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Post by trojan2003 on Mar 25, 2018 12:16:55 GMT -6
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Post by trojan2003 on Mar 23, 2018 18:41:28 GMT -6
As far as Memphis...I don't know why anyone would go there. City is a crime ridden dump. We had a player from here that signed with them a few years ago. He got mugged on campus (ok, he was a tiny kicker but still). He transferred out. My son just had a really good job offer in Memphis he turned down. Crime rate and housing were the big factors. Some do, but in recent years we really managed to land a good number of recruits who had offers from Memphis (among others) but chose Troy: Melvin Tyus, Zo Bridges, Sam Letton, Jakes Andrews, Anthony Lewis, Jr., and Jamarius Henderson (transfer)... the new facility will be a game changer (and we already have a lot of current players who chose Troy over programs like UCF, Memphis, USM, Marshall etc). This building will help us to sign many talented in-state recruits who might otherwise go to P5 schools like Kentucky, Miss St, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Indiana, Iowa St, etc twitter.com/troytrojansfbtwitter.com/troytrojansfb
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Post by trojan2003 on Mar 23, 2018 15:05:20 GMT -6
Maybe the contractor just wanted to be historically accurate since Troy translates to Troia in Ancient Greek and Latin... Wikipedia Troy (Ancient Greek: Τροία, Troia or Τροίας, Troias and Ἴλιον, Ilion or Ἴλιος, Ilios; Latin: Troia and Ilium;[note 1]
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Post by trojan2003 on Mar 20, 2018 21:37:13 GMT -6
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Post by trojan2003 on Mar 19, 2018 10:27:11 GMT -6
Btw, on youtube you can watch facility tours of other programs. I watched Boise St, UCF, Memphis, Southern Miss, UAB, and S Alabama to learn how their facilities compare to our new complex. I liked how players or even former players (now in the NFL) host the tours. Maybe we should ask Demarcus Ware to host a tour, so we can film it and put it on youtube.
Boise State's is comparable to ours (70,000sq ft and it cost them 22M, it was built in 2013). Their treatment/training area is very spacious and they also have very nice lobby areas. Judging from our renderings, our nutrition area and player lounges are as nice as theirs, locker rooms are equal, very similar.
UAB also has nice facilities actually, even South Alabama is not too bad but ours will be definitely nicer in all areas. Southern Miss locker room looks almost exactly as ours (I think we both copied designs from Oklahoma State). UCF is quite big but not as modern and nice as I would have expected. Memphis: Nice locker rooms, similar to UCF but a bit nicer; Memphis has a very nice player lounge. No wonder these schools managed to steal recruits all the time from us (despite USA and UAB not being that successful, and I would rate our coaches higher, too).
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Post by trojan2003 on Mar 18, 2018 11:48:24 GMT -6
I agree, I pobably should have said, Smith is "more elusive" instead of "more mobile".
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Post by trojan2003 on Mar 18, 2018 1:58:51 GMT -6
Spring practice is almost here and the upcoming QB battle is the most anticipated since Levi vs Jamie. Of course, it will be decided in late August and not now.
Sawyer Smith vs Kaleb Barker
Barker is more similar to Silvers IMO, while Smith seems a bit more mobile and the former UCF commit was highly recruited out of hs. Barker has little more experience.
I think it's wide open. There is no way to predict who will win the starting job.
Would coach Brown consider trying a two-QB system?
Sawyer Smith
Kaleb Barker
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Post by trojan2003 on Mar 18, 2018 1:07:09 GMT -6
Thanks for sharing. Looks great. I think the new building will really help recruiting some top talent to Troy, seperate us from some other schools for now (UAB, USA, MTSU) and significantly close the gap to schools like USM. However, it's only a matter of time until other schools will build similar facilities, so we have to stay ahead and already think about adding new facilities in the coming years... (IPF should be next, and some other upgrades)
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Post by trojan2003 on Mar 16, 2018 10:41:17 GMT -6
Don't get me wrong, I don't mind the current SBC version, and I certainly wouldn't mind being in a new CUSA/SBC conference with USM, Marshall, LA Tech, Ark St, S Alabama, etc but if we somehow get left behind... and programs like USA, Ark St and GA St move on, I would prefer going independent and make some real money, rather than being in a conference with Kennesaw St, Jax St, James Madison etc... and I hope we will be prepared for this (because this could happen within the next 5 years).
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Post by trojan2003 on Mar 15, 2018 20:22:24 GMT -6
It seems like going independent could be a real option in the future, there are more schools going this route now (Liberty, UMass, NM St) + our long term conference TV deal is not that great (leaving the conference - we could make much more money by scheduling money games and use this money to invest in facilities and pay our coaches more) + playing maybe 3 name teams every year would also help recruiting and increase the likelihood of signature wins - payout equals 1.8M-1.9M per game nowadays (this is what Auburn agreed to pay USM more recently). Troy could make nearly +4M per year (or +12M in three years, etc) by playing a few more top SEC and ACC teams. Money wise, this would be like playing in the playoffs or in a major bowl game every other year.
I don't think we should do it now or soon, but we should be prepared. The next re-alignment round will happen, and teams like USA and GA St might move on and even surpass us. Troy could be stuck in this conference for a long time...and it would be a different conference with different members and it wouldn't even resemble an "Elite FCS conference".
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Post by trojan2003 on Mar 6, 2018 14:51:34 GMT -6
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Post by trojan2003 on Mar 6, 2018 5:11:03 GMT -6
Agreed, value for money at Troy is still pretty good (you receive an education, and with all the recent and planned major additions on campus + you get to experience quality FBS football), but Troy's out-of-state tuition has been increasing significantly for the past ten years (regardless of lower in-state tuition at these Florida schools): Troy out-of-state tuition, per academic year: 2000: $ 8,466 (inflation-adjusted) 2007: $ 9,904 (inflation-adjusted) 2010: $15,529 (inflation-adjusted) 2017: $22,267 This compared to: Alabama-Tuscaloosa (2017): $28,100 Alabama-Birmingham (2017): $23,790 Florida State (2017): $21,673 South Alabama (2017): $18,780 Southern Mississippi (2017): $9,964 (down from $16,484 in 2016) source: www.chronicle.com/interactives/tuition-and-feesAnyways, I agree, TroyU is growing at a healthy rate. I think even when adding another 3,000 - 4,000 students over the next 10 years or so and building some more buildings, we would still have the smallest main campus enrollment in FBS(?), not considering other schools are growing, too and the service academies... Btw, I read somewhere about plans of adding another residence hall and academic building in the near future, not sure about this though.
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Post by trojan2003 on Mar 5, 2018 16:42:24 GMT -6
I watched the Memphis/UCLA game last year, great game. Looking forward to beat them in 2024 and 2025.
As for UCF, they have success on the field and great potential, very solid recruiting classes, big wins, but somehow they only average 30,000-35,000 per game, except when playing USF (stadium seats 45,000)...
Btw, we stole two of UCF's top recruits two years ago (Sawyer Smith and Kelvin Lucky). Smith was UCF's #1 QB target.
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Post by trojan2003 on Mar 4, 2018 4:13:15 GMT -6
I like it, always wanted to play Memphis. I think we should play more AAC teams, like UCF, USF, and ECU.
We should also extend the USM series and it would be nice to play CUSA teams like Marshall and LA Tech, esp playing Mashall again would be fun.
Money games: Would love to play Florida St and Texas A&M in the future. Also, I think we should be able to do 1 for 2 deals with teams like GA Tech, Kentucky, Louisville, Virginia (home-and-home), (maybe OK State again).
I am wondering if we could get teams like Ole Miss or Virginia Tech to play at the Vet (would require a 1 for 3 deal maybe).
Here are some deals our peers have announced:
USM (home-and-home with BYU)
MTSU (Missouri, 1-for-2)
Ark St (home-and-home with Iowa St)
WKU (home-and-home with USF)
App St (home-and-home with UNC)
Marshall (home and home with Boise St)
... and Boise St will host Florida St, Michigan St, OK State, BYU in the future.
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Post by trojan2003 on Mar 4, 2018 3:55:17 GMT -6
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Memphis
Mar 3, 2018 20:48:28 GMT -6
Post by trojan2003 on Mar 3, 2018 20:48:28 GMT -6
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Memphis
Mar 3, 2018 20:29:20 GMT -6
Post by trojan2003 on Mar 3, 2018 20:29:20 GMT -6
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Post by trojan2003 on Feb 24, 2018 14:32:16 GMT -6
I am just glad we play Boise St here at home in week1. This will be our toughest game of the season and should get everyone prepared for the Nebraska game.
Hopefully, Nebraska's offense will need some time to learn the new system...
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Post by trojan2003 on Feb 17, 2018 2:06:10 GMT -6
I was reading this article and had to think about how far we have come despite the limited ressources... and IIRC we have the smallest on-campus enrollment next to West Point btw.
Since 2001, Troy has played in 7 bowl games so far, won 6 conference championships, significantly upgraded VMS twice (second updgrade nearly done), beaten P5 programs such as LSU, Mizzou, Oklahoma State, Mississippi State, managed to crack the Top 25 (2016), produced two highly ranked first round NFL draft picks and many more (and more recently three Super Bowl winners who actually played and contributed). We now regularly host teams like Miss St, Missouri, Oklahoma St, Boise St, NC State, and Duke, Navy, Marshall, Southern Miss, etc...
Only Marshall, Boise St, Southern Miss, Fresno St and UCF have achieved more, however it took UCF more years, and Marshall got lucky with WVa product Randy Moss being on their roster. USM benefited from the earlier college fb landscape which allowed for better recruiting, playing more brand names (old CUSA), but we are on par with them now (same applies to Tulsa and Tulane). FAU is now at a point where they might surpass us, so was WKU a few years ago. LA Tech was succesful many years ago, but we have surpassed them. Not sure about Northern Illinois and SD State, too many ups and downs.
There are so many more teams who have been longer in "1A" than us (UAB, MTSU, ArkSt, ULL, ULM, UNT, ...) but they somehow can't get it done... ArkSt is getting closer though.
So what's the secret? Money, vision, timing? I believe it's having tradition and history which transfers to the next level... programs like FIU, GA St, TX St, USA, UAB, even UNT are struggling despite some location advantages while programs like Boise St, Marshall, Troy are succesful at every level (having long-time coaches during the transition phase seems also important)... so let's see if we can get to the next level and become a Boise State type of program. Btw, I think we are more comparable to East Carolina now, they also have achieved a lot against all odds, and they just keep progressing...
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Post by trojan2003 on Feb 17, 2018 1:12:15 GMT -6
I agree, the Boise St game will be tougher, however that Nebraska Freshman QB is something. I watched his highlight video. n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2018/adrian-martinez-71251I think playing a very tough Boise St team in week 1 and playing Nebraska in week 3 should help (they have to go to Michigan in week 4 and only play Akron and Colorado in week1, week2, respectively), timing seems excellent.
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Post by trojan2003 on Feb 16, 2018 15:09:49 GMT -6
Tiger rant (again) Was Troy really an unprecedented upset?www.tigerdroppings.com/rant/lsu-sports/was-troy-really-an-unprecedented-upset/75382206/_ _ _ I can't wait to play Nebraska. I am really curious how their new starting QB and the entire offense will perform early in the season (under the new coach and system)... 2018 NebraskaSep 1 Akron Sep 8 Colorado Sep 15 Troy Sep 22 at Michigan Nebraska's starting O-Line (overall pretty young, some returning starters will be Sophomores and they were highly ranked out of HS, still new system though):
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Post by trojan2003 on Feb 13, 2018 13:02:38 GMT -6
Coach Hall coaching:
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Post by trojan2003 on Feb 13, 2018 13:01:05 GMT -6
Jax St has felt they should be able to schedule a home & home series with Troy, even though we moved up...we'll just call it sour grapes. Probably. We schedule home and home games with Boise State, Southern Miss, etc and we host teams like NC State, Miss St, OK St, etc - so why should we waste home and home deals playing 1AA teams? Doesn't make sense. If they want to play us, they have to come to our place like all the other guys (AL St, Austin Peay, etc) However, I wouldn't mind playing them once or twice, helps attendance and our overall record...
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Post by trojan2003 on Feb 9, 2018 12:12:06 GMT -6
This class is sth special, apart from athletics, these signees had offers from reputable universities and service academies. Seems like we managed to sign smart kids with great characters.
2018
*** OT Jake Andrews: Georgia Tech (per rivals) *** TE Anthony Lewis, JR: Army, Navy, Harvard, Yale (per 247) *** CB Levon Fletcher: Air Force (247) *** DT Anthony Pierce, Jr: Army, Navy (247) *** DT Will Choloh: Air Force, Army (247)
2017
*** DE Travon Mathis: Georgia Tech (247) *** CB Marcus Jones: Purdue (247) *** LB Justin Whisenhunt: Air Force, Army, Navy (247)
2016
*** QB Sawyer Smith: Air Force (rivals) *** DE Kelvin Lucky: Texas, Vanderbilt, California (rivals,247) *** WR Sam Letton: Wake Forest (rivals)
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Post by trojan2003 on Feb 8, 2018 17:15:26 GMT -6
5 Questions For Spring Practice: 1. Sawyer Smith vs Kaleb Barker vs Gunnar Watson. 2. Jamarius Henderson or Kevin Perkins as feature back. 3. Who will emerge as a playmaker at defensive end? 4. Will Choloh and Sailo have an immediate impact at DT? 5. How Quickly will Sunderland and Samuel adapt to Troy's system? 2018 questions: 1. Sawyer Smith based on talent and mobility 2. JHenderson for sure, we should have used him more often this past season 3. Not much worried here, might take a few weeks, but we have the talent and coaching 4. I think it is too early to expect a FR DT to make an immediate impact 5. Both will be part of the rotation from the beginning and Sunderland will likely play LB (I read this somewhere) Two more Questions:6. Will the OL manage to protect the new starting QB? 7. LBs: Biggest question mark going into the season IMO (next to QB) StrengthsSecondary, Running backs, WRs, Return game UnclearQB Issues LB, Punting/Kicking Predicition:Minor rebuilding year, 8-4 type of season with losses to Boise St (Top15 team, returning 21 Starters) and at Nebraska (quite experienced team and new coaches) We'll be back in 2019 provided we won't lose HC, OC, DC... could be our best season ever, many key players and starters will return, lack of WR depth could be an issue)
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