Troy football: Arnold loses locks, but gains starting job

[Harry]

TROY — Jimmie Arnold made a strategic decision after his Troy teammates/roommates had teased him and Troy co-eds had ignored him.

The offensive lineman had gone two years without cutting his hair, long enough that it drooped down past his shoulders, regularly dripped into his sink and adversely affected his social life.

After grayshirting with the Trojans in 2008 and redshirting in 2009, Arnold made a break from his past in 2010. Out came the scissors.

“I just needed a change,” Arnold said. “Not many girls liked it, so I had to go with the clean-boy look.”

His follicles no longer get noticed on the field, but Arnold is making up for it with his play.

An injury put him in the starting lineup last weekend against Mississippi State. Now, he’s fully entrenched at right guard when the

Trojans (1-2) play at North Texas (1-2) on Saturday.

“He’s finally getting his time and he’s showing it,” center Kyle Wilborn said.

Wilborn was quite familiar with hippie Arnold. They roomed together for a couple of years, long enough for Wilborn to judge Arnold as messy, but “not too bad.”

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