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On Thursday, HERO Sports released its inaugural Group of Five Preseason Top 25 poll and the Troy Trojans landed at No. 16.

Troy is coming off back-to-back Sun Belt Conference Championships but lost a number of key players from the 2023 roster, as well as head coach Jon Sumrall, who took over at Tulane. Former Notre Dame offensive coordinator Gerad Parker now leads the Trojan program.

The reigning Sun Belt Champs were ranked fifth among SBC teams with Appalachian State – who Troy defeated in last year’s SBC Championship – being the highest ranked team coming in at No. 4.

Boise State, who earned 11 first-place votes , came in at No. 1 with Memphis at No. 2 with seven first-place votes. Liberty (No. 3), Tulane (No. 5) and UTSA (No. 7) each earned one first-place vote.

The other Sun Belt teams to be ranked in the Top 25 include Appalachian State (No. 4), Texas Sate (No. 6), James Madison (No. 10), Louisiana (No. 15), Arkansas State (No. 23) and South Alabama (No. 25).

The poll, which will be released weekly during the college football season, is voted on both members of the national media, as well as beat reporters from each of the Group of Five conferences. The group of voters includes Josh Boutwell (Troy Messenger), Michael Calabrese (Action Network), Bennet Conlin (HERO Sports), Ron Counts (Idaho Statesman), Luke Creasy (HD Media), The G5 Hive, Bryson Gordon (The News & Advocate), Joe Londergan (Sports Illustrated), Greg Luca (San Antonio Express-News), Colton McWilliams (San Marcos Record), Robert Munoz (HERO Sports), Jeff Murphy (Group of Five Guys), Jeff Nations (Bowling Green Daily News), Marc Narducci (HERO Sports), Colton Pool (HERO Sports), Kyle Rowland (Toledo Blade), Ty Scheiner (Mike Farrell Sports), Matthew Sprouse (Group of Five Guys), Tyler Tipton (Group of Five Guys), Chris Vannini (The Athletic) and Brett Vito (Denton Record-Chronicle).

HERO Sports Group of Five Preseason Poll
1) Boise State (11)
2) Memphis (7)
3) Liberty (1)
4) Appalachian State
5) Tulane (1)
6) Texas State
7) UTSA (1)
8) Fresno State
9) South Florida
10) James Madison
11) Miami (Ohio)
12) UNLV
13) Toledo
14) Western Kentucky
15) Louisiana
16) Troy
17) Jacksonville State
18) Air Force
19) Wyoming
20) Colorado State
21) Army
22) Bowling Green
23) Arkansas State
24) Northern Illinois
25) South Alabama