Football | 8/21/2017 3:38:00 PM
STATESBORO, Ga. – Georgia Southern head football coach
Tyson Summers and his staff have seen enough in the battle for the starting quarterback position, as Summers on Monday tabbed
Shai Werts to be the starter for the Eagles' season opener at No. 12/13 Auburn on Sept. 2.
"I think Shai certainly came in and took the majority amount of snaps with the ones both in spring practice and in camp and I thought he did a great job," Summers said of the quarterback decision. "I think that you see him have a very clear understanding of what we want do on offense. I think you see him have a very clear understanding of what he's got to work on to get better at and I think that he's done a tremendous job from a leadership standpoint on the field and in the classroom and in the meeting room. He's certainly one of the key leaders for our entire football team, not just in the quarterback room and not just the offense, so I'm very proud of Shai."
Summers cited several reasons as to why Werts won a three-way battle between junior-college transfer
Kado Brown and junior
LaBaron Anthony. In short, Werts had been the most consistent of the three, both in spring practices and in the first four weeks of preseason practices this August.
"We're certainly not in an offensive scheme where we're throwing the ball 75-80 percent of the time, but I think he's got an opportunity with everything that we have in our game plan and what all we have in our menu from a throw game standpoint," Summers said. "I think he's got the accuracy to give us the chance to make explosive plays and I certainly think from a timing standpoint, understanding the offense and the route tree that gives us a chance to make some of the quick throws as well."
Werts, a 5-foot-11, 190-pound redshirt freshman from Clinton, South Carolina, will be the first freshman quarterback to start a season opener since Charles Bostick in 1991 (also against Auburn). Werts dressed for several games last year, but wound up taking a redshirt year, as the senior duo of
Kevin Ellison and
Favian Upshaw served as the two primary quarterbacks.
"Shai is a kid that wants to be a good football player, he wants to win," offensive coordinator
Bryan Cook said. "He is the first guy, you know, you get done with practice and it's a race to see who can get to the film first to see what happened on a particular play and that's what you want from a quarterback. You want a guy who is a student to the game, you know, he leaves notes around from when he's watching film and so that's good to see. He's diligent. He tries to take advantage of every rep. I think he will get better every day that we play, with every rep that he gets and he's young now, he's got a bright future ahead of himself, but I'm anxious to see what he can do."
Werts was the 2015 HSSR-SCHSL Division I AA Offensive Player of the Year in the state of South Carolina and was named to The State's All-Midlands football team as an honorable mention selection. He was ranked as the No. 37 dual threat quarterback in the country by 247Sports and played in the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas. Werts had more than 6,000 total yards and 73 touchdowns in his career.
He found out about being elevated to starter when his phone starting giving him alerts of congratulations from friends and family, shorting before he met with media members.
"All the work I've been putting in, it's finally paid off," Werts said. "I called my mom and she just went crazy so I'm glad that she's proud of me and I can't wait to tell the rest of my family."
The Eagles and Tigers will kick off the season in prime time on Sept. 2 on the SEC Network, getting started at 7:30 p.m. (ET)/6:30 p.m. (CT).
