Trojans ready for T-Day
Published 6:34 pm Wednesday, April 18, 2018
- Messenger Photo/Jonah Enfinger Kaleb Barker delivers a pitch during a practice this spring. The Trojans will host T-Day this Saturday.
With Troy baseball and softball on the road this weekend, football takes center stage as the annual T-Day game is played at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
The game will kick off at noon and will be open and free to the public.
It will be a full game-day atmosphere at the “Vet”. Fans will be able to enjoy the Sound of the South, the Troy cheerleaders and T-Roy.
Many Troy fans will have the opportunity to gaze upon the new end zone facility that is scheduled to be fully functional in advance of Troy’s season opener against Boise State on September 1.
The game isn’t the only thing happening on Saturday. Prior to kickoff there will be the Future Trojans Football Camp, which will run from 10 a.m. until 11 a.m.
On the field, there will be plenty to observe. The Trojans have been in the middle of quarterback battle all spring between Sawyer Smith and Kaleb Barker.
So far their play in spring practice has given the coaches plenty to be excited about.
“We’re really pleased with how the quarterback competition has gone so far,” offensive coordinator Matt Moore told Troytrojans.com. “Sawyer and Kaleb are both capable players and they are both wanting to lead this team, it’s just going to be a matter of going out there and doing it in a game.”
The Trojans are returning 27 letter-winners off last season’s defense. The Trojans sported one of the top defenses in the nation last year. The Trojans return all-conference players Hunter Reese, Blace Brown, Tron Folsum, Trevon Sanders and Cendarius Rookard.
Injuries have played a role this spring with the Trojan defense this summer. Because of that, defensive coordinator Vic Koenning and the defense has been gearing up for the summer.
“We’ve got almost a whole defense that isn’t able to go full speed in the spring because of injuries and we’ve got to get them up to speed where they can have a good summer,” Koenning said. “You are not going to win any games because of what you do in the spring, but you can certainly lose them. The key for us is for the guys who are getting opportunities to continue to get better.”