Jon Sumrall Punches Troy's Ticket to Sun Belt Championship Game

by:Nick Roush•11/28/22•

RoushKSR

Jon Sumrall, Troy football — Troy Athletics

Jon Sumrall can coach ball. In his first year as the Troy head football coach, the Trojans will host Coastal Carolina in the Sun Belt Championship Game. The action kicks off at 3:30 pm EST this Saturday on ESPN.

Sumrall is a University of Kentucky graduate who played linebacker and served as a GA for Rich Brooks. He returned to Kentucky from 2019-21. He brought the Wildcats blue chip recruits and a ton of energy to the defense. On Dec. 2, 2021 he was named head coach of the Troy football program. While building his program, he coached the Cats in the Citrus Bowl and received a front row seat to watch DeAndre Square make the game-winning interception.

Troy will be hosting the Sun Belt Championship Game 366 days after he took over the program. The Trojans earned the right to host by holding off rival South Alabama 10-6 en route to a 10-2, 7-1 record. Sumrall’s squad lost at Ole Miss and on a Hail Mary against Appalachian State. It’s Troy’s first 10-win season and postseason appearance since Neal Brown was calling the shots back in 2018.

“I’m proud of our guys,” Sumrall said after Troy scored 34 unanswered points to knock off Arkansas State Saturday. “It’s been a goal since January to compete for a championship, and I’m proud to see that goal through; we still have work to do, but we are not done yet. Once we got in a rhythm and in sync, we were rolling.

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“We have been behind before, but going into halftime, I knew we would win the game. I didn’t doubt our guys stepping up. To be able to host the Sun Belt Championship Game in Troy, Alabama, is incredible, and everybody needs to be there.”

Defense has always been Jon Sumrall’s calling card. This year Troy ranks eighth in the FBS in scoring defense, allowing only 16.8 points per game. The Trojans also have the Sun Belt’s top passing defense, allowing only 199 yards per game through the air.

Jon Sumrall has a bright future in coaching. It was plain to see as soon as he joined Mark Stoops’ staff. Few could have predicted this much success this early in his head coaching career. It’s an impressive start, but don’t tell him that. It’s just more rat poison.