The transfer portal is a fact of life in college football, but few programs were hit harder during the offseason than Troy.
The Trojans lost at least eight starters or presumptive starters to the portal either at the end of the regular season or prior to spring practice, gutting much of what was returning from a senior-laden team that won its second straight Sun Belt Conference championship under departed coach Jon Sumrall. New coach Gerad Parker inherits a team that returns just three starters — two on offense and one on defense — and has only 11 players classified as seniors or graduate students.
The offseason was a particularly nerve-wracking one, junior linebacker Jordan Stringer said. Nearly every day it seemed at one point, a key player for Troy entered the portal.
“It might be someone you considered your brother, and I had a couple of brothers who left and hit the portal,” Stringer said. “It’s kind of mind-blowing, because those are the guys you’ve been grinding with and getting to know personally on and off the field. It’s kind of hard when you lose that guy, but you have bring in new guys and create that same bond with them. But it’s hard to lose a friend, a good teammate and somebody you’re very confident with on the field.”
Another player who chose to stay was senior center Eli Russ, with guard Daniel King the two returning starters on offense. However, Russ said, as a former Oklahoma State transfer, he could not exactly begrudge those who left.
“I get it, I do. I understand it,” Russ said. “But I’m gonna be honest, when the transfer portals first started, I wasn’t a fan really wasn’t. And then it gave me the opportunity to come to a place like Troy. But everybody’s different, and they did what they thought was best for them. I’m gonna cheer them on the whole way.”
Troy did add a number of players being counted on this year through the portal and via the junior college route. Among those are safeties Jordan Perry (Kansas State) and Cecil Powell (North Carolina State), defensive end Jah-mal Williams (Cincinnati), wide receiver Mojo Dortch (California) and JUCO transfers Zak Bowden and Jerian Hudson on the offensive line.
Parker has opted to look at all the turnover into a positive. At the very least, so many new faces will avoid the dreaded “c-word” on a two-time defending conference champion.
“I think now instead of becoming complacent — which is an evil word, especially when you’ve had great success like Troy has — you can have a better recipe to keep away from that,” said Parker, the former offensive coordinator at Notre Dame. “There is the challenges of everybody being new — new staff, new schemes and a lot of new players. And so I think it’s probably inadvertently saved us from falling into complacency. I think there’s a huge call to arms for all of us that are still here or new here want to meet that standard and get us to a championship level again.”
Even without all the transfers, Troy lost a ton of talent to traditional graduate. Three-year starting quarterback Gunnar Watson is gone, as is running back Kimani Vidal — the 2023 Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year — as well as Richard Jibunor and Javon Solomon, two of the top pass-rushers in the Sun Belt.
Troy will also be without Chris Lewis, who led the country in yards per catch last season and topped the Sun Belt in touchdown receptions. The junior from Birmingham underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his left leg in the spring, and will serve as a student assistant in 2024 while he continues to recover.
Parker said he’ll take his time naming a starting quarterback, with 2023 backup Goose Crowder and sophomore Tucker Kilcrease having competed in the spring. True freshman Caleb McCreary (Montgomery Catholic) and transfers Montana Wells (Houston Christian) and Matthew Caldwell (Gardner-Webb) will also be in the mix once preseason camp begins on July 31.
“The competition will go as long as it goes and you know who that is that wins the job,” Parker said. “We’ll (name a starter) as early as we need to on it. I think the sooner the better. I think there’s a reality — the texts and the congrats and all the things of becoming the starter that you would rather be put to bed earlier rather than later if possible, instead of happening game week
“So if it’s earned — and that’s the only way it’ll be is if it’s earned — we want to announce that as early as possible just to help everybody understand, to settle in and let’s go do our jobs.”
Troy opens the 2024 season at home Aug. 31 vs. Nevada.