I'm about to leave New Orleans, but wanted to share my links from here. Plenty of other media outlets were in New Orleans for this, but I'll try to link those up later.
All three of these stories are in the Tuesday Dothan Eagle.
**The main story I wrote, pasted below, is online HERE.
**A Sun Belt Media Days notebook is HERE.
**A sidebar on South Alabama is HERE.
I was able to talk to just about every coach and will post blog entries on each team Troy plays this year in the coming days before Troy starts practice.
BY DREW CHAMPLIN | dchamplin@dothaneagle.com
NEW ORLEANS – Troy found itself in a different position in the Sun Belt preseason poll than it has the last several years – in the middle of the pack.
“We deserve it,” quarterback Corey Robinson said at the Sun Belt’s Media Day.
Troy, coming off a 3-9 season, was picked fifth in the Sun Belt’s coaches preseason poll. Florida International was picked to win the conference, followed by Arkansas State, UL-Lafayette, Western Kentucky, Troy, UL-Monroe, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Florida Atlantic and South Alabama.
“Obviously from last year, the thing we’re preaching is moving forward and not thinking about that,” Robinson said. “We’re trying to get that completely out of our head and working to get a winning tradition back at Troy.”
Robinson wasn’t selected to the league’s preseason all-conference team, but four teammates were – wide receiver Eric Thomas, defensive end Tony Davis, linebacker Kanorris Davis and safety Brynden Trawick. Arkansas State quarterback Ryan Aplin was picked as the preseason Offensive Player of the Year and FIU defensive end Tourek Williams earned the same honor on the defensive side of the ball.
For Troy, it’s about trying to get back to a place it was from 2006-2010 – at the top of the conference. Troy head coach Larry Blakeney wasn’t surprised at Troy’s place in the preseason poll.
“I would have probably picked us fifth,” Blakeney said. “We’ve got a lot to prove, as far as this team goes. I think our staff has sort of got to reprove. We’ve been pretty good coaches up until last year and all the sudden we’re not very good.
“Our players, they’re in tune to prove we’re still a viable entity in the Sun Belt. It’s taken some work already and it’ll take a lot of continued work.”
After being a part of five straight Sun Belt championships, shared or outright, the returning players had to take a different response to the events of last season.
“I hope (they responded) positively because that’s the only thing you can do if you’re going to get better,” Blakeney said.
It started in the offseason, as Blakeney maintained that the Octagon, a “mind over matter” grueling offseason strength and conditioning program, to help bond the team. Blakeney was pleased with spring practice, and also said the players on this team had done more community service hours since he had been at Troy.
“(There has been) things that tip off the fact that they care and they care about each other,” Blakeney said.
One aspect Blakeney harped on was improving Troy’s run game. Robinson, a two-year starter who played through foot and shoulder injuries last year, has thrown for 7,137 yards and a school-record 637 completions, will only benefit more if Troy is able to establish a stronger run game with three full-time returning starters on the offensive line and the top three running backs also returning.
At just 88.7 yards per game, Troy ranked last in the Sun Belt and 117 th nationally a season ago.
“The only thing we’ve concentrated on (in the spread offense) is trying to develop a more potent or prolific running game, to be more exact or close to exactly the same on running and passing,” Blakeney said. “(We want it where) after the ball snap, you don’t really know if the play is run or pass.
“We don’t want to change a lot, but we’ve got to be able to rush the ball for more than 100 yards per game.”
Troy is scheduled to report for fall camp on Monday, July 30 and begin practice on Thursday, Aug. 2.
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