The Georgia Southern football team is coming off their best season under head coach Clay Helton, as they went 8-5 and were 6-2 in Sun Belt Conference play.
The Eagles will be looking to take the next step toward a Sun Belt title is 2025 and things begin next week with the start spring practice.
“I have always thought it is important to go back to ground zero and build the team like the first day you took it over,” Helton said at a press conference Wednesday. “We had a couple coaches leave for better opportunities and we are excited about having Ced Douglas come over from Utah State to take over as our defensive line coach.
"We are hoping to announce our linebacker coach by the end of the week. We have 17 newcomers on campus with 13 coming from the transfer portal and four high school players and are excited to see them on the field next week.”
Among the key losses for the Eagle as they enter the 2025 season is leading rusher Jalen White and receivers Derwin Burgess Jr. and L.V. Bunkley Shelton. Helton says he is confident with the talent in the running back room, but will be looking for players to step up at receiver where the Eagles do return some talent in Josh Dallas and Dalen Cobb.
“You think about what Derwin and L.V. brought to the table at the outside receiver position and that is a position we felt we needed to try and groom from within as well as bring people in from outside,” Helton said. “We bring in some guys with experience in Cam Brown Auburn), Dillon Gary West GA) and Brian Green (Florida). We also bring back Marcus Sanders and some others, but we really need to groom theses guys considering all the production we have lost.”
On the defensive side of the ball the Eagles lose their biggest leader in Marques Watson Trent, who was also the leading tackler as well as Davon Gilmore.
“Losing a guy like Marques Watson Trent is tough to replace as well as Davon,” Helton said. “We bring in Brendan Herrington from Appalachian State and Brandon Tyson from Elon as well as the guys we return and you have some important experience. We are also excited about some talented youth we have coming in to provide depth at that position.”
As far as what the Eagles return, Helton is happy to have some stability for the first time at quarterback as J.C. French returns after a season in which he threw for 2,831 yards and 17 touchdowns with 11 interceptions. French was also the Eagles third leading rusher with 239 yards and two touchdowns.
“We know how important that position is,” Helton said. “J.C. led us to eight wins and nearly brought us to the conference championship in his first year as a starter. In the off season you have seen his confidence grow. Last year he kind of had blinders on trying to just do his job but this year he is being much more vocal with the guys even in work outs. It is great to be going into the season with a guy who has some consistency and has been in the system for a couple years.”
The two areas Helton felt the strongest about are up front with the offensive and defensive lines.
“Big men win championships,” Helton said. “We have a lot of depth as well as experience on both the offensive and defensive lines. All five of our starting offensive linemen have played college football games and their backups have played as well. It is the same thing on the defensive front. Any time you can return a Latrell Bullard and Troy Pikes and Elhadj Fall you are talking about guys with a ton of experience and that goes to the edge rushers as well.”
The Eagles start spring drills Tuesday afternoon with the spring game set for April 5 at 1:30 p.m. Practices are open to the public.
