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By Barry Allen Director of Media Relations   MONTGOMERY – The play of the game turned in by Jacksonville State University redshirt junior safety Caleb Nix did not result in a touchdown, but it certainly saved one. Nix chased down Troy University junior kick returner DJ Epps after a 79-yard kickoff return at the Jax State 20-yard line. The Trojans offense lost 11 yards on three plays and then missed a field goal, setting up Jax State’s game-winning touchdown drive in a 17-13 come-from-behind win over its in-state rival. “It was a huge play, massive play,” Troy head coach Gerard Parker said. “We flip the field with a lone kickoff return then we go backwards and miss a field goal.” Nix said his only thought was keeping Epps from scoring. “My thought was to keep him out of the end zone,” Nix said.  “I almost overran him.  I got him on the ground and our defense kept him out of the end zone." Redshirt sophomore Shane Payton Hodges and freshman defensive tackle Quay Hood combined on a 10-yard sack of Troy quarterback Tucker Kilcrese on third down and Trojans senior kicker Scott Taylor Renfroe missed a 49-yard field goal attempt. “I thought our defense played well tonight,” Jax State head coach Charles Kelly said. “That was one of those hidden plays that made the difference in the game.” Troy (8-6) threw an interception on its next possession as Jax State freshman linebacker Ian Mitchell picked off a Tucker Kilcrease pass at the Trojans 47-yard line. Jax State (9-5) marched 47 yards in 11 plays to retake the lead on a 1-yard touchdown run by redshirt junior running back Andrew Paul to take a 17-13 lead with 10:06 left in the game, The Gamecocks played without junior running back Cam Cook, who was the Conference USA Player of the Year and third-team All-American. “We showed tonight we have some pretty good running backs,” Kelly said. “They all ran the ball hard.” Troy’s next three possessions resulted in a turnover on downs, an interception and a hail mary that fell incomplete on the final play of the game. The Trojans became the first team in the bowl’s 12-year history not to score an offensive touchdown. The 30 combined points were the second fewest in the bowl’s history. Buffalo (17) and Marshall (10) only combined for 27 points in 2020. “As a defensive guy, it’s fun to be in a low-scoring game and a defensive battle,” Nix added. Jax State scored on its opening possession to take a 7-0 lead. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Caden Creel’s 22-yard touchdown pass to redshirt senior Brock Rechsteiner capped a 9-play, 71-drive, making the Gamecocks the second team in bowl history to score on its first possession of the game. The Gamecocks offense sputtered after the first drive and the Troy defense got on the board late in the first quarter. Redshirt junior linebacker TJ Thompson had a 12-yard sack and forced fumble and senior nose tackle Luis Medina recovered the fumble in the end zone for a touchdown, tying the game at 7-7. Renfroe added a pair of field goals in the second quarter to give the Trojans a 13-7 lead. Jax State redshirt sophomore kicker Garrison Rippa kicked a 51-yard field goal with 6:35 left in the third quarter to cut the Gamecocks’ deficit to 13-10. The 51-yard FG is the second longest in bowl history, behind FIU’s Jose Borregales’ 52-yard field goal in 2019. Nix made a touchdown-saving tackle on the ensuing kickoff and the Gamecocks would pick up its first win over its arch-rival in 36 years.

By Tim Gayle Caden Creel didn’t have the flashy statistics that most players have who are considered for most valuable player honors. Then again, the redshirt sophomore had the plays -- and the statistics -- that are indicative of his performance this season as Jacksonville State’s starting quarterback. The Fairhope native directed his team on an early touchdown and rallied them late, helping the Gamecocks to a 17-13 win over Troy in the 12^th annual Salute to Veterans Bowl. The gritty, blue-collar performance by Creel earned the quarterback the Johnny Williams Most Valuable Player Award. “Caden has performed great all year long,” Jax State coach Charles Kelly said. “He’s a great leader. He’s a great athlete. I wouldn’t trade him for anybody. Listen, you always want to go into a game with the same person you’d go into a fight with. And I’d take him. Every time.” Creel, as he has in most of his nine starts for the Gamecocks, just made the plays he needed to. He was his own worst critic, especially on the five sacks by the Trojan defense, but he kept making plays to put his team in position to win. “When you can stay ahead of the chains, Coach is going to give us four downs,” Creel said. “He’s an aggressive coach. We can’t have those penalties that set us back and I can’t take sacks or get tripped up on naked (bootlegs) and stuff like that. “I do like to rely on my legs and make plays myself, but when there are certain things that are there, just put the ball in play and let my guys make plays, kind of like I did in the second half.” On the Gamecocks’ first possession, he threw a slant-in to Deondre Johnson to move the ball into Trojan territory, then delivered a third-and-four pass to a wide-open Brock Rechsteiner for 22 yards and the game’s first points. After the first possession, the Jax State offense was silent for the remainder of the first half, something for which Creel took the blame. “A lot of those times when we have those lulls, it’s because we’re getting behind the chains,” Creel said. “A lot of that has to do with me and some of my mistakes, so I’ve got to be better in certain areas.” Early in the third quarter, he hit Deondre Johnson on a third-and-nine play to keep the drive alive for a Garrison Rippa field goal and on the first play of the fourth quarter, he ran for seven yards on a third-and-three keeper that would later set up Andrew Paul’s 1-yard game winning touchdown. In the end, his numbers were modest -- 31 yards gained, 41 lost on five sacks, along with 173 passing yards. But he completed a bowl-record 70 percent of his passes (14 of 20) and won the statistic that mattered most in a four-point win. He said earlier in the week his job was easy with Conference USA Player of the Year Cam Cook behind him, but with Cook sidelined by injury, Creel still delivered when it mattered most. “This is his first time when he didn’t have that guy,” Kelly said. “I think there were some situations -- he’ll go back and look at it -- where he’ll say, you know what? I don’t need to do too much. Just trust my eyes. My eyes will tell me what to do. But his leadership, what he brought to the team … there was never a time throughout the game where we felt like we were going to lose the game. That’s what you’ve got to have in your quarterback. The speed of the leader determines the speed of the pack.” Creel, not surprisingly, accepted his award modestly, then handed it to his defensive teammates. After wrapping up his first season of action at Jax State, he gave the credit to his coaching staff. “We did have a lot of guys come in, but I think that just shows how good of a coach Coach Kelly and the rest of the staff are,” Creel said. “When you look around, one thing that stands out about our team is we’re always together and we’re never out of a game and I think a lot of that has to do with the coaches and the mentality they make us have.”

Troy Trojans vs. Jax State Gamecocks Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025 Pregame:

• Weather: Cloudy, 36 degrees, Wind: 3 mph
• The 36 degrees is the coldest kickoff temperature in Salute to Veterans Bowl history
• The previous low was 39 degrees in 2000 (Buffalo vs. Marshall)
• Troy captains were Jordan Lovett, Devin Lafayette, Jordan Stringer and Colton Walls
• Jax State captains were Caleb Nix, Travis Franklin, Pearson Baldwin and Trevor Woods
• Jax State won the toss and deferred to the second half
• Attendance: 15,721; fifth largest crowd in bowl history; largest since 2019
• Time of Game: 3:01; the fastest game in bowl history; previous was 3:03 (2018)

Final Score:

• Jax State defeated Troy 17-13 in the 12^th annual Salute to Veterans Bowl
• It was the Gamecocks’ first win over Troy since Nov. 3, 1990, their last meeting as GSC members
• Jax State leads the all-time series 34-28-2
• Redshirt junior running back Andrew Paul scored the winning touchdown on a 1-yard run in fourth quarter
• Paul had five carries for 12 yards in the Gamecocks win
• Redshirt sophomore quarterback Caden Creel was the Johnny Williams MVP
• Creel was 14-of-20 (.700) for 173 yards and one touchdown in the win
• He threw a 22-yard TD pass to redshirt senior Brock Rechsteiner on the Gamecocks first possession
• The game was the first FBS Bowl game between two teams from the state of Alabama

Game Notes:

• Jax State finishes the season with a 9-5 record
• The Gamecocks have won 9 games every year as an FBS member
• Jax State is 2-1 in its first three FBS bowl games
• Troy finishes the season with an 8-6 record
• The Trojans are the fourth FBS team since 2015 to finish 8-6 (USC, Purdue and Boise State)
• Creel set the Salute to Veterans bowl record for highest completion percentage
• He completed 14-of-20 (.700) passes for 173 yards and one TD
• The previous record was 69.2 percent by Logan Woodside (Toledo) in 2019
• Jax State quarterbacks completed 14-of-22 (.636) passes for 173 yards and one TD
• The 63.6 combined completion percentage is the third highest in Salute to Veterans Bowl history
• Jax State scored in its first possession of the game (9 plays, 71 yards; 3:41 TOP)
• The Gamecocks are the second team in bowl history to score in their opening possession
• Northern Illinois scored on its first possession of the game in 2023
• Troy scored on a sack and fumble in the first quarter
• Redshirt junior linebacker TJ Thompson had a 12-yard sack and fumble
• Senior nose tackle Luis Medina recovered the fumble in the end zone for a touchdown
• It’s the sixth defensive TD in Salute to Veterans Bowl history and first since 2021
• Jax State redshirt sophomore kicker Garrison Rippa kicked a 51-yard field goal with 6:35 left in the third quarter
• Rippa’s field goal cut the Gamecocks’ deficit to 13-10
• The 51-yard FG is the second longest in bowl history
• FIU’s Jose Borregales holds the bowl game record with a 52-yard FG in 2019
• Troy’s DJ Epps returned the ensuing kickoff 79 yards (TD saving tackle by Caleb Nix)
• The 79-yard kickoff return is the second longest kickoff return in bowl history
• Appalachian State’s Darrynton Evans had a 97-yard TD return in 2016
• Troy’s 13 points are the second fewest in bowl history
• The Trojans are the first team in bowl history not to score an offensive touchdown
• The 30 combined points are the second fewest in bowl history
• Buffalo (17) and Marshall (10) combined for 27 points in 2020
• Troy was 2-for-12 (.167) on third downs; the worst third down percentage in bowl history
• The previous low was 21.4 percent by Ohio (3-for-14) in 2018
• Troy senior linebacker Jordan Stringer recorded 16 tackles and one-half sack in the game
• The 16 tackles are the second most in bowl history
• South Alabama’s Maleki Harris had 18 tackles in the inaugural game in 2014

By Barry Allen Director of Media Relations TROY-JAX STATE RENEW RIVALRY Two long-time, in-state rivals will square off in the 2025 IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl. Troy and Jacksonville State will meet in the 12th annual IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl on Tuesday, Dec. 16 at 8 p.m. (CT) at the historic Cramton Bowl in downtown Montgomery, Ala. The game will be televised on ESPN. Former members of the Gulf South Conference, Jax State and Troy are meeting on the gridiron for the first time since 2001. The Gamecocks lead the all-time series 33-28-2, however the Trojans have won the last seven meetings in the series. Jax State has not defeated Troy since Nov. 3, 1990, the last meeting as GSC members. CONFERENCE RUNNERS-UP COLLIDE Both participants in this year’s IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl have already played once in this year’s postseason. Following an 8-4 regular season and 7-1 record in league play, Jacksonville State served as the host of the Conference USA Championship game for the second consecutive season. Jax State won the Conference USA title in 2024, its first year eligible to do so. However, the Gamecocks came up just short against Kennesaw State on Dec. 5, giving up a touchdown with less than one minute to play to thwart a large fourth quarter comeback. The Trojans also finished the regular season with an 8-4 overall record, posting a 6-2 mark in league action to reach the Sun Belt Conference Championship. Troy won the Sun Belt West Division for the third time in four years, but was ultimately defeated in the conference championship game by College Football Playoff qualifier James Madison. FANTASTIC FINISHES IN MONTGOMERY The IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl has had a knack for close games and thrilling finishes. In fact, 10 of the previous 11 have been one score games with the average margin of victory at 4.3 points per game. In eight of the 11 games, the winning score came in the fourth quarter, including walk-off field goals by Appalachian State (2015) and Georgia Southern (2018). Bowling Green defeated South Alabama 33-28 in the inaugural IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl (previously known as Camellia Bowl) on Dec. 20, 2014. Last year, South Alabama set the bowl’s total offense record with 537 yards in a 30-23 win over Western Michigan.   CRAMTON BOWL HISTORY Both Troy and Jacksonville State have previous history in the Cramton Bowl. Troy’s path to the 1968 National Championship ran through Montgomery. The late Sim Bird the then called Red Wave to the NAIA National Championship at the Cramton Bowl. Troy defeated No. 3 Willamette 63-10 in the semifinals and knocked off No. 1 Texas A&I 43-35 in the championship game. Jacksonville State played three FCS Kickoff games in recent years. The Gamecocks defeated Chattanooga (27-13) in 2017, lost to North Carolina A&T (20-17), and beat SF Austin (42-17) in 2022.   PAPER BOWL Jax State and Troy met in the inaugural Paper Bowl 1948. The Gamecocks posted a 19-0 win at Pensacola High School. The game was not sanctioned by the NCAA, but the statistics counted. Jax State defeated Livingston 12-7 in 1949 and lost to Pensacola Naval Station 7-6 in 1950. The games were played as a fundraiser for the Pensacola High School marching band.   JAX STATE BOASTS TOP RUNNING ATTACK No team in FBS football rushed for more yards than the Jacksonville State Gamecocks in 2025. Jax State rushed for 3,354 yards and 31 touchdowns in 13 games, averaging 258.0 yards per contest. Junior running back Cam Cook was the workhorse. The Round Rock, Texas, native led the nation with 1,659 yards and was fourth nationally with 16 touchdowns on the ground. Cook reached the 100-yard mark in 10 of 13 games this fall, including a career-best 218 yards in the win over Sam Houston. Jax State quarterback Caden Creel has done plenty of damage of his own on the ground this season. The redshirt-sophomore has totaled 1,085 yards over 13 games with seven scores. Cook and Creel are the only pair of teammates to each have 1,000 rushing yards entering the bowl season.   TROJANS TURNING DEFENSE INTO OFFENSE Troy ranks third in the Sun Belt Conference, allowing just 24.5 points per game this season. However, the Trojans defense has also contributed to its side of the scoreboard as well. The Troy defense has found the end zone four times this season, one of just nine teams nationally with four or more defensive touchdowns. Linebacker TJ Thompson took back a 4-yard interception at Clemson, defensive end Taleeq Robbins had a 15-yards scoop and score against Memphis, safety Joe Lott returned an interception 53 yards in the win over ULM, and cornerback Jaquez White picked off a pass and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown versus Louisiana. Jacksonville State has surrendered two defensive touchdowns this season – allowing scores against Murray State and Southern Miss. There have been five defensive scores in the previous 11 IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl games, the last coming in 2021 as Georgia State scored on fumble and interception returns.

By Tim Gayle When C.C. Bush and Ross Ford got together for a football game on Nov. 27, 1924, they had no idea of the rivalry that gridiron meeting would create. Bush was in the final year of a three-year stint at Jacksonville State and had coached the team to three consecutive wins before the season finale. Ford was completing his only year at Troy, tying his first four games and winning his next two before the season ender at Jacksonville State. The Gamecocks’ 14-9 win didn’t trigger an instant rivalry -- the two teams would play just nine more times over the next 21 years before starting an annual series in 1946 -- but it was indicative of the type of game the two teams would play against each other. “I figured out my first fall, real quick, what it meant,” said Stewart Lowery, Troy’s middle linebacker on the 1984 national championship team. “That game was circled on the schedule early in the fall when we first reported. “When you stepped on Troy’s campus, if you could not accept (the intense rivalry with Jacksonville State) and that could not become part of your DNA, you were probably at the wrong school. If you were to put us in the same room with the (Jacksonville State) guys we played against, they’d say the same thing. It was a bloodbath, it was a war, and you knew it was going to be that way. On top of everything, you had the ‘Battle of the Bands.’ The bands got involved as well. It was something else. I’ll never forget it.” Between 1946 and 1965, 16 of the 20 games were decided by two touchdowns or less, generating the intensity of the rivalry. By the early 1970s, both were members of the Gulf South Conference in Division II, which meant their arch rival was standing in the path of a conference title. And with Jacksonville State’s Charley Pell and Troy’s Charlie Bradshaw, a pair of Paul “Bear” Bryant disciples, coaching the teams at different times in the 1970s, the rivalry grew even more heated. “It was as much of a rivalry between the bands as it was the football teams,” said Jacksonville State band director Ken Bodiford, a former drum major with the Marching Southerners who will wrap up a 32-year career as the school’s band director on Tuesday night at Cramton Bowl. “Back then, when you came in as a student, you were taught that rivalry, kind of like the Alabama-Auburn rivalry.” For the bands, much like the football teams, the competition between two passionate leaders took the rivalry to a new level. Dr. Johnny Long, director of Troy’s Sound of the South from 1965-96, was a Jacksonville State graduate. Dr. David Walters, director of Jacksonville State’s Marching Southerners from 1961-91, was just as competitive. “I was a freshman in 1983, so (the rivalry) had already started when I came in, but it was a huge deal when I was a student,” Bodiford said. “The Troy game was the big climax of the season. That was the game you looked forward to all season. We always had what was called the ‘Battle of the Bands’ and after the game both bands would stay in the stands and play back and forth for what seemed like hours.” By the early 1990s, the programs drifted in different directions. Troy moved to I-AA (now Football Championship Subdivision) in 1993, while Jacksonville State would make a similar move two years later. By 2001, Troy was transitioning to Football Bowl Subdivision as Jacksonville State was moving from the FCS Southland Conference to the Ohio Valley Conference and finally to FBS in 2023. The two teams last met on the gridiron in 2001 at Troy as the Trojans won their seventh consecutive game in the rivalry, 21-3. “I understand the rivalry and the hatred (from older players),” said Charlie Goodyear, a center on Troy’s 2001 team. “2001 was our first year going I-A, that was the talk. As I recall it, the game with Jacksonville State didn’t have that buzz around it. I think when I started coaching at Troy and was around events where I rubbed shoulders with the older alum and the community, that’s when I fully appreciated the history.” For 24 years, a generation of Jacksonville State and Troy fans and students have cheered on their respective team, largely unaware of their school’s biggest rival. “It was pretty intense,” said Mike Turk, a former Troy quarterback and assistant coach. “The Troy folks didn’t like the Jacksonville State people and the Jacksonville State people didn’t like the Troy folks. I mean, that’s how it’s supposed to be in a rivalry. That one was certainly the case. It was always an interesting game, hard fought and without a doubt the most intense, bitter rivalry that we had while I was playing and in the years that followed that.” While a younger generation has trouble understanding a rivalry that hasn’t been played in a quarter of a century, an older generation continues to ask why the two teams don’t play any more. “The question I get the most when I’m out talking to groups is, ‘When are we going to play Troy again?’” Jacksonville State athletic director Greg Seitz said. “We have some future dates available to play. I’ve reached out to Troy and they’re evaluating their future schedules. We would love to play Troy. That game means a lot to our fans and alums. It’s always been a very important game to us. There’s nothing on our end that would prohibit us from playing that game.” If the pre-game buzz and excitement associated with the 12^th annual Salute to Veterans Bowl is any indication, a gridiron meeting between the Gamecocks and the Trojans is long overdue. “When the possibility of this game was initially floated to me, my immediate reply was there’s going to be a long line of Jacksonville State and Troy people who are going to be really excited about this matchup,” Goodyear said. “Which I wouldn’t have fully understood had I not been around people that played in or coached in that game over the years.” One of those people is Turk, who is grateful for the rivalry’s renewal. “It’s exciting to know that they’re going to play again,” he said. “It’s hard to believe it took a bowl game in Montgomery, Alabama, to get them back together. But it doesn’t matter how. I’m sure it’ll be fun and should be well attended. I guarantee you it’ll be hard fought.” On Tuesday night, as the old rivals meet for the 64^th time, a new generation of Gamecocks and Trojans will be introduced to a rivalry that has never faded among an older generation of fans. “There’s no love lost whatsoever,” Lowery said. “When I found out they were playing, I was like, ‘Heck yeah.’ One of my coaching colleagues went to Jax State and played wide receiver and I give him a hard time all the time. I tell him all the time that I like him, but I don’t like the fact he played at Jax State.”

By Tim Gayle The 12th annual IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl on Tuesday night will be the first one held since former bowl executive Johnny Williams passed away in February, but his fingerprints are all over this year’s game between Jacksonville State and Troy. Williams coached and served as an athletic director at Troy, went to the University of Alabama as a senior associate athletic director and worked tirelessly with Jacksonville State after he retired from Alabama to start his own college athletics consulting firm. Five years after starting his company, he was brought to Montgomery to help develop Alabama’s capital city into a bowl destination and became the executive director of the Salute to Veterans Bowl. “I had the fortune and privilege to get to know him a little bit in my early years at Troy,” Trojan athletic director Kyle George said. “Just knowing his marketing mind -- and that’s the background that I came up in, too -- and just sharing stories with coaches of his before about how Johnny had these crazy, big ideas that no one else believed but Johnny. And he saw that vision and had a chance to bring this bowl game here, help move Troy to Division I, helped Jacksonville State go to Division I.” For Williams, any team he touched became his and a personal goal from the very beginning of what was then known as the Camellia Bowl in 2014 was to invite Troy to participate in his game. A couple of years after launching the bowl game, Williams and ESPN executives hatched the idea of moving the FCS Kickoff to Montgomery. The first participant Williams thought of was Jacksonville State, a program that was competing in FCS before moving up to FBS in 2023. He invited the Gamecocks to participate in the FCS Kickoff three times, including the first two times the game was in Cramton Bowl (2017 and 2018). “Johnny Williams meant so much to the folks at Jax State,” said Greg Seitz, vice president for athletics at Jacksonville State. “He was a person I would call on and he actually helped me on many of my coaching searches once he got into his consulting business. “This is probably his dream game for the bowl game and we’re very, very excited to have the opportunity to play in this.” Gamecock coach Charles Kelly, an Ozark native, had known Williams for years. “To me, he’s Coach Williams, always has been since I was coming out of high school,” Kelly said. “But I can tell you this: there would be nobody any more excited about this game, in this venue, in this bowl, than he would. I’m very thankful for what he did, not only for football at Troy but for what he did for football in the state of Alabama.” Troy players will honor Williams at Tuesday night’s game with a “JW” helmet sticker, but the real honor will be watching his beloved Trojans and his adopted Gamecocks renew their rivalry after a 24-year hiatus in the bowl game he created. “I just wish we had Johnny Williams here to be with us today,” Montgomery mayor Steven Reed said. “I know he’d be smiling, laughing and telling a whole lot of good football stories about both universities all throughout this week. But I know he’s here in spirit.”

By Tim Gayle It took four years and three different programs, but Khurtiss Perry has finally found his home. Perry, one of the state’s top prospects after leading Pike Road to the 5A state championship in 2021, rarely saw the field in 2022 and 2023 at the University of Alabama so he elected to transfer to Virginia Tech for the 2024 season. “It didn’t (work) but we’re thankful to be where we’re at right now,” Perry said. “I can’t complain at all.” Perry had been dominant for coaches and recruiting analysts watching the 5A championship game with Pleasant Grove in Birmingham in 2021. He finished the year with 76 tackles, 22 sacks and 30 quarterback hurries -- numbers that made him one of the top recruits in the nation. At Alabama, he only played in one game in 2023 after redshirting in 2022. At Virginia Tech, he played in just one game in 2024. He decided to enter the portal again after looking over potential candidates in the state. ”I was on the way to visit (Jacksonville State) when I got back in the portal coming out of VTech,” Perry said, “but when I knew Coach (Charles) Kelly was getting the coaching job, that’s my man. I was going with him on Day One.” That’s because Kelly was the recruiting contact for Perry when the former was a secondary coach at Alabama, so Perry had developed a relationship with the veteran coach. “It’s been perfect, it’s been wonderful, finding a great coach like Coach Kelly who believes in me and trusts me,” Perry said. “I came in and fit into the program great. I’ve just been waiting on a great opportunity and that’s what he gave me and I took advantage of it and I’m having a great year.” After a slow start, Kelly has seen Perry develop as a defensive tackle with the Gamecocks this season. “We got there last year (in December) and Khurtiss had gotten in the portal and I had a relationship with him,” Kelly said. “We didn’t promise him anything but an opportunity and he came down there and has done a good job. He just keeps getting better and better.” Perry has played in all 13 games and has two starts, recording 18 tackles, including four tackles for loss, a pair of sacks and a fumble recovery. “He always talks about treating every game like a championship game,” Perry said, “and I truly think we treated every game like a championship game. I can tell as a coach he’s going to be one of the best to ever do it because he really cares for his players. He really cares for the game. He doesn’t let you cheat the game. I really love Coach Kelly.” On Tuesday night, as Jacksonville State takes on Troy in the 12th annual Salute to Veterans Bowl at Cramton Bowl, Perry will be back home, playing in front of family and friends. “I never in my life thought I would be playing at Jacksonville State University,” he said. “I never thought I would have the opportunity to come back and play in Montgomery, Alabama again, but I’m so truly thankful for it because I know it will be an impactful moment that I will never forget and I know it’s going to be one of my best games.” As he was asked about his goals for Tuesday’s game, the old Khurtiss Perry returned, the confident Pike Road senior that spent most of the game in opposing backfields. “Man, I have crazy goals,” he said. “It’s going to speak volumes on Tuesday, but I have big goals for this game. But I definitely want to win for my team.”

By Tim Gayle Bill Clark, a trailblazer at Prattville High, Jacksonville State and UAB, was honored by the IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl at its Alabama Football Legends luncheon on Monday at the Renaissance Hotel. “I’m not old enough for that,” Clark said. “I just keep telling people that.” Clark is the 11th recipient of the award, joining Bobby Bowden (2014), Pat Dye (2015), Woodrow Lowe (2016), Gene Stallings (2017), Johnny Davis (2018), Larry Blakeney (2019), Woody McCorvey (2021), Chan Gailey (2022), Dr. James Andrews (2023) and Bobby Wallace (2024). “It’s very humbling just to be considered with the legends that have already been here before me,” Clark said, “and in this area where I had so many fun years at Prattville and just think so much of the whole region.” While he has served programs at the high school and collegiate level as an assistant coach, he is best known for his work as a head coach. At Prattville, he built up a struggling program into a statewide powerhouse, winning back-to-back state championships in 2006 and 2007 that included a 56-game regular season winning streak. His 106-11 record is the highest in Alabama High School Athletic Association history among coaches with 100 or more games. Clark coached his alma mater, Jacksonville State, for just one season (2013) but the football program set 49 school records, 13 Ohio Valley Conference records and earned the first Football Championship Subdivision appearance in school history in that remarkable season. At UAB, he was the head coach when the program was disbanded in 2014 and ressurrected in 2017. He’s the winningest coach in Blazer history at 49-26 and his 2017 team went 8-5 and earned the school its first bowl appearance. When he stepped away from football in June, 2022 for medical reasons, he was already involved with Coach Safely, which he serves as president. The mission of the Coach Safely Foundation is to limit youth sports-related injuries through research, advocacy and education of coaches, parents, physical educators and other influential figures in the lives of young athletes. “I’ve been involved with Coach Safely since Jack Crowe started it with Jimmy Andrews, around 2014,” Clark said. “In 2018, we got a law passed that requires youth coaches in the state of Alabama -- it’s the first one in the nation -- to have training. It trains them in safety. Our mantra is so they will play. “We believe in sports. If you believe in what football and all sports teaches you, then we want them to come out. And how do we get them to come out? We keep them safe.” Clark mentioned his coaching stops fondly in Monday’s speech that followed his acceptance of the award, but saved his best for last as he addressed the players of both Jacksonville State and Troy that are on hand for Tuesday night’s game at Cramton Bowl. “Young men, you earned the right to play in this game,” Clark said. “You didn’t get here by accident. You earned it from early in the morning, hard practices, setbacks and sacrifices most will never see. I want you to know that the game will end but who you’ll become because of football -- and I truly believe this -- that lasts forever. “This game has taught you how to handle adversity, have discipline and to be accountable. You now know how to respond to adversity, don’t you? To keep pushing, believing in yourself. Because we know wins are great, championships are special, but the greatest victories you’ll ever have don’t show up on the scoreboard. They’ll show up in how you treat people and how you lead when no one’s watching. Through trust, sacrifice and commitment, honor God and take care of your family.”

By Tim Gayle Jordan Stringer is one of five Trojans still remaining from the 2021 signing class, which means he’s been on hand for three different coaching staffs. The Augusta, Ga., native was recruited to Troy by Chip Lindsey, played for two seasons under Jon Sumrall and is now playing for Gerad Parker. “In my early years, probably yes, (it was a big transition),” Stringer said. “I was still young, still new to the game, still didn’t know how the game worked. But the older I got, the more I realized that, yes, it’s a new staff, but your program is your program. Troy is Troy, no matter who’s the coach. That’s how I started looking at it after Sumrall left. OK, they’re gone, but Troy is still Troy.” ‘J-Rock,’ as he is called, has been a steady leader for the Trojans. He has started the past 18 games, more than anyone else on the team, and is one of only eight players nationally that has at least 100 tackles and 11 tackles for loss. The defense, one of the best in the Sun Belt, is noted for generating tackles for loss, creating turnovers and holding opponents to just 45.5 percent in red zone touchdowns, ranking among the top 10 teams in America. “He’s our vocal leader of our entire team,” Parker said. “Our growth and who he’s become, in my time here, is a special relationship between he and I. He’s been the heartbeat of our team and our vocal leader since we’ve been here, but especially this year. He’s got a good personality, a lively personality. He likes the camera. But he brings an energy about himself in the way he approaches the game and prepares and practices for the games that his teammates love him for.” Stringer loves his coach, too, even if the coach prefers the offensive side of the ball. “He’s an offensive minded guy, which is a little different, but it’s kind of cool,” Stringer said. “I love it because he leaves the defense in Coach (defensive coordinator Dontae) Wright’s and the leaders’ hands. Hasn’t much changed. The defense is the defense at Troy and it will always be like that.” The defense, like the team, has had its ups and downs, keeping James Madison within 17-14 in the fourth quarter of the Sun Belt Championship Game or leading Clemson 16-3 in the third quarter. There has been times as well when the defense struggled, such as games against Texas State or Old Dominion. “It just shows you how we’ve overcome adversity,” Stringer said of the highs and lows of 2025. “We’ve been through some hard games, tough games, games we should have won, probably some games that we should have lost but we won. We’ve been through it all. That’s a reflection of this team and this coaching staff. We’re built on toughness and we know how to handle hard. That’s what we’ve been doing all year.” The Trojans will face old nemesis Jacksonville State in the 12th annual Salute to Veterans Bowl and its running back, Cam Cook, who leads FBS with 127.6 yards per game. “I love it,” Stringer said of the matchup. “They’re going to try to make him have a big night, they’re going to try and send him out with a bang. So the defense is looking forward to the challenge. I can’t wait to go out there and play. This is the last game we’ve got together. We’ve got to go out with a bang, go out for each other and try to get this ninth win.” Stringer has always been a team player. Now as he prepares for his final game, he only offers team goals for Tuesday night’s game at Cramton Bowl. “Go out there and get the offense the ball,” he said. “Keep the points off the board, give the offense the ball. That’s what we’re going to do in this last game Tuesday. The offense is going to have a great game, the defense is going to have a great game. We’re going to put it all together for one last time and it’s going to be great. “We came up short last game, but you’re going to remember your last game, whether it was the Sun Belt Championship Game or this one. I’m glad it’s this one because now we can get the Sun Belt one off of our mind and this will be our last memory for the 2025 team. So this one is huge for us.”

By Tim Gayle When Caden Creel looked around the quarterback room last December, he was a little shocked to discover he was the only one remaining in the room. When he arrived from Fairhope High as an incoming freshman, he was one of six quarterbacks on the roster but when coach Rich Rodriguez left Jacksonville State for West Virginia and was replaced by Charles Kelly, two seniors had graduated, two players had jumped in the transfer portal and another was moved to another position and later left, leaving just Creel. “It’s definitely an uncertain feeling,” Creel said, “but me and Coach Kelly hit it off immediately. I trusted him from the beginning. He was blunt, up-front, and he’s been like that ever since. The main thing that stood out with Coach Kelly that made me believe in what he did was being process oriented and not so result oriented. “I told him all I wanted was a chance. I wasn’t going to say, ‘I want to start,’ I just told him I wanted a chance to compete.” Creel got that chance in the spring game, making an impression on Kelly that remains to this day. “There was something about him in the spring,” Kelly said. “Really, in the spring game. He had a good spring but when we would scrimmage, he would stand out. When we had our spring game, he just moved the team. I was like, this guy’s got a chance to be a really good player. We were struggling a little bit against Southern Miss and we put him in there and he gave us a spark. He’s a good leader, very tough, very competitive.” Creel didn’t make an immediate impact, however. First, Kelly had to reload the quarterback room, adding Gavin Wimsatt from Kentucky, Cade Cunningham from Memphis and Greg Jones from Independence Community College, along with a pair of incoming freshmen. “When I was the only one left, they had to (recruit others),” Creel said. “You can’t be mad about that. The transfer portal is a huge part of our game and I’ve been getting used to that since I’ve been here. New faces, every day, coming in and out of the building. It’s a weird feeling, but I’m so glad all these people came in here, even the quarterbacks. They made me better throughout the process. We had some good competition.” And as Kelly noted, Creel made an impression in the Gamecocks’ spring game. “I think the spring game was my first true opportunity in a game-like setting,” he said. “In a practice, it’s hard to simulate the quarterback playing live. I was able to show how I could move the ball down the field, not just with my legs, but with my arm too, and command the offense.” But it wasn’t enough. When the season opener rolled around, the Gamecocks gave the starting job to Wimsett. Five games later, as the offense was struggling against Southern Miss, they turned to the backup, Creel. He’s been the starter ever since. “The season for me has been a rollercoaster but I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” he said. “It offered me a lot of opportunity. Started doing some ‘two’ QB stuff at the beginning of the season, just mixing in there. They ended up wanting to get me on the field more so I even ended up playing some special teams. I was a punt returner for a little while. I told them whatever way y’all want me on the field, I’m good with it. “That slowly led to a little more in-season competition and they gave me the job. Obviously, when you have Cam Cook in the backfield, it makes it really easy. I think our games complement each other really well.” Cook leads FBS with 127.6 yards per game, but Creel has taken a little of the pressure off of the targeted runner with 1,085 rushing yards on 169 carries, along with 1,341 passing yards. “As an offense we’ve had some ups and downs but I’m really proud of the way we fought all year,” Creel said. “I think we’re one of the most resilient teams, if not the most resilient team, in the nation. We never quit, no matter what the situation is.” On Tuesday, the Gamecock offense will face another challenge, going up against an opportunistic Troy defense in the 12th annual Salute to Veterans Bowl. “We see that every day in practice,” Creel said. “You look at our defense, it’s the same exact way. Schematically, they’re obviously different but as far as forcing fumbles and getting interceptions, they both do a really good job. “They’re kind of simple at times, but they are very good at what they do. That’s why they’re able to force those turnovers. Just seeing the field, seeing the coverages, attacking them where they aren’t, using space, that’s what we do every week. It’s the same challenge, just a different team.”