NOTES: Terry makes big plays on defense

Chip Reeves hauls in a pass for the Trojans / Associated Press

 
Here is my notebook from today's Troy 39-29 win over UAB. This can also be found in the print edition of Sunday's Dothan Eagle. Buy a paper. We've got a full page inside dedicated to Troy football coverage. Also on dothaneagle.com HERE.

BY DREW CHAMPLIN | dchamplin@dothaneagle.com

BIRMINGHAM – De’Von Terry hadn’t played in a football game since his senior year of high school, but made the most of his time off.

Terry, a senior linebacker from Enterprise, made the Troy team as a walk-on in 2010. He earned the role as a backup nickel/strong side linebacker to Kanorris Davis in fall camp, and had a huge game in Troy’s season-opening 39-29 win at UAB on Saturday.

Terry had a fumble recovery inside the Troy 5-yard line in the first half. In the fourth quarter, with UAB down just two, he had an interception that set up the first of two fourth quarter touchdowns. Terry also added five tackles.

“I had some little butterflies,” Terry said. “That’s about it right there. A little bit of nervousness. I was just anxious to get out there and help my team. It comes easy in a game sometimes. If you work hard in practice, in a game it comes simple to you.”

Terry is listed as a fifth-year senior, but had never been able to make the game rotation until this year.

“I’ve let him go to work and miss practice so he can stay in school,” Troy head coach Larry Blakeney said. “He’s not necessarily an all-conference candidate yet, but that sucker tries to play hard. He’s smart and he learns what to do. He’s giving a pretty good player some breaks and I was glad to see somebody finally get one of those floaters that was coming out (from Perry) today.”

Davis was able to catch some breathers in the Saturday afternoon game and Terry’s emergence showed that the Trojans have much more depth than they did last year.

“I told him we needed him,” Davis said. “He stepped up when we needed him today. He came in and he filled in for me and he made some great plays. That’s what I like to see.”

Reeves’ resurgence

After a year off from football to get his academics in order, senior Chip Reeves had a career-high 125 yards receiving off of six catches Saturday. He had a 55-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter and a 44-yard reception to set up a score in the fourth.

“It feels great to be back out there, for my family to get to watch me play another football game and I think I had a fairly decent game,” Reeves said before seeing his statistics. “I’ve got to go to practice and get better and have a better one next week.”

Blakeney rated Reeves as one of the best deep threats he’s ever coached.

“That is the real Chip Reeves,” Blakeney said. “He is back. I knew he would probably have a good day because he has trained well. He has done good in school. He got his business taken care of academically and he’s back and has practiced good. He’s in a great frame of mind and I hope he can stay right there.

“I’ve coached a few guys that can run deep when you know they’re going deep and you can’t do anything about it and he’s one of them.”

Rookie refs?

Near the end of his postgame comments, Kanorris Davis was asked about the officiating (not by the Dothan Eagle) and offered up his less-than-flattering thoughts.

“The officials, they got to call the game,” Davis said. “I don’t think they called a good game. I don’t know if they were rookies or something. We still came out on top.”

Other notes

Troy running back Shawn Southward is now in fourth place on Troy’s career list with 26 touchdowns. … Southward’s 200-yard game was the first by a Troy running back since DuJuan Harris topped that mark against UL-Lafayette in 2008. … Corey Robinson set Troy’s career record with pass attempts with 1,046, passing Brock Nutter. Nutter had 1,037 from 1997-2001. … Robinson is now 367 yards away from hitting the Troy career passing yard mark. … Marty Stadom had Troy’s first sack of the season.