Archie Manning spoke with the Eagle football team Tuesday afternoon.
Photo by: Frank Fortune - Georgia Southern Athletics
Gridiron Great Archie Manning Visits With Georgia Southern Football Team
3/24/2015 7:34:00 PM | Football
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STATESBORO, Ga. – College Football Hall of Famer and 15-year NFL veteran Archie Manning spent some time with the Georgia Southern football team at the Ted Smith Family Football Center Tuesday afternoon.
Manning spoke to members of the Eagle team and coaching staff for about 40 minutes, sharing stories from his career as well as his famous football sons, Peyton and Eli. He is on campus as part of the University's Leadership Lecture Series, developed to expose students to insights from world-class leaders, and spoke to the campus community, including a number of Georgia Southern student-athletes, Tuesday night in Hanner Fieldhouse.
Manning, who resides in New Orleans where he spent his first 10 NFL seasons, told the football team he was very familiar with the Sun Belt Conference and their success last season and expects to see them in the New Orleans Bowl this coming season. He opened his talk by telling the Eagles to enjoy every aspect of playing college football and said he consistently reminds his sons to have fun.
"If I could give you one message to hold onto today, just from an old beat-up football player, enjoy the journey," he said. " There's some really good stuff there – coaches, teammates, guys that you play with now who hopefully will be your best friends as you go through the rest of your life. Enjoy the journey – and it's not just Saturday afternoons – it's in that weight room, spring practice, the class work, the meetings, watching film, the camaraderie with the players and the relationships with the coaches."
He talked about leadership, noting the difference in leadership styles with Peyton and Eli, and said that if you have to tell people you are a leader, you probably are not one.
"There are all different kinds of ways to lead, and you can't be phony," he said. "You can be a good leader no matter what type of personality you have because everybody is different. A lot of leadership is just by your actions day-to-day, the way you handle yourself."
Manning took questions from the Eagles before finishing his talk with two points – be coachable and be a great teammate.
"One thing you want to accomplish while you're here is be coachable and the other thing is at the end of the day, you want to be able to look yourself in the mirror and say, 'I was a good teammate,'" Manning said.
As an active member in his community, Manning participates in the Louisiana Special Olympics, the New Orleans Area Boy Scouts Council, the Salvation Army, United Way Speakers Bureau, Allstate Sugar Bowl Committee, New Orleans Sports foundations and serves on the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Board of Directors.
Manning joins a distinguished list of leaders to appear at Georgia Southern's Leadership Lecture Series, which includes former first lady Laura Bush, former President Jimmy Carter and first lady Rosalynn Carter, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and political consultants James Carville and Mary Matalin.
Spring Practice
The Georgia Southern football team will begin preparations to defend its Sun Belt Conference title Wednesday on the banks of Beautiful Eagle Creek in the first of 15 spring practice sessions.
Practices are slated for each Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday for the next three weeks leading up to the Blue & White Spring Game April 18, at 1 p.m. in Paulson Stadium.
Spring Practice Schedule
Wednesday, March 25
Friday, March 27
Saturday, March 28
Monday, March 30
Wednesday, April 1
Friday, April 3
Saturday, April 4
Monday, April 6
Wednesday, April 8
Friday, April 10
Saturday, April 11
Monday, April 13
Wednesday, April 15
Friday, April 17
Saturday, April 18 – Spring Game
2015 Schedule
Georgia Southern will face two Power Five conference teams, four teams that played in bowl games a year ago and will host six home games in Paulson Stadium in 2015. The Eagles have also been selected to play two games on nationally-televised ESPNU Thursday night broadcasts.
All home games and all Sun Belt Conference games will once again air on the ESPN platform.
Season tickets are on sale and can be purchased by visiting GSEagles.com/tickets or calling 1-800-GSU-WINS.
Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA. Eagle fans can follow Coach Willie Fritz's twitter account @CoachWEFritz.
STATESBORO, Ga. – College Football Hall of Famer and 15-year NFL veteran Archie Manning spent some time with the Georgia Southern football team at the Ted Smith Family Football Center Tuesday afternoon.
Manning spoke to members of the Eagle team and coaching staff for about 40 minutes, sharing stories from his career as well as his famous football sons, Peyton and Eli. He is on campus as part of the University's Leadership Lecture Series, developed to expose students to insights from world-class leaders, and spoke to the campus community, including a number of Georgia Southern student-athletes, Tuesday night in Hanner Fieldhouse.
Manning, who resides in New Orleans where he spent his first 10 NFL seasons, told the football team he was very familiar with the Sun Belt Conference and their success last season and expects to see them in the New Orleans Bowl this coming season. He opened his talk by telling the Eagles to enjoy every aspect of playing college football and said he consistently reminds his sons to have fun.
"If I could give you one message to hold onto today, just from an old beat-up football player, enjoy the journey," he said. " There's some really good stuff there – coaches, teammates, guys that you play with now who hopefully will be your best friends as you go through the rest of your life. Enjoy the journey – and it's not just Saturday afternoons – it's in that weight room, spring practice, the class work, the meetings, watching film, the camaraderie with the players and the relationships with the coaches."
He talked about leadership, noting the difference in leadership styles with Peyton and Eli, and said that if you have to tell people you are a leader, you probably are not one.
"There are all different kinds of ways to lead, and you can't be phony," he said. "You can be a good leader no matter what type of personality you have because everybody is different. A lot of leadership is just by your actions day-to-day, the way you handle yourself."
Manning took questions from the Eagles before finishing his talk with two points – be coachable and be a great teammate.
"One thing you want to accomplish while you're here is be coachable and the other thing is at the end of the day, you want to be able to look yourself in the mirror and say, 'I was a good teammate,'" Manning said.
As an active member in his community, Manning participates in the Louisiana Special Olympics, the New Orleans Area Boy Scouts Council, the Salvation Army, United Way Speakers Bureau, Allstate Sugar Bowl Committee, New Orleans Sports foundations and serves on the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Board of Directors.
Manning joins a distinguished list of leaders to appear at Georgia Southern's Leadership Lecture Series, which includes former first lady Laura Bush, former President Jimmy Carter and first lady Rosalynn Carter, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and political consultants James Carville and Mary Matalin.
Spring Practice
The Georgia Southern football team will begin preparations to defend its Sun Belt Conference title Wednesday on the banks of Beautiful Eagle Creek in the first of 15 spring practice sessions.
Practices are slated for each Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday for the next three weeks leading up to the Blue & White Spring Game April 18, at 1 p.m. in Paulson Stadium.
Spring Practice Schedule
Wednesday, March 25
Friday, March 27
Saturday, March 28
Monday, March 30
Wednesday, April 1
Friday, April 3
Saturday, April 4
Monday, April 6
Wednesday, April 8
Friday, April 10
Saturday, April 11
Monday, April 13
Wednesday, April 15
Friday, April 17
Saturday, April 18 – Spring Game
2015 Schedule
Georgia Southern will face two Power Five conference teams, four teams that played in bowl games a year ago and will host six home games in Paulson Stadium in 2015. The Eagles have also been selected to play two games on nationally-televised ESPNU Thursday night broadcasts.
All home games and all Sun Belt Conference games will once again air on the ESPN platform.
Season tickets are on sale and can be purchased by visiting GSEagles.com/tickets or calling 1-800-GSU-WINS.
Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA. Eagle fans can follow Coach Willie Fritz's twitter account @CoachWEFritz.
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