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NEW ORLEANS - With the start of preseason camp just over a week away, Georgia Southern head football coach Chad Lunsford, along with senior running back Wesley Fields and senior safety Joshua Moon represented the Eagles at the 2018 Sun Belt Media Day, held in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Monday.
The three went through the car wash of media interviews throughout the morning and into the afternoon and will head back to Statesboro Tuesday morning so the players can finish up off-season workouts, which culminate with the conditioning test on Wednesday before the team is released until report date. Moon and Fields took advantage of some down time after the event and got a workout in so they wouldn't let their teammates down Wednesday. The heat and humidity of The Big Easy will definitely get them ready for Wednesday's test.
For Lunsford, he did several radio interviews, an ESPN3 studio shot, Facebook Live with the GS Radio Network, the the National Football Foundation and talked several local television stations. The topics remained consistent with what's he's been asked since he was hired, including the new staff, the new NCAA rules, what it's like to be a head coach and how do they put behind a down 2017 to move forward this year, as well as about the two players who came with him.
Moon and Fields did many of the same interviews but also spent plenty of time in the student-athlete lounge, enjoying the fine cuisine and a few video games against others players.
Select Quotes From Media Day
Head Coach Chad Lunsford
First off, thank ya'll for having us today. We're very excited about this opportunity for Georgia Southern to be at the Sun Belt Media Day. The Sun Belt is a great conference and obviously with the direction it's going with the two divisions and having the championship game, this is a very exciting year and Georgia Southern is excited to be a part of it. Last year, Georgia Southern wasn't up to the standards and expectations we believe in here. I had the opportunity to take over halfway through the season and the players did a good job of finishing at the end of the season. I got the opportunity to be the head football coach and then had the opportunity to put a plan in place in January. Our guys have really bought in to what we are preaching and going through recruiting, spring ball and summer workouts, these guys are headed in the right direction and we're excited about the football season. I'm looking forward to seeing the product Georgia Southern puts on the field."
How has the offseason been with the new coaching staff?
It's been really good. When you take over as an interim in the middle of the season, the coaching staff is what it is. But when I had a chance to put together my coaching staff, we were very intentional in getting guys that fit Georgia Southern, fit the Georgia Southern culture and putting guys in place as a staff who would fit our current players. I was lucky in being able to get two coordinators in Bob DeBesse and Scot Sloan and I really feel like, as a whole, is a group who wants to see Georgia Southern football get back to what Georgia Southern football is.
What have you drawn from the previous head coaches at Georgia Southern you worked under?
One of my goals in life was to be a head football coach so everybody that I've worked under, I wanted to make sure I took something from them. Georgia Southern is a very unique place and having the ability to be under Coach Sewak and Coach Monken in terms of the under center options guys and seeing how that works and what goes into it to make it run. And then Coach Fritz and seeing us being able to run the option out of the gun. It was important to me to have those staples in place moving forward at Georgia Southern. And then with special teams and defense, it's about fanatical effort. That's something that we're not going to drop off from when you talk special teams and defense. We fanatical effort and guys playing hard.
Can you pinpoint the moment the switch flipped for the team late last year?
As an interim coach, there are things you want to implement, but you can't because you're right in the middle of the season. I was very intentional in trying to bring some positivity back because when you're 0-6, there isn't a lot of positivity in the building. I wanted to make sure that came back and we were having fun playing the game. We were also intentional in simplifying things so our guys could go out and play fast and hard. We didn't end the season with a win, but being able to get two of the last three was important moving forward. We'll continue doing a lot of the things we did late in the season, but now we'll put our stamp on things in terms of what our expectations are, what our standards are and going out and exceeding them. We can talk a lot about Xs and Os, but what it comes down to is the culture of your team, your team being bought in, your staff being bought and all of us moving in the same direction. I'm excited about seeing what this team is going to bring to the table this year. I think we put together a really good staff and I think our players really like this staff.
Camp begins on Aug. 3 as the Eagles prepare for their season opener on Sept. 1 at home against South Carolina State. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at GSEagles.com/Tickets.
