It was a day Bryson Broadway will never forget and for good reason.

Broadway, along with his Georgia Southern teammates, was waiting to board a bus taking them to the airport for a flight to Ball State when word came for him to go to Coach Clay Helton’s office.

At the time the 6-foot-5, 295-pound Broadway was languishing in the NCAA’s transfer purgatory as a result of Georgia Southern being the second school to which he had transferred.

Broadway had started his college football career at FCS Eastern Illinois University, transferred to Georgia State where he started 11 games last year — he missed the Coastal Carolina game due to a concussion — and then transferred to Georgia Southern last January.

Eligibility was a question mark, however, as the NCAA had made a revision to its transfer rules a year ago stating every two-time transfer would have to sit out a year. A waiver application could be made and that appeal would be evaluated case-by-case.

Two-timers, the NCAA had determined, would have to present evidence of physical or mental illness or “exigent circumstances that clearly necessitate a student athlete’s immediate departure.”

Georgia Southern and Broadway had filed an appeal with the NCAA, but they were informed in April his appeal had been denied and thus he would have to sit out a year before becoming eligible.

With assistant director for NCAA compliance Jessica Pope leading the way the Eagles filed an appeal to that ruling and the NCAA, not known for having either common sense or compassion, finally came through and granted Broadway his eligibility.

Georgia Southern got the news just before it was to depart for Ball State and It was Helton’s pleasure to inform Broadway the NCAA had approved his eligibility and that he would not only be going to Ball State, but would also be playing against the Cardinals.

“It was a very surreal, very emotional moment when I got the news,” Broadway said. “I walked back out there to get on the bus and everybody was shouting and giving me high fives.

“I walked in Coach Helton’s office and I was crying, Miss Jessica (Pope) was crying, Miss Angela (Helton’s wife) was crying, he (Helton) was crying. It was very hard to hold back the tears.

“I tried to keep it in a little bit but how exciting it was, it was too much. It was nerve-wracking. I missed three games; prior to that I had missed only two games and that was due to injury, so missing those three games was hard.”

The ruling, Helton said, was the right thing to do on the NCAA’s part.

“We’re thankful to the NCAA for allowing us to go through the process to hear his story,” Helton said. “You know the right thing isn’t always easy but we’re grateful Bryson has been given the opportunity to play this season and deservedly so.

“It was an especially special moment in telling him and with Jessica Pope who has done a ton of the work on that waiver. There was not a dry eye…we were all bawling just knowing what that kid had gone through and to see him have the chance to play the game he loves and to see where he is in life right now.”

While Georgia Southern is his third school, Broadway is by no means one of those athletes going through life looking for the next good deal.

At Eastern Illinois his freshman season was limited to five games in the spring of 2021 when the 2020 fall schedule was cancelled due to COVID. That fall he started 11 games at EIU before transferring to Georgia State in order to be closer to home.

While he had immediate success at Georgia State the fit for the self-described “country boy from Dawsonville” wasn’t good.

“Hey, the people at Georgia State were great,” Broadway said. “I love those people, I have some good friends there but for my mental health I had to get out of Atlanta. I did not enjoy living in downtown Atlanta.

“I didn’t know I was coming here until I got in the portal,” Broadway said. “I had six FBS offers and I looked at all those schools and when I looked here it was the right place for me.”

The selling points, Broadway said, were that he was still in Georgia, his family could get to the games easily, Statesboro was much like his home town and “this place gives me a better chance with my mental health.”

Leaving Georgia State, was strictly a personal decision.

“It was not a lack of playing time or opportunity,” Broadway said. “It’s a matter of being happy.”

Because Broadway never redshirted and because of the extra year granted due to COVID, he has one more year of eligibility remaining after this season.