The Troy football team completed it Friday practice with mixed reviews from coaches. The Trojans will hold its first scrimmage on Saturday at 10 a.m. at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

“I think we had aggressive play on defense and some missed assignments offensively,” said head coach Larry Blakeney. “I’m looking forward to our first scrimmage tomorrow, we have several position battles going on and it’s time for some of those guys to separate themselves.”

Of the main position battles, running back seems to be the highest profiled. Offensive coordinator Kenny Edenfield says he’s looking at as many as six players still in the running to see the majority of the playing time.

“It’s starting to form itself after a week,” Edenfield said. “I think by the end of next week we’ll have a good idea of who those guys might be.”

Michael Lindsey, Khary Franklin, Jordan Chunn, Brandon Burks, Daron White and Josh Anderson have seen the bulk of the time in practice at the position.

OFFENSE, DEFENSE FOCUSING ON TURNOVERS IN FIRST SCRIMMAGE

Offensive coordinator Kenny Edenfield and defensive coordinator Wayne Bolt will both be concentrating on turnovers in the team’s first scrimmage on Saturday.

Edenfield said while scoring points is top priority, holding on to the football will lead to more points.

“Our first goal is zero turnovers, our second goal is when we get the ball in the red zone we want to score,” Edenfield said. “I want points 100 percent of the time, take care of the ball and score points.”

Last season, the Trojans offence ranked 87th on red zone conversions scoring 78 percent of the time they moved the ball inside their opponents 20 yard line.

On the opposite side of the ball, Troy was the sixth worst team in the nation at keeping points off the board once its opponent was inside the red zone. Teams scored 90.7 percent of the time in that situation.

Bolt says turnovers will be a point of emphasis in Saturday’s scrimmage.

“We’re looking for effort, want to, turnovers and eliminating big plays,” Bolt said. “If we do all of those things, I’ll be very pleased.”

ANTHONY STILL OUT, SILVERS MAKING IMPRESSION

Troy quarterback Deon Anthony watched from the sideline on Thursday as he recovers from an elbow injury suffered a few day ago. He also injured his hamstring in Wednesday’s practice but head coach Larry Blakeney doesn’t feel like its too serious.

“I think he’s just about over the elbow, we’ll keep an eye on the hamsting and see how he progresses,” Blakeney said.

Anthony is Troy’s leading returning rusher and has also been practicing at wide receiver.

Freshman quarterback Brandon Silvers has been seeing more reps in Anthony’s absence and could be making a move to be the No. 3 quarterback on the depth chart.

“He’s progressed a lot,” Blakeney said. “He and Dallas (Tidwell) are definitely competing out there and that’s a good thing.”