Throughout preseason football camp, GSEagles.com will take you on a behind-the-scenes look at different aspects of the football program that go beyond the practice field. In today's first installment, they check in with the graduate assistants.

Every well-oiled machine has something special that makes it run, Eagle football graduate assistants handle a lot of the grunt work to help things run smoothly throughout the season. Though they are just starting out their coaching careers while also taking classes, nothing would run the same without them. Graduate assistants Jake Brandon, Dimitri Donald, Phill Guard and Darius Jones Jr. put in numerous hours during camp and throughout the season, doing all the small things behind the scenes to assist the staff and players.

Guard is in his second year with the Eagles and work with the offensive line and Coach Ron Hudson. Guard came to Statesboro from St. Lawrence University and won a national champion as a player with Mount Union. Jones Jr. is a familiar name to Eagle Nation as he was a standout defensive back for GS recently. He returns to Statesboro and works with the defensive backs and Coach Scot Sloan and Cory Peoples. Donald and Brandon are the other two newbies this year. Donald played wide receiver at West Texas State and works with the wide receivers and Coach Bob DeBesse while Brandon went to school at Appalachian State and works with the outside linebackers and Coach Jeremy Rowell.

A typical day in the life of the GA staff starts with a morning staff meeting, followed by assisting the coaches in player position meetings. They'll also do breakfast and class checks, plus anything else their coaches ask them to do. They have some down time between sessions that they usually fill with breaking down film and preparing schedules for practices.

"Graduate assistants are a huge part of our program at Georgia Southern," said head coach Chad Lunsford. "They are guys who really have to live the life and grind of a coach, but also perform as students in the classroom. These guys at Georgia Southern are invaluable because of their work ethic and desire to become full-time coaches. We are excited that these four men exemplify the characteristics of the GS Man and prove to be awesome examples to our players, but also to other young coaches who want to be college football coaches."

Brandon, Donald, Guard and Jones Jr all have extended roles on the coaching staff. The four spend time in their own positions and also work with scout teams throughout practice. After practice the GAs will grab food and begin preparing for the evening meetings. If there is extra work to be done or things they didn't have a chance to get to during the day, it could be a long night for the guys. 

During the season, days are a little different for the group. Their down time in the middle of the day is filled with class work, with each one of them dreads. After trudging through their class work for the day, they return to their office to begin the rest of planning for the evening practice. You can see them on game day performing various tasks either up in the booth or on the field, whatever it takes to give the Eagles a legal advantage.

Since most of their free time throughout the day is filled with work and class, the long days and occasional late nights rarely include any down time in the GA office.  For Jones Jr., he enjoys being back where he made his name on the field. Although they all have taken different routes to become the GAs here at Georgia Southern, they are all happy to be working toward their common goal and continuously working with the players and coaching staff to make Georgia Southern football the best it can be.