When J.C. French exited the game with his team trailing Marshall 23-3, even the most ardent Georgia Southern fan had to have doubts about how the rest of the game would play out.
Dexter Williams II transferred into Georgia Southern as the apparent QB1 heir, only to be beaten out by French in fall camp. But when his number was called, Williams was everything the "next man up" is supposed to be, leading a comeback that produced a 24-23 victory that few saw coming midway through the final quarter of play.
Now enters James Madison (5-1, 2-1) for a game that will produce a front-runner for first-place in the East Division this Saturday at 4 p.m. at Paulson Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPN+.
Saturday's date with James Madison looms large, but it's still hard to shake off the excitement and importance of the Eagles who stepped up and gave the season a shot in the arm with the comeback win over Marshall.
Watson-Trent was named the Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts. He forced two fumbles that led to two touchdowns and had 10 tackles including 1.5 for a loss. He now has 300 career tackles, moving him into fifth-place on the GS all-time list.
In the closing quarter Georgia Southern outgained Marshall 167 yards to 1 while forcing and recovering two fumbles that led to two touchdowns. The final blow came with a flourish — a 34-yard pass from Williams to Derwin Burgess, Jr. with only a minute left on the clock.
Punter Alex Smith also contributed heavily to the win as four of his punts were downed inside the Thundering Herd 10-yard line, including one at the 1-yard line that set up a safety which cut the deficit to 23-5 and kick-started the comeback.
In the meantime, fans may be asking just who is Dexter “Dex” Williams II?
Williams is from Macon where he played at Mount deSales Academy for former Eagles assistant coach Keith Hatcher. He is a redshirt senior who transferred to GS from Indiana where he graduated last year.
As a sophomore at Indiana, Williams started two games before suffering a season ending knee injury. His starts came against Michigan State and Purdue, the game in which he was injured. He was redshirted for the 2023 season.
Williams is a perfect example of what coaches constantly preach to backups: be prepared because you never know when your number is going to be called.
In Williams’ case, preparation met opportunity and preparation won.
“We always prepare both guys and that’s at all positions,” Helton said. “Sixty percent of the plays (in practice) go to the first team and 40 percent go to the second team because you know you’re going to have injuries.
“I think you have to credit Dex because he uses those reps to prepare like a starter,” Helton said. “You have a quarterback in JC who is playing at a high level and all of a sudden, he gets dinged.
“He’s been evaluated and it’s your time to go out there and you know he (Williams) did a tremendous job. That’s what the second team guy at all positions is supposed to do: lift their team up, especially the quarterback position and he did.”
French went down with what was feared to be a concussion with 8:50 to play and what Williams did in his short stint was remarkable: he completed 10 of 14 passes for 135 yards and a touchdown, rushed four times for 13 yards and a score while hitting Burgess for the game winner.
As to French’s status Helton said Monday, he had spent two days being evaluated by the medical staff and going through protocol and he had been cleared for practice this week.
“We’ll continue to monitor and hopefully there’s be no regression for JC and we’ll see where we are,” Helton said. “We don’t hit our quarterbacks in practice. We take ultimate precautions (with injuries).”
