Players didn't have to adjust too much to the practice schedule time change since they were up that early for off-season conditioning. According to head coach Chris Hatcher, who normally held spring practices during the morning hours while at Valdosta State, players were looking forward to Monday.

“We just finished up our off-season conditioning program so they were excited about that number one, and then being able to come out here and play football will always get you a little fired up,” said Hatcher. “I've always gone in the mornings but last year I got in here so late and the schedules were already set as far as classes. You get to come out here and get it (practice) done early in the morning; you're not sitting around waiting all day. The guys have classes in the afternoon. Plus, when the weather gets nice like it is right now sometimes it's hard to focus during spring practice in the afternoons, so we go ahead and knock it out and free up their afternoons.”

The players were in shorts and helmets during the first day. Later this week the Eagles will start working out in shells then eventually full pads. Hatcher thought day one went well and the new players adjusted.

“I thought it went real well but, it's hard to tell because we have so many new guys. We have to go back and watch the film to see if we did some good things and some bad things out there, which I know we did,” stated the Eagles' second year head coach. “We are very eager and we hustled around the football field. On the first day you have so many new faces out there, they're learning where to go and the type of tempo we want to practice at. Tomorrow I expect us to be a lot sharper in our drill work strictly because of familiarity, everybody will know what's expected of them and they'll know where to go. As a first day I was really pleased.”

QUARTERBACK BATTLE STARTING TO TAKE SHAPE: The start time wasn't the only thing players had to adjust to. Monday was the first official practice without 2007 Walter Payton Award winner Jayson Foster at quarterback and the entire starting offensive line, key members of last year's graduating class. Hatcher said that is the nature of college football, players move on and new faces step in. The battle for the starting quarterback role will be one of the points of interest this spring. Three players return from last fall: sophomores Kyle Collins and Billy Lowe along with redshirt-freshman Lee Chapple. Two walk-ons also joined the team, redshirt-freshman Jordan Haggerty and junior Chris Burnette.

“We're going to rotate them around this week and whichever one steps up the quickest is going to be the guy that gets the majority of the reps. Right now we have a pretty good battle. They are all practicing hard; they (the returning quarterbacks) all pretty much know the offense so it will be interesting to see how that shapes up,” said Hatcher. “All the positions are open right now, that's the way we will do it. We need to find out who can do what because we have more than 30 new players that will be coming in during fall camp and we need to have a slot for those guys to come in. They are going to have to contribute right away whether we like it or not.”

CONTINUITY IN YEAR TWO: For the first time since spring practice 2005, Georgia Southern returns the same coaching staff as the previous fall. Hatcher thought the players certainly benefitted from not having to adjust to a new system during the off-season.

“The continuity has been great and the longer that we are together the better we will get. The players understood what we expected of them during the off-season program and they (the players last year) understand how we want to practice and how we coach. So we are way ahead of the game, more so than we were last year.”

JUNIORS DEPART EARLY: Not only did Georgia Southern graduate 21 seniors last fall, a few juniors left the program early. Defensive back Brandon Jackson is trying out for the NFL. Defensive lineman Jerry Barker, running backs Travis Clark and Sean Gray and defensive back Robert Roulhac are on track to graduate.

NO CONTACT: Several Eagles are recovering from off-season injuries and will not participate in contact drills this spring. Those include: Carson Hill, Ronnie Wiggins, Zeke Rozier, Chris Teal, Dio Herrera, Adrian Mora, Michael Veal, Justin Callaway, Josh Petkovich and Matt Wise.

BLUE-WHITE GAME TIME SET: The annual Blue-White game has been set for a 1 p.m. kickoff at Paulson Stadium on Saturday, April 12. More details on the day's events will follow.

SPRING PRACTICE SCHEDULE

(dates/times subject to change... all times at 8 a.m. unless otherwise noted)

Tuesday, March 11 (shorts)

Thursday, March 13 (shells)

Friday, March 14 (full pads)

Tuesday, March 25 (shells)

Thursday, March 27 (full)

Friday, March 28 (full, 2:30 p.m.)

Monday, March 31 (shells)

Tuesday, April 1 (full)

Thursday, April 3 (shells)

Friday, April 4 (full)

Tuesday, April 8 (full)

Thursday, April 10 (full)

Friday, April 11 (shorts)

Saturday, April 12... Blue-White Game at 1 p.m.