO DL or DB to be named later, make up the group.

***Troy signed DT Anthony Payne last year from JUCO, but he didn't qualify and is headed to Murray State. Two 2010 signees, OL Mark Beard and DB Fidel Montgomery, saw their stock rise in JUCO and Beard is going to Georgia and Montgomery to South Florida. They knew Beard wouldn't qualify, but Montgomery not qualifying back then was a surprise. No doubt Troy could sure have used him because he sounds like a good player.

But it's never about who gets away, it's about who you do have and making sure they pan out.