STATESBORO - Georgia Southern head men's golf coach Carter Collins announced Thursday the signing of Jake Maples to an NLI to play golf for the Eagles. The junior college transfer will be a junior when he joins the program in the fall.

Maples currently attends Central Alabama Community College in Alexander City, Alabama, and graduated from Union Grove High School, where he was twice nominated for the Henry County Athlete of the Year. He was a 2016 GHSGCA Senior All-Star participant, played at the Sunset Country Club in Moultrie, Georgia.

He is currently ranked the No. 8 player in the NJCAA by Golfstat with a 72.34 stroke average and made the 2017 NJCAA District 4 All-District Team as a freshman. He was also named the 2017 Central Alabama Community College Golf Player of the Year, a NJCAA Freshman All-American and was a member of the 2017 NJCAA Academic National Championship team.

He won both the 2017 and 2018 Ron Marshall Spring Fling at the Goose Pond Colony Golf Course and lost in a playoff at the 2018 Glen Lakes Invitational at Glen Lakes Golf Club.

"We are really excited to get Jake in this program," Collins said. "He has proven himself to be elite talent athletically and academically. Being ranked eighth in the country says a lot about his game and his progression. Jake embodies True Blue and will be a tremendous Eagle for our program and University."