The Georgia Southern Eagles last took the football field nearly two weeks ago for another come from behind victory, knocking off South Alabama on the road in Mobile, 34-30.
The bye week wasn’t exactly inconsequential though as they lost, and added an athletics director, and lost the quarterback responsible for both the South Alabama comeback, and the comeback victory a few weeks ago against Marshall.
Dexter Williams decided the bye week was the time to leave the Eagle football team. Williams was in a battle preseason with J.C. French and David Dallas for the starting quarterback position. In his brief moments replacing French, Williams has shined, leading the Eagles to two of their six wins. French has played well enough in coach Clay Helton’s eyes to remain the starter prompting Williams to leave. Helton wished Williams well, but didn’t hide his disappointment for a player leaving the team in the middle of a season.
“Every man has a decision to make and Dex made his decision himself,” Helton said. “I will support him all the way through it. He came to us and we talked about it for a few days, but he was firm with his decision. I have always believed in finishing what you started and put the team over yourself because at the end of the day, when you look back after years, you always have the brotherhood."
Williams' departure, along with Dallas and reserve quarterback Colton Fitzgerald both being injured, leaves a once deep quarterback room very thin. True freshman quarterback Tyler Budge, who has played in only one game, is now the No. 2 quarterback, while fellow freshman Trey Townsend is elevated to No. 3 and Dalen Cobb is the emergency quarterback.
Helton said he has full confidence in Budge’s ability and pointed out he came into the season as the fastest quarterback on the roster.
“Tyler has really grown throughout the season,” Helton said. “He has prepared as if he were a starter and we have put him in service situations where he getting live reps against our defense. We did the same thing with Sam Darnold when I was at USC when he was a freshman. We have a lot of faith in him.”
This week, the Eagles return home for the first time in nearly a month, hosting Troy Saturday at 4 p.m. The Trojans are 2-7 and 1-4 in Sun Belt play, but are coming off an impressive 38-24 win over Coastal Carolina, in which they ran for 342 yards and had two running backs go over 100 yards rushing.
The Trojans were led last Saturday by Damien Taylor who ran for 190 yards on 28 carries and had one touchdown. The other back to go over 100 yards was former Eagle running back Gerald Green who had 123 yards on 19 carries and one score.
Green was part of a “thunder and lightning” backfield with Jalen White in Helton’s first season where he was the second leading rusher with 480 yards and six touchdowns. Green transferred to East Carolina where he played sparingly in seven games before entering the transfer portal again and ending up at Troy where he has 479 yards and three touchdowns. His former backfield mate has stayed in touch with him over the past couple years and is excited to see him Saturday.
“I’m so happy for Gerald,” Helton added. “I got to know him in year one here and I’m a huge fan of his. He went to east Carolina and I am so glad he finally found a home at Troy where he is putting up really good numbers.”
Helton feels the Trojans have found an identity recently with their running game and knows the defense has to do their best to slow them down. With Troy trying to eat up the clock Helton also knows offensive plays may be a bit limited.
“I feel like this game will be a lot like preparing for South Alabama,” Helton said. “They do a great job of mixing up defensive fronts. We can’t make a critical error because this is a ball-controlled offense who can get you from 14 drives in a game down to 10. We have to do the most of making the most of our opportunities offensively because we may not get that many opportunities.”
Helton is aware the Eagles have been in this position before, being 6-3 with three games to go, and things didn’t go very well. However, he believes they have learned from the past and are trying to stay focused on the present.
“You get to this phase of a season, and sometimes you start looking two or three games down the road to what can be,” Helton said. “You need to focus on the task at hand so you don’t get lost.”
Georgia Southern and Troy are scheduled for a 4 p.m. kickoff at Paulson Stadium. The game will air on ESPN+.
