Inside Gerad Parker’s Sun Belt-best recruiting class at Troy

On Monday, Dec. 18, 2023, news broke that Gerad Parker would leave his post as Notre Dame offensive coordinator to become Troy’s new head coach, replacing Jon Sumrall, who left for the same position at Tulane.

Parker was officially introduced as the program’s head coach that day, and on Tuesday, he held his first press conference. And what about Wednesday? It was just National Signing Day.

Quite the whirlwind for a first-time head coach.

“I don’t want to give you the token line, but it really has been crazy,” Parker told On3. “It’s everything you expect, and then everything that you don’t expect.”

One of Parker’s first duties after officially joining Troy was to call up all the Trojans’ commits to introduce himself and hope to get them to sign on the dotted line on signing day. Sixteen recruits inked with the Trojans Dec. 20, which was just the beginning of the “Troy Takeover.” Between players graduating and transferring out, Troy had dozens of spots to fill for the February signing period.

And Troy ended up adding a total of 40 new players. It landed 19 from the high school ranks, 12 junior college players and nine from the transfer portal.

It’s arguably Troy’s best-ever recruiting class according to the On3 Industry Team Recruiting Ranking, which dates backs to 2004. It ranks No. 72 nationally, which Troy hasn’t bested since 2009 when it landed the No. 68 class overall, but that class had a “score” of 81.29, while the 2024 group has an 84.76 score. The 2024 group boasts Troy’s best class score in school history.

Troy also finished with the top overall class in the Sun Belt, and Parker and Co. were able to put the class together in just a matter of weeks. From the end of the first signing period to the traditional signing period in early February, Troy added 28 new players.

“We had a full-fledged adrenalin rush of figuring it out, going on a run and adding to the roster daily,” Parker said. “We had to make sure things fit and made good decisions. It was a good time.”

Parker retained two men from the previous staff — wide receivers coach Gary Banks and cornerbacks coach Travis Pearson. One of Parker’s most notable hires was Dontae Wright, who served as West Virginia’s safeties coach since 2020. Parker and Wright worked together at WVU for a couple seasons, and they’re also childhood friends, having both grown up in Louisa, Ky.

Three former Notre Dame staffers joined Parker at Troy as well. Caleb Carbine, who graduated from Troy after starting on the Trojans’ offensive line for a couple years, is the new offensive line coach following one season in South Bend as an offensive analyst. Carbine will work closely with Kevin Reihner, who also worked as an analyst at Notre Dame in 2023. Reihner will coach the offensive tackles and tight ends.

And a behind-the-scenes but crucial piece to the Troy football recruiting operation came from Notre Dame as well. Parker tabbed Caleb Davis to become his program’s director of player personnel. Davis spent three years at Notre Dame, working in the recruiting office. He hit the ground running to help build the future of the Troy roster.

“The first thing you see in people that you want around you is their willingness to work,” Parker explained. “Caleb did whatever job he was called to do. He attacks whatever he does, and I saw how he interacted with the [Notre Dame] coaches’ kids and student-athletes and their parents. I love how he worked to relate with those people and built relationships. He has humility and hunger to do the job and be great at it.”

Two more key pieces to the Troy recruiting operation are assistant director of player personnel Joe Discher and director of on-campus recruiting Taylor Bolton.

“Both have been vital to everything we’ve done,” Davis told On3.

The Troy Takeover

On Jan. 6, East Carolina transfer running back Gerald Green announced his commitment to the Trojans, which was the start of the “Troy Takeover.” It’s a mantra that the prospects and Troy staff have been using on social media “to build a buzz that’s unmatched at the Group of Five level” according to Davis.

“Our vision for it was to do something that the city of Troy and the football program has never seen before,” Davis explained. “There’s been a lot of success here, and we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel, but at the same time, create a hype that’s different than most Group of Five schools.”

On several occasions the past few years, Notre Dame has had made it so their silently pledged prospects would all line up their commitment days in consecutive days. Davis took a page out of that playbook and used it at his new employer but in an unprecedented way.

In the span of 17 days, 19 players announced their pledges to Troy.

After Troy’s first official visit weekend, the staff earned three silent commitments. At that point, Davis knew that he had something cooking.

“We had to find a way to get a commit every single day for two weeks and completely flip this thing,” Davis said. “We knew we had to fill up this roster. We scheduled it out so that we could have this ‘Troy Takeover’ for 14 days and then it turned into 17.”

Troy had 38 official visitors on campus in the span of 35 days leading up to the February National Signing Day.

“It’s the start,” Davis said of Troy’s first class. “We still have steps to take to keep moving forward, but we brought in some dudes during that period. And we have to keep building off the rise.”

New Troy players to watch

Troy wants to build the foundation of its roster through the high school ranks, but it will take junior college and transfer portal players to its roster to add immediate impact players. Troy feels that it has improved its team in the immediate future and the long term.

The Trojans added pass rusher Derek Burns from Kilgore Junior College in the Lone Star State. The 6-5, 250-pounder ranks as the nation’s No. 40 player and the No. 7 EDGE from the junior college ranks per On3.

Burns decommitted from Troy after the coaching staff changed, but Parker led the way in getting Burns back in the fold and his efforts paid off. Burns ended up re-committing to the Trojans and will look to make an impact this season.

Winning the state of Alabama is important to Troy. The staff identified which top prospects from the Yellow Hammer State were still available after the first signing day and went after them hard. Troy feels that it landed the top available in-state linebacker in Andalusia (Ala.) High’s Kam Weaver, who flipped his pledge from Charlotte. Weaver is a three-star prospect and the No. 119 linebacker in America.

Troy’s quarterback in the 2024 class is Caleb McCreary from Montgomery (Ala.) Catholic Preparatory. The 5-11, 190-pounder is a commit that Parker and Co. inherited, and it was crucial that they got him signed in December.

“We are very excited about Caleb,” Parker said. “I believe wholeheartedly that he was the glue that kept the class together to get 16 early signees. He decided to stay, and therefore, the class stuck to him. He has leadership qualities, is a highly productive players and has great juice. He played a pivotal role in keeping the class together.”

Quite possibly Troy’s biggest recruiting win was landing Lucedale (Miss.) George County cornerback Marlin Odom.

While at Notre Dame, Parker and Davis built a strong relationship with George County class of 2025 quarterback Deuce Knight, who committed to the Irish last September. After Parker and Davis got to Troy, Knight contacted the former Irish coaches to talk to them about recruiting Odom.

“When we evaluated him, our defensive coordinator, Coach Wright, asked us, ‘Why doesn’t he have Power Five offers?’ His tape is great, and every person you talk to about the kid raves about him,” Davis said.

Odom picked up offers from Syracuse and Middle Tennessee State in December and had a handful of other Power Five coaches inquire about him, but the three-star prospect inked with the Trojans in February.

Troy believes it got a steal when it signed Fairburn (Ga.) Langston Hughes’ Caleb Ash, a three-star recruit and No. 64 offensive tackle in America. Ash was committed to Old Dominion, but Troy was able to get into the picture after it hired Drew Casa away from ODU as its new general manager. Casa and Carbine were key in flipping Ash away from Old Dominion; Ash informed the Trojans’ staff of his decision the night before signing day.

With his 87 recruit grade by On3, Ash is one of Troy’s highest ranked recruits in the class.

“And I still believe he’s underrated,” Davis added. “Seeing him in person, he’s unreal. He’s every bit of 6-6 with a 7-foot wingspan.”

Before working at Notre Dame, Davis spent time at Cincinnati with now-Irish head coach Marcus Freeman and director of recruiting Chad Bowden. The Bearcats signed EDGE Jah-Mal Williams back in the 2021 class, and Davis was a part of the initial scouting process of Williams. When Williams entered the portal, Davis and Co. were all over the 6-4, 225-pounder and got him to transfer to the Trojans.

“I love his length, how he prepares and grinds and how he’s wired,” Parker said of Williams.

Centreville (Ala.) Bibb County’s Trashun Griffin is a consensus three-star prospect who signed with Troy and also held offers from the likes of Louisville, Mississippi State, Maryland, West Virginia and Cincinnati. He was committed to Georgia Tech, but things didn’t work out there. After decommitting, he had a handful of Power Five schools in contact with him, but Troy was able to keep him in state and landed him late in the cycle.

“Being at Troy, everything is in-state relationships,” Davis added. “People here want to put on for the state.”

Aggressive and relationships

How Troy football wants to operate on the recruiting trail can be summed up in two words: aggressive and relationships.

Under Parker, Davis and Co., Troy won’t shy away when going head-to-head on the recruiting trail, and its staff will use its relationships to build special classes.

“Coach Parker is not going to bow down to anyone; it doesn’t matter who it is. He’ll go toe-to-toe with them. And on the flip side, he is so genuine and believes in what he preaches and in his program. It’s a special combination of genuine relationship building and the competition factor that no one is going to beat you.”

Davis credits the aforementioned Chad Bowden for many of his tactics in leading the Troy recruiting department. The run of commitments Troy went on earlier this year was certainly out of the Bowden manual.

“I want to have the most aggressive recruiting department in the country,” Davis continued. “I want every single kid who visits campus to have it prepped in their mind that if Troy checks out then they’ll want to commit that day.

“I believe in our entire staff’s ability to evaluate, so we don’t need to wait and wait. A lot of schools can be passive, but in the new age of college football, you don’t have the time to.”