Troy Trojans College Football Preview 2026

Troy Quick Hits

• Head Coach: Gerad Parker (3rd year at Troy, 12-14; 4th year overall, 12-20)
• Best Case / Worst Case: Win the Sun Belt Championship/A second losing season in three years
• Key Player: Donnie Smith, EDGE Sr.
• 2025 Record: 8-6
• Biggest Question: Can the Trojans fill all the lost position parts in a hurry?

- Sun Belt Win Total Projections for 2026

Troy Key 2025 Stats

• Sacks: Opponents 59 for 384 yards, Troy 37 for 223 yards
• 111th in the nation in completion percentage: 57.8%
• Troy Scoring: 3rd Quarter 44, 4th Quarter 118

Offense

Troy somehow had a great season with little to no consistent offensive production whatsoever.

The 2023 team under Sumrall finished fifth in the Sun Belt in total offense. It struggled in the first year under Parker, finishing 11th, averaging 369.2 yards per game.

Troy was dead last in the Sun Belt last season, averaging 307.2 yards per game, mostly because of a nonexistent running game. For good and for bad, everything is starting from scratch.

What’s Working

Change is coming with new offensive coordinator Adam Austin. Parker is an offensive coach by nature - the former Notre Dame OC will figure this out.

Part of doing that was hiring Austin, the former coordinator at Tarleton State, who put together a high-powered offense with a big passing game. Troy will start throwing better.

There were times when the offense wasn’t bad, and - surprise! - that’s when Troy won.

The Trojans were 8-0 when coming up with more than 310 yards of total offense, and 0-6 when they didn’t. Under Parker, Troy is 9-1 when it gets to a reasonable 400 yards.

The quarterbacks are in place. Goose Crowder led the team with 11 touchdown passes, and Tucker Kilcrease led the team with 1,537 yards and ran enough to matter. There are options with these two veterans to find the hot hand.

What Needs Work

Way too much. If the What’s Working section above seemed a tad thin, it’s because the Troy offense was awful last year, it lost a slew of good players through the portal, and it’ll be a fight to piece together a decent rotation at most positions.

Let’s not go doom and gloom here - the starting 11 will be okay. The depth, though, will be a big early problem.

Leading rusher Tae Meadows left for Auburn, leading receiver DJ Epps is gone to West Virginia, and promising Roman Mothershed is gone to LSU. The line gets two starters back, but top guard Paul Bowling is gone to Florida State.

There wasn’t any sort of running game. Backup running back Jordan Lovett is back, but he’ll need room to move. The Trojans managed to run more than 3.5 yards per carry against just two FBS teams last season.

Player to Watch

Jaheim Merriweather, RB Jr.
Sometimes players just need a chance.

The Trojans already have a quick back in Jordan Lovett who can make things happen when he gets a little room, but they need a blaster.

The 6-2, 215-pound Merriweather got in a little work at Purdue over his first two seasons, but he was mostly a special teamer. He’ll get his shot handling the Troy ground game.

Defense

So yeah, there were a few problems with the Troy offense last season. The defense must have made up for the issues on the other side, right?

It was fine.

Troy finished third in the Sun Belt in total defense, with an okay run defense, and solid pass defense, and it helped to play a whole slew of offensively-challenged teams.

This year, though, the defense is all but starting from scratch in some spots.

What’s Working

The linebacking corps should be one of the team’s biggest strengths. Keno Jones was a Division-II tackling machine at Barton College, coming up with 114 tackles last year.

Bryce Steele was a fantastic get for Boston College out of high school, and now he’s a Trojan. Combine those two with veterans Luke Hodge and TJ Thompson, and this group will be fine.

The pass rush will be good again. The Trojans were able to rely on one of the Sun Belt’s best fronts at getting into the backfield. Most of the main men are gone, but All-Sun Belt star Donnie Smith is back after an 11-sack season.

The staff went hard at the transfer portal to fill out the defensive front, landing Ty Clemons from Boston College and August Salvati from San Diego State.

The pressure from the front led to takeaways. The Trojans forced ten interceptions, and good things happened when they made big plays. They were 5-2 when picking off a pass, and took down Louisiana and ULM with a combined five interceptions.

What Needs Work

The defensive line has to hope all the new guys are great. Donnie Smith is more like a hybrid edge-rushing linebacker. The Trojans have to start over in the interior, needing Clemons to be an instant answer, and needing to come up with a rotation of 300-pounders that works.

The corners have to emerge. The top playmakers on the outside are gone. Top corner Jaquez White is at Tennessee, and Kaleno Levine is done.

Tennessee transfer Marcus Goree and Jonathan Pennix from Southern Miss have a ton of pressure on their shoulders to be good.

The defense did okay against the bad teams. It’s a thing we’ll get into in a moment - Troy had a problem with the teams that weren’t lousy.

It went 7-2 when allowing 24 points or fewer, and 1-4 when giving up more. The four teams it lost to? Clemson, James Madison, Memphis, and Old Dominion.

Player to Watch

Donnie Smith, EDGE Sr.
Troy hit the jackpot from the JUCO ranks. The 6-4, 230-pound Smith stepped in and stepped up, leading the Sun Belt with 11 sacks, 13.5 tackles for loss, and 44 tackles overall. He’ll be a marked man this season, but he still produced when teams were keying on him last season.

Keys to the Season

Get all of the new parts to jell immediately.

This is the case for almost all Group of Six programs that get poached for talent by the bigger schools, but Troy has to use every moment of every practice to not only develop the new talent, but also make everyone better.

The other main key is simple - keep winning games. It might not have been pretty, and too many things didn’t click, but the eight-win season wasn’t bad.

Player Who Needs To Shine

Tyler Cappi, C Sr.
Let’s just say the Troy offensive line had its issues. It had a few injuries, and it struggled to find the right starting five at times.

It’s going to be rough trying to get the rotation right on the left side, but tackle Tra’jon Townsend is back, and the 6-3, 305-pound Cappi is back after taking over the starting center job late in the season. And to keep piling on …

Biggest Concern

Pass protection
No, really, how bad was the Troy offensive line? It was dead last in the nation in sacks allowed, giving up 4.21 per game and 59 overall after allowing just 21 in 2024.

Biggest Game

at South Alabama, November 14
The Trojans have to take the trip down the road in a mid-November road date that could make or break the season. There’s a road game at Arkansas State to close, and going to Louisiana and James Madison will be tough, but they can’t lose to the Jaguars and realistically hope they can get back to the Sun Belt Championship.

Transfer Portal

Troy did what it could to fill in the way-too-many gaps, but it lost way too many good players, including kickoff star Paddy McAteer to Indiana.

It’s not a big class, so with each and every signing, Troy can’t miss.

Best Signing

Marcus Goree Jr., CB (Tennessee)
A good prospect when he signed with Tennessee, he saw a little bit of time, but not enough to matter. The 6-1, 185-pounder is young, can move, and he should fit in right away at one corner gig.

Biggest Loss

Paul Bowling, OG (Florida State)
There are plenty of key departures, but the offensive line could least afford to lose key players. The 315-pound sophomore was just getting started in the Trojan interior.

Other Names to Know

• August Salvati, EDGE (San Diego State)
• Ty Clemons, DT (Boston College)
• Darion Rivers, OT (NC State)

CFN Season Prediction

This whole thing has leaned negative, and for real reasons. But don’t worry about how the sausage was made, or will be put on the plate this year.

It’s not like the schedule is a killer.

Out of Troy’s eight wins, one was to a Nicholls State team from the FCS, two were against teams that finished with seven wins, and the other five were against teams that finished with losing records.

The six losses all came to teams that finished with winning records, but to hammer this home one more time, Troy played for the Sun Belt championship even with all the issues.

CFN Prediction: 7-5

Troy will lose at Missouri, and it’ll almost certainly lose at James Madison. Going to Utah State won’t be easy, and there are a few 50/50 games in there, but it should be another winning season with a bowl game. And why?

Alabama State, Sam Houston, Southern Miss, and ULM. There should be a base of four wins built in, and by the time the Sun Belt season fully kicks in, the positions and rotation should be in place.

And at least on record and results, Troy will keep looking like a Sun Belt player.