1 of 1- catfishboy
- Administrator
Offline 
- Registered: 8/01/2017
- Posts: 6,821
First look at the first opponent: The Troy Trojans
First look at the first opponent: The Troy Trojans
[img],offset-y0.50&width=620&height=320[/img]
Troy All-American linebacker Carlton Martial (Photo: Troy Athletics)
Ole Miss opens its 2022 season on Sept. 3, versus the Troy Trojans. The game, which will be played in Oxford, is set to be televised on the SEC Network and will kickoff at 3 p.m. CT. Expectations are high around this Ole Miss football team, and the Rebels are favored by more than three touchdowns. Today, we take our first look-over-the-fence at the Troy Trojans.
FAMILIAR COACH
Troy has a first-year head football coach in former Kentucky co-defensive coordinator Jon Sumrall, who is also a former linebackers coach at Ole Miss. Prior to Ole Miss, Sumrall spent three seasons as the assistant head coach on Neal Brown's staff. Sumrall spent one season in Oxford (2018) on the head coach Matt Luke's staff. He is noted as an excellent recruiter. He left Ole Miss for a position at Kentucky, where he was a standout linebacker and won three letters as a collegian.
QB BATTLE
Ah, quarterback battles are not exclusive to Ole Miss. Troy has one that is raging and includes a late addition. The Trojans brought in former West Virginia quarterback Jarret Doege (pronounced “DOE-ghee”) right smack dab in the middle of fall camp, as in last week. He will be immediately eligible. He left West Virginia and transferred to Western Kentucky, but re-entered the transfer portal last week. Troy quickly picked him up. He is an accomplished passer, having thrown for 6,453 yards and 40 touchdowns with 19 interceptions in his career at West Virginia. All told, he played in 27 games for the Mountaineers. Doege is a grad transfer. He has joined a quarterback competition that also includes Gunnar Watson and Utah transfer Peter Costelli. Watson has 16 starts to his credit at Troy, while Costello is a former four-star prospect from Mission Viejo, Calif., who held offers from Arkansas, LSU, Michigan State and many others but committed to Utah in the class of 2021. Right now, we have no idea who will start but Troy has a good-looking list of candidates.
THE ALL-AMERICANS
On Thursday, Troy linebacker Carlton Martial was named to the USA Today's preseason All-American squad as a second-teamer. He is the tip of the spear and a tackling machine on what is expected to be a very good Troy defense. He needs just 104 tackles this season to own the career FBS record of 545 tackles. Martial enters the season with 442 tackles and has averaged 122 tackles each of the last three seasons. Martial has also been given preseason All-American recognition by The Athletic.
He's not the only standout. Bandit linebacker Javon Solomon, a sophomore, joined Martial on the Pro Football Network All-America team last year after he led the Sun Belt with 1.42 tackles for loss; he ranked 12th nationally in tackles for loss and eight in sacks (0.92/game). He set the Troy single-game record with five tackles for loss in the Trojans' victory at Southern Miss and added the second-most sacks in school history with 3.5 in the game. His three games with at least 2.5 tackles for loss were the third most in the country and his 11 overall sacks were the most by a Trojan in more than a decade. Solomon's game at Southern Miss was just the fifth time since 2017 that a player recorded at least nine tackles, five tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks in a game and the first player in Sun Belt history to do so.
OTHERS TO WATCH
Carlton Martial and Javon Solomon each landed on the Bronko Nagurski watch list, and Martial made his way onto the Butkus Award watch list, as well. Others watch listers include running back Kimani Vidal (Doak Walker), center Jake Andrews (Rimington Trophy) and offensive linemen Will Choloh and Austin Stidham (Outland Trophy).
NEW FACES
Troy's roster has changed. The addition of quarterback Peter Costelli from Utah, plus four offensive linemen from the junior college ranks, long snapper Tristen Skinner from LSU and South Carolina transfer Eric Shaw at receiver has transformed the Trojans' roster in the offseason.
SOURCE: Johnson, David. "First look at the first opponent: The Troy Trojans." Inside the Rebels - 247Sports.com, 24 August 2022,
(c) All rights reserved. Content may not be copied, transposed, or used in any manner or form without expressed written permission of user.
