Troy Football Roster Breakdown: Special Teams
Published 8:09 am Thursday, August 1, 2024
- Troy native Scott Taylor Renfroe is Troy’s returning field goal kicker.
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Like every other position group on the Troy Trojans roster, there are holes to fill on special teams but there are also some key returners.
Junior Troy native Scott Taylor Renfroe returns as the Trojans’ field goal kicker and comes into 2024 as a Preseason All-Sun Belt selection.
“Scott Taylor Renfroe has been awesome and he’s got so much experience there,” Troy coach Gerad Parker said of his kicker.
Renfroe finished 2023 converting 19 of his 24 field goal attempts with his 19 makes ranking second in school history for a season. He also tied the school record for most field goals in a game and made all 50 of his extra point attempts.
Freshman Nick Troemel will likely handle kickoff duties along with Renfroe. While field goal kicker is a settled position, punter is a different story.
“The interesting thing will be our punter competition,” Parker continued. “(Evan) Crenshaw and (Robert) Cole are honestly as about dead even as I’ve ever seen in a competition. Crenshaw has it with his hang-time but they’re even in the open field. We’ll probably see both kick, honestly.”
Crenshaw is a junior punter that transferred to Troy from Coastal Carolina in the offseason. He earned All-Sun Belt honorable mention last season, averaging 41.5 yards per punt. In 2022, he averaged 38.7 yards per punt, as well. He was rated as a five-star punter coming out of Nease High School (Fla.) by KohlsKicking.
Cole was Troy’s primary punter in 2023, averaging 42.3 yards per punt with 14 punts downed inside the 20-yard line and 13 punts over 50 yards.
The Trojans will have to replace All-American long snapper Quentin Skinner and will likely do so with redshirt freshman Colton Walls. Walls, who missed spring practices as a member of the baseball team, played tight end, long snapper and quarterback for Stanhope-Elmore.
“It’s been great to get our guy Walls back out there, we missed him in the spring,” said Parker. “He’s a really good long snapper and makes a difference out there for us.”
Parker said that kickoff and punt returner would be an ongoing competition throughout the summer and spring.
Junior receiver Devonte Ross was Troy’s leading kickoff returner in 2023, tallying 11 returns for 231 yards. He also returned one punt in 2023. Other names to watch there include Peyton Higgins, Marquez Dortch and Jordan Lovett.
“If we know we’re getting returnable kicks in our kickoff game we have to make sure we have guys back there that can get those touches and be able to take advantage of that,” Parker said. “We have some return ability and I’ll be excited to see who we do that with. In our league we have to make that a difference maker for us.”
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