Super Bowl Update

Blakeney and his coaching staff are coming off a 3-9 season. He made one change, replacing defensive tackles coach Mo Crain with cornerbacks coach Julius Brown. He certainly hinted that more people outside the program wanted more changes.

“When you go 3-9, you get a lot of help talking about your coaching staff,” Blakeney said. “I don’t really blame people, but I know that we have a solid group of men that care about kids that can coach them how to win and also teach them and help them and nurture them.

“This staff is high quality. I’m proud of them all, without exception.”

Blakeney and the staff spoke about each position Saturday. For instance, the defense and running back position – two areas that struggled last season – are much deeper. Troy worked hard in the offseason and off the field, gave the most volunteer hours in Blakeney’s tenure.

That doesn’t mean much until Blakeney sees how they match up with other teams.

“I think we’re better,” Blakeney said. “I think we’re deeper. I don’t know how we match up against anybody else, though. Everybody else on our schedule gets to coach and play.

“I’m excited about this team. We’re not there yet, folks. We ain’t close. We are better as a team. We understand ‘team’ better than we have in a while. The team concept is what really glues you together.”

Defensive coordinator Jeremy Rowell said the recruiting class helped out and visibly increased depth, as at least one new player – cornerback Zach Miller – has a chance to start, and several more will be in the mix.

“You’re not playing with 11 or 12, you’re having an opportunity to play with 22, 24, 26 guys you can roll in and out and have a chance to be productive throughout,” Rowell said. “You better be able to have some guys you can spin in there and spin out. We feel better about that than we have in a long time.”

Offensive coordinator Kenny Edenfield said his unit has gone through installation periods trying to figure out which players will be in the rotation. The offense struggled early during the team’s first scrimmage on Saturday, but put together two scoring drives late.

“As soon as we can get a group that can practice together for a period of time, I think we’ll really get to gelling,” Edenfield said. “When we get to it and it’s all said and done, we’ll have some guys we can go to war with and they’ll give us everything they’ve got.”

The final play of the scrimmage was a 26-yard touchdown pass from Corey Robinson to Chip Reeves. The first unit offense’s only other touchdown came on a 1-yard run from Brandon Burks.

Burks, a freshman from Daleville, scored on a 42-yard screen pass from Deon Anthony while working with the second unit. Anthony also threw a short pass that Chris Williams took 62 yards for a touchdown.

Cam Hudson, working with the first group, intercepted Robinson and returned it 108 yards for a score. The special teams unit struggled, as Will Scott missed two field goals and Jed Solomon missed one. Scott will be the team’s punter, special teams coach Shayne Wasden said, and Scott, Solomon and Ryan Kay are battling to be the kicker. A decision on that group is expected in the next week.

Benson in the house: Sun Belt commissioner Karl Benson was in Troy on Friday and Saturday. He has maintained all along that the Sun Belt was a winner in realignment and that "the pieces are in place for the Sun Belt to exceed where Conference USA is."

He also said they are engaged with an outside company about rebranding and repositioning - that announcement could come in early September and that whole process would take a few months. The rebranding would be similar to that of the Pac-12 and the company will look at everything, from conference name to history, to see what can be changed or updated.

Kiles leaves team: Senior cornerback Lenyatta Kiles, who transferred in from Indiana, has left the team. Kiles aggravated a previous injury and returned home to Los Angeles.