Jamie Hampton came out of the spring as the starting quarterback for the Troy Trojans ahead of Tanner Jones and Levi Brown. Hampton entered fall camp as QB1, but he knows he can still lose his job.

&uot;Everyone is telling me that I am the starter, but I am not the starter yet,&uot; Hampton said. &uot;I may have earned the job through the spring, but the spring is nothing like real games and I am going to work hard to keep the job through camp.&uot;

Troy offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Neal Brown said the competition for the chance to take over for departed senior Omar Haugabook was great for Troy.

&uot;We had a great competition and through that competition we found out that all three of those guys can play in this offense,&uot; Brown said. &uot;I now know that I have three guys here that can win in this conference.&uot;

However, Brown said Hampton did just a little bit more than the other two in the spring to win the job.

&uot;Jamie came out of the spring as the No. 1 guy because he did the most right,&uot; Brown said. &uot;He did a little bit better in all the little things and he is a real good natural runner. In this offense that gives us another dimension.&uot;

Brown said Hampton is the No. 1 guy, but Jones and Brown will keep that competitive nature alive this year.

&uot;Levi and Tanner will push him to be the best quarterback he can be,&uot; Brown said.

Troy opened fall practice Wednesday and Hampton said the offense has been improving with each day of practice.

&uot;Overall, our offense has gotten better each day and we just need to continue to better ourselves as we head toward that first game,&uot; Hampton said.

That first game is the Battle for the Palladium against Middle Tennessee State on Aug. 28 in Murfreesboro, Tenn.