By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

He dropped back, set his feet, and delivered a textbook-perfect pass down the field into the arms of his receiver.

That’s a scene that played itself out repeatedly a year ago, with Troup quarterback Montez Crowe putting together one of the best seasons in the history of the state.

Crowe is now at Savannah State where he’s beginning his college journey, so there’ll be someone new taking the snaps for the Tigers this season.

Kobe Hudson, who was one of Crowe’s favorite targets last season, was the man at quarterback as Troup took on Northside-Columbus on Thursday in a preseason game.

Hudson looked right at home at his new position, showing off his arm strength and accuracy while leading the offense to three first-half touchdowns.

In the second half, quarterback Nick Schweizer tossed a scoring pass of his own, and Troup rolled to a 36-2 victory.

Hudson was an outstanding wide receiver the past two seasons, but with Crowe having graduated, the decision was made to move him to quarterback.

In Thursday’s game, Hudson showed what he’s capable when he completed 8-of-12 passes for 240 yards with a touchdown.

Those numbers would be impressive for a full game, and Hudson did it playing less than a half.

“My O-line and my receivers did a good job,” Hudson said. “And the running backs opened up a lot of stuff for us. I had a lot of time. I just dropped back, and looked at all my options.”

Hudson was strictly a passer in Thursday’s game, and that will change once the regular season begins.

Hudson is a dynamic runner, as he showed in the spring game when he ripped off a couple of long touchdown runs against Newnan.

Since it was a preseason game, head coach Tanner Glisson wanted to limit the contact on Hudson.

“That was by design,” Glisson said. “We didn’t want him running around, and we didn’t want him taking hits.

“When he can be two-dimensional, he can be really tough. So people have got to decide do they want to stop him running, or stop him throwing. The good thing for us, we’re pretty talented on the edges. We’ve got people who can make plays.”

One of those play-makers is senior wide receiver Jamari Thrash, who was on the receiving end of two long Hudson completions.

On back-to-back scoring possessions, Hudson had receptions of 75 and 51 yards.

Another one of Troup’s big-play receivers, Mark-Anthony Dixon, had a 12-yard touchdown catch, and Trea Mitchell had a scoring catch from Schweizer in the second half.

Troup also got it done on the ground, with Trey Williams scoring on runs of 12 and 11 yards in the first half.

Troup was dominant on defense as well, with Northside not even coming close to the end zone during the game.

On special teams, Helsyn Martinez made four extra points, and that’s important as well since Troup is having to replace a talented kicker in Carson Wreyford.

“I thought we answered the question tonight about the kicking game,” Glisson said. “I thought Martinez did a good job of putting the ball where we wanted to put it.”

On Troup’s opening possession, Hudson completed passes to Thrash and Joko Willis on an 80-yard drive that was capped by a 12-yard scoring run by Williams.

When the Tigers got the ball back, Hudson dropped the ball into the arms of Thrash about 40 yards down the field, and that turned into a 75-yard completion.

Two plays later, Hudson threw a screen pass to Dixon, who took it into the end zone for a 12-yard touchdown.

On the Tigers’ third possession, Hudson found Thrash for a 51-yard completion, and that set up an 11-yard touchdown run by Williams.

Late in the first half, Schweizer was tackled in the end zone for a safety, giving Northside it’s only points in the game.

In the third quarter, Schweizer hooked up with Mitchell for a touchdown pass of about 35 yards.

In the final minute of the third quarter, freshman Cory Clark scored on a 2-yard touchdown run.

That score was set up by a long completion from Tyson Duncan to Corey Trammell.

Late in the game, freshman Kullum Irvin put an exclamation point on the victory when he delivered a big hit and forced a fumble.

Troup will open the regular season on Aug. 24 with a showdown at Ridgeland.

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