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The Troy Trojans finished the 2024 football season on Nov. 30 with their most dominant win of the season, by a score of 52-20 against Southern Miss.

While Troy’s 4-8 season record in head coach Gerad Parker’s first season, and 3-5 record in the Sun Belt Conference, pails in comparison to the past two seasons of 11 and 12 wins, Troy did manage to win three of its final four games. Though, it’s Troy’s worst record since going 4-8 in Neal Brown’s first season in 2015. Brown would go on to win 31 games – and three straight bowl games – over the next three seasons.

The 2024 Trojans also came into the season with one of the youngest teams – in both age and experience – in the country and played more first time starters than any other FBS program in the country. The Trojans also dealt with key injuries at multiple positions, including starting quarterback Goose Crowder missing all but three games.

Troy’s offense finished the season ranked 10th in the Sun Belt in scoring, 11th in total offense, 10th in rushing offense and ninth in passing offense. The Trojans defense finished eighth in scoring defense, fourth in total defense, third in rush defense and ninth in pass defense. After leading the league last season, Troy’s defense ranked just 11th in sacks and last in turnovers forced.

Troy’s Damien Taylor finished the season ranked second in the conference with 1,010 yards and seven touchdowns on 173 carries. His 5.8 yards per carry was also seventh in the league. Receiver Devonte Ross finished off the season second in receiving yards with 1,043 yards, first in touchdowns with 11 and second in receptions with 76. Ross is the first Troy receiver to eclipse 1,000 yards in a season since 2012. That’s also the last time Troy had both a 1,000-yard rusher and receiver in the same season.

On defense, Troy’s Brendan Jackson and Jordan Stringer were 14th and 15th in total tackles with 78 and 77 tackles. Jackson’s 16 tackles-for-loss ranked third in the Sun Belt, while Phillip Lee’s 11 ranks seventh. Lee is also tied for eighth in the conference with five sacks. Demaje Yancey’s nine pass breakups is good for fourth in the Sun Belt.

Troy native Scott Taylor Renfroe’s 84.6 percentage in field goals ranks sixth in the Sun Belt among kickers that attempted 10 or more field goals. Renfroe’s 11 makes is tied for 10th in the league, while his 67 total points ranks 17th in the conference.

Following the season, Troy immediately turned its attention to recruiting. After signing 15 players on National Signing Day earlier this month, Parker said he plans to fill out the roster with between four and six players from the transfer portal but was most excited about the returning players.

“The first thing I’m most proud of is our current roster,” Parker said. “Sitting down with this football team – and having a chance to have individual meetings with every player on the roster – it’s been impressive the belief this team has in each other. Them being here, and wanting to be a part of this, tells you something.”

Parker spoke to the media last week about the importance of retaining much of Troy’s current team and what it takes to do that.

“I’ll say this, to our fan base and our roster, the best way to keep and retain your roster is to have a culture that kids can look at and say, ‘Do they tell us the truth and are we being developed and do we see a direction that involves us winning and becoming better?’ That’s the most important thing,” Parker said. “If we’re doing things the right way, it allows you to have great conversations at the end of the year and keep your roster in tact. Our stability here is a testament to the staff and the players buying in together. I want them to know that I’m real.

“We’ve had so many great meetings with our current roster and they know we have the potential of having a great football team returning. So, why not stay here and enjoy this? If we treat them right then we make it really hard for them to leave. We just have to love them so damn hard that they don’t even think about leaving Troy.”

After Crowder missed the majority of the season, Parker said he expects him back to 100 percent for spring practices.

“We’ve taken all the necessary steps in the short term, and long term, to get him medically cleared and all signs point to him being cleared as we come back to start (offseason workouts) in January and in spring practices,” Parker said of Crowder. “It looks good for him to return to 100 percent to play in the spring.”

Troy will begin construction on its new $11.6 million indoor practice facility in January with an anticipated opening date prior to the 2025 season. The indoor facility is more than a decade in the works and is something that Parker is extremely excited about heading into the offseason.

“Any time you are able to show in your program such a large commitment from the administration and the university to continue to feed the program with wonderful facilities is big,” he said. “It just shows the commitment to a championship program, and it’s future, his university has. Our current players are excited about that and it’s an enhancement we need. It’s something that allows us to up our percentage of practices to not have to move things around the threat of weather or thunderstorms. It just allows us to do things better here.”

 

2024 Individual Leaders

PASSING

Matthew Caldwell: 141-of-224, 1,608 yards, 13 TD, 8 INT

Goose Crowder: 43-of-62, 543 yards, 5 TD

 

RUSHING

Damien Taylor: 173 carries, 1,010 yards, 7 TD *

Gerald Green: 111 carries, 545 yards, 3 TD

Tucker Kilcrease: 39 carries, 118 yards

 

RECEIVING

Devonte Ross: 76 catches, 1,044 yards, 11 TD *

Landon Parker: 27 catches, 350 yards

Peyton Higgins: 31 catches, 301 yards, 1 TD

Zeriah Beason: 16 catches, 208 yards

Brody Dalton: 15 catches, 188 yards, 3 TD

 

DEFENSE

Jordan Stringer: 78 TKL, 7.5 TFL, 2 sacks, 1 INT, 2 FF *

Brendan Jackson: 77 TKL, 16 TFL, 2 sacks, 3 PBU *

Justin Powe: 67 TKL, 2 TFL, 1 sack, 2 INT, 4 PBU

Ian Conerly-Goodly: 54 TKL, 2 TFL, 1 INT, 4 PBU

Devin Lafayette: 50 TKL, 6 TFL, 1 PBU *

Demaje Yancey: 48 TKL, 4 TFL, 2 sacks, 9 PBU

Raymond Cutts: 35 TKL, 3 TFL, 9 QBH

Phillip Lee: 31 TKL, 11 TFL, 5 sacks, 1 PBU, 7 QBH

 

SPECIAL TEAMS

Scott Taylor Renfroe: 11/13 FGs, 84.62%, Long: 50 yards; 34/36 PATs

Robert Cole: 44 punts, 38.02 YPP, Long: 59, Inside 20: 11

Devonte Ross: 9 PR, 153 yards, 1 TD; 13 KOR, 214 yards *

*All -Sun Belt selection