Troy football finds new connections

Trojans come together during practice for their fisrst scrimmage of the season. Troy athletics photos

When people think of Wi-Fi, many think of the five bars that appear on a screen and allow them to use messages, social media and videos. For Troy football head coach Gerad Parker, Wi-Fi means more.

Over the preseason, Parker has started a new branding for his team, “plug in and compete.” The new branding, introduced during this year’s football season, is meant to represent the connection between players and staff.

“One big piece going into year three was, with new players and old players, “How do you get them to connect,” Parker said. “Connection led me to believe in what does everyone want when they sit down in a new place, out to eat, whether they’re going to a hotel or travelling- they want Wi-Fi.

“They want that stuff to be a good, 5 bar Wi-Fi, so as it got going, we started to feed off of it, and so our symbol is our Wi-Fi connection.”

Although the players have connected with one another over the preseason, the new branding is also meant to show what real connection is and inspire change on the field and in day-to-day lives.“It’s something we need to do more of,” Parker said. “Our impact may not be across the world in what we do here, but we can create change in how we communicate.

“How we get to learn about new people we otherwise wouldn’t know, how we see the world through a lens of a guy who came from a very different place than you did, and so I think the power is in the people”

The team connection would not be possible without the players. With new players coming in and old players returning, players must learn how to play with each other on the field. The new branding achieves that representation, showing how both sides of Trojan football can connect and fight through as one. 

“We like to connect with each other, because once you connect as a team, you can become stronger,” said fourth year running back Jordan Lovett. “Everybody is going through the same thing together, and once you see your brother down and once you see your brother up, you can just connect to them, and yeah were hurting but we’re hurting together”