South Alabama enters year three under Major Applewhite with a defensive shake-up of its own, bringing in Todd Orlando as defensive coordinator alongside holdover co-coordinator Jason Washington. The Jaguars also added transfer receiver Everett Hunter, who caught 24 passes for 283 yards and three touchdowns at FCS Nicholls State last season, giving their passing game a piece it didn't have in 2025.
Where South Alabama has real uncertainty is in the backfield. PJ Martin ran for 326 yards on 60 carries before missing the final four games of 2025 with an injury, and he's still working his way back toward full health. A promising redshirt sophomore behind him is dealing with a similar situation and wasn't a full go in spring ball. Both are expected to be ready by fall camp, but neither has proven durability yet, and that's a problem against a Troy defense that should still be sound up front.
The history favors Troy in a way that's hard to ignore. The Trojans have won the last two meetings in this series, including a 31-24 overtime win last October in Troy behind quarterback Tucker Kilcrease, who threw for more than 200 yards and ran for over 100. Troy now leads the all-time series 10-4. South Alabama gets this one at Hancock Whitney Stadium, which flips the site advantage, but a rivalry game with a trophy on the line rarely comes down to who's playing better on paper in July.
This is still months out, and fall camp will sort out plenty on both sides — particularly whether Troy's retooled skill groups can find any rhythm and whether South Alabama's backfield is actually ready to carry a real workload. For now, this shapes up as a defense-forward rivalry game between two Sun Belt programs that both know exactly how much this trophy means.