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On Saturday, Aug. 12, the Troy Trojans will place the football down on the field and play a live game-like scrimmage for the first time this fall.

Friday, after an early-morning practice, Sumrall was pleased with what he saw just ahead of the scrimmage.
“We’ve had some good but we still have a long way to go. Today was a really good day hitting some special teams situations and some install stuff on offense and defense,” he said. “At this point you start seeing some tings coming together in all phases of the team.”

Sumrall calls scrimmages – and physical practices – “movement days” as players have the opportunity to move themselves up or down the depth chart.

“We’re kind of settling in on a lot of things and tomorrow is a movement day for us,” Sumrall said. “Tomorrow is the first time we put the ball down and all we do is really go live and scrimmage. I tell the guys all the time that they determine the depth chart; we don’t as coaches. They determine it by how they play and tomorrow will be a movement day for a lot of guys.”

The offensive line is a position group Sumrall will be playing plenty of attention to.

“I want to see who in the offensive line wants to start,” he emphasized. “I think we have more people that are capable (of starting) than we did a year ago, but I want to know who wants to be the one. I want to know who is going to take ownership of being a starter and play the game the way it’s meant to be played all the time.”

A number of young players have turned heads throughout fall camp and Sumrall will be playing close attention to those players, as well.

“I’m probably most excited bout some of the guys that maybe are in competition to be the next guy up,” he said. “I’m excited to see some of these young guys that I think have a chance to be solid contributors to this year’s team and that aren’t household names yet.

“We all know who Kimani (Vidal) is and who Reddy Steward is. I’m interested to see (cornerback) Don Callis and MJ (Johnson) and Jordan Lovett and some of those other young guys. Deshaun Batiste has had a really good camp so far. I cannot wait to see those guys cut it loose and play the game.”

Sumrall has continued to praise his returning starting quarterback, Gunnar Watson, throughout fall camp.

“He’s been a stud. He’s absolutely owned being a leader and leading himself, but also impacting everyone else the right way,” Sumrall said of Watson. “I’m fired up about what he’s doing. He’s playing and preparing and practicing like a guy that came back for his sixth year. He’s on a mission and I’m really thrilled about the direction he’s headed.”

The Trojans will scrimmage on Saturday morning at Veterans Memorial Stadium before having an off-day on Sunday and returning to the practice field on Monday.