The Georgia Southern Eagles took another step in the right direction last season as they went from six wins to eight wins, but still fell short of their goals of winning a conference title or a bowl game. 

Wednesday morning, the Eagles were able to take their first step toward reaching their 2025 goals as they started fall camp at the Tippins family training facility.

“Practice one is great and you can see the passion and energy from our guys,” head coach Clay Helton said. “We know we only get 25 of these before starting the season, so we have to make the most of it. With the new rosters, it’s different to have only 105 compared to when we had 130 before the new rules. We are going to have to play a lot of guys this year, which means getting in a lot of reps.”

Helton said falling short of their goals has left the team with a chip on their shoulder, which he feels will serve them well this season.

 “They know they are close to where they want to be, which is a championship,” Helton said. You have a lot of third- and fourth-year and even fifth-year guys and there is a sense of urgency. We were 6-2 in conference last year and we feel like we were only one play away from playing in that championship game. We let a game slip away and I think that helps these guys to not feel comfortable and that will pay off this season.”

The players were equally excited to be back together on the field and agreed with Helton that they have a chip on their shoulder with one goal of being Sun Belt champions this year.

“We know we didn’t reach our goals last year,” said defensive back Chance Gamble. “We felt like we got so close but just didn’t reach it last year. This year we are just trying to go back and look and see what may have gone wrong and find a way to fix them to make sure this year it doesn’t happen again.”

Among the revelations at the first practice Helton said his son Turner is currently the No. 2 quarterback behind JC French with sophomore Tyler Budge at No. 3. He also said that 6-3, 255-pound quarterback Weston Bryan, who is a true freshman, may be used this year inside the 10-yard line and in goal line situations.

“If we had to play today, I think Turner would be the two,” Helton said. “What we have seen is how much his knowledge of the system is having run this at Western Kentucky as well. He does a good job directing the offense and getting us in and out of plays. Tyler is right there behind him though and you see them switching in and out with the twos. We also like what we have seen from Weston Bryan and Charlie Johnson, as well.”

Eagles mourn passing of Nick Scull

At the start of the press conference Helton addressed the sad passing of Nick Scull who had served as Associate Athletics Director for Facilities and Events at Georgia Southern since 2013.

“Nick has been an unbelievable servant to our athletic program,” Helton said. Our thoughts are with Melissa and his family in a really tough time. Nick has not only been a great soldier for this athletic program but he was also a great man of character and he will be sadly missed.”