FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2/28/04

TROY, Ala. - The Troy State football team will begin its 2004 spring practice on Sunday afternoon with its deepest and most experienced group since the Trojans moved to Division I three years ago.
For head coach Larry Blakeney, however, the questions marks are still plentiful.
Despite returning 17 starters and 56 letterwinners from last year's 6-6 team, and having 22 seniors, Blakeney said the Trojans must improve considerably in every area if they hope to compete effectively in their first season as a member of the Sun Belt Conference this fall.
Practice begins at 2 p.m. on the football practice fields. The Trojans are also scheduled to practice on Monday, Wednesday and Friday before holding their first spring scrimmage on Saturday at 1 p.m.
"Everything computes into the fact that we should be a better football team this year because we have so many guys back who have played," Blakeney said. "But we have still got a lot to prove at a number of different positions. Our focus is going to be up front on both sides of the ball in finding the best combinations and seeing who is ready to make a move toward the top."
While the Trojans are experienced in deep in many areas, this spring the Trojans will be especially void of experience in the offensive backfield, where the team's top three tailbacks are sidelined with injuries. Senior DeWhitt Betterson (hamstring) is likely to see limited action only, while backups Marlo East (shoulder) and Jermaine Richardson (knee) will not see any action.
That leaves a group of walk-ons to carry the load, including junior Joel Whinghter, sophomore Ryan Babb and redshirt freshman Trevino Pope. None of the three has taken a snap in college.
"The injuries will probably cause us to work a lot harder at the passing game," Blakeney said. "We need to become more versatile and more precise throwing the ball. We need to work on our protections, our drops, running routes, catching the ball. We have got to be able to throw it better than we have, so this will force us to work harder in those areas."
At quarterback, the Trojans return senior starter Aaron Leak, who will be joined by six other candidates for the job. Leading the pack heading into the spring is redshirt freshman Zach Richardson, followed by sophomore Bragg Knott, East Tennessee State transfer Carl Meadows, junior Josh Russell and newcomer Gary Banks. Bruce Hall, a redshirt freshman transfer from Wake Forest, will also compete in spring drills but must sit out the 2004 season, according to NCAA transfer rules. Blakeney said Leak is the Trojans' starter.
"Aaron started most of last season as a junior and we believe he is improved," Blakeney said. "But we also have several guys behind him who we think are ready to compete with him. That should make everyone better."
Another offensive casualty is senior wide receiver Jason Samples, who will not practice this spring after undergoing hernia surgery earlier this month.
Defensively, the Trojans will welcome Alfred Malone to the playing rotation at defensive tackle. The Georgia Tech transfer sat out last season but is expected to be a significant factor this spring and fall. The defense will be without junior linebacker Leverne Johnson (broken arm) and defensive back Freeman White (knee) this spring as they recover from injuries.
The Trojans will also welcome a new coach to the field in first-year running backs coach James Joseph. Joseph was hired just last week, prompting associate head coach Mike Turk to move over and coach the team's wide receivers.
"We had talked about shifting some coaches around after the spring on the offensive side, but this allowed us to go ahead and do that," Blakeney said. "Mike was eager to make the move and get a fresh start, and James comes in as a very capable coach. I'm excited about the changes, and our coaches are, too."
The team's annual T-Day spring game is scheduled for March 13 at Movie Gallery Stadium. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.

TSU Sports Information

It will be intresting to see how the Richardson kid does in the drills at QB. Some players have told me he has a strong accurate arm.
Hope I can make the road trip to Acadiana!

I saw Leak on TV a couple of times last season, he looked like a very solid QB to me.

He is just inconsistent, but I will let that slide due to a new system, coach, him coming in as the backup and winning the spot, etc. His best game, BY FAR, was against Marshall. Hopefully, this year he will feel at ease in Spring Drills, but there is going to be some very good competition and once the summer practice session starts and we don't lose our number one signee to the baseball draft, we should see some similar "competition" during that phase. We return 17 starters, so we should show experience. Hopefully we will have depth as well.

Go Trojans

Navarre Trojan Wrote:We return 17 starters, so we should show experience. Hopefully we will have depth as well.

If nothing else good has come out of Sun Belt football, I fully believe it has allowed all of us to build up some BADLY needed depth. Some are ahead of others numbers wise but all are ahead of where we were 3 years ago.