STATESBORO - Georgia Southern head football coach Chad Lunsford has announced the hiring of Lamar Owens, who has joined the Eagle football program after spending 11 seasons at Georgia Tech, nine as the Yellow Jackets' A-backs coach. Owens added special teams coordinator to his responsibilities in 2016 and was tabbed as the program's recruiting coordinator in 2017.

"I'm thankful for the opportunity to join Coach Lunsford's staff and be a part of the winning tradition here at Georgia Southern," Owens said. "Being from Savannah and having coached in the state for over a decade, I am honored to contribute to the rich tradition of Georgia Southern football and I'm excited to get to work as we continue to build on the foundation that has been already put down."

In making the announcement, Lunsford also announced that offensive coordinator Bob DeBesse, who coached the wide receivers in 2018, will now coach the quarterbacks and that Owens replaces Juston Wood, who coached the quarterbacks in 2018, on the staff. Wood's contract was not renewed following the season.

"I'm very excited to bring someone the caliber of Lamar Owens to our football program," Lunsford said. "Lamar was an option quarterback at Navy and spent 11 years at Georgia Tech as a coach in an option offense so he will bring a lot of value to the overall offensive scheme. I also like how he builds relationships with players and cares for the men he coaches. Lamar brings a lot of energy and charisma and I know he will be very good for this program."

Under Owens' tutelage, Georgia Tech's three A-backs in 2018 — junior Nathan Cottrell and seniors Clinton Lynch and Qua Searcy — combined to total 4,473 yards from scrimmage (2,841 rushing, 1,632 receiving) on just 430 touches (364 rushes, 66 receptions) over the past four seasons, good for a gaudy 10.4 yards per touch.

Lynch and Searcy developed into two of the most prolific slot backs of head coach Paul Johnson's 11-year tenure at Georgia Tech. Lynch, who became the 47th student-athlete in school history to rush for 1,000 yards in his career, led Georgia Tech in both yards per reception (30.6) and yards per rush (11.2) as a sophomore in 2016.

In 2014, Owens' senior-laden A-backs group of B.J. Bostic, Deon Hill, Charles Perkins and Tony Zenon combined for more than 2,100 yards and 14 touchdowns, en route to the ACC Coastal Division title and a FedEx Orange Bowl victory.

Owens' most notable pupils at Georgia Tech also include Robert Godhigh and Orwin Smith. Godhigh led the Yellow Jackets in touchdown receptions in 2012 and 2013 and became the only player in Tech history with 100 rushing yards and 100 receiving yards in the same game when he totaled 126 yards on the ground and 105 yards through the air against Clemson on Nov. 14, 2012. Smith set an ACC record with a career average of 9.3 yards per rush from 2009-12 (Godhigh's 9.1-yard career average ranks second in ACC history among rushers with at least 1,000 career yards).

Owens also coached Embry Peeples and Roddy Jones — a pair of 1,000-yard career rushers — for their final two seasons at Tech (2010 and 2011).

The Yellow Jackets' special teams also enjoyed success under Owens, who began overseeing the units in 2016. In his first season at the helm of Tech's special teams, the Jackets led the ACC in field-goal percentage (.882) and PAT percentage (1.000) behind place kicker Harrison Butker, who was picked by the Carolina Panthers in the seventh round of the 2017 NFL Draft. In 2017, true freshman Pressley Harvin III was named a freshman all-American and third-team all-conference honoree after leading all NCAA Division I FBS true freshmen and ranking 16th overall nationally in punting with a 44.1-yard average. In 2018, Harvin was named second-team All-ACC honors after averaging 41.3 yards per punt with 14 downed inside the 20 and 10 punts of 50 yards or more.

Additionally, the Jackets returned four kickoffs for touchdowns over a three-year span after not scoring on a kickoff return in any of the three campaigns that preceded Owens taking over as special teams coordinator.

Owens came to The Flats in 2008 and served two seasons as a staff assistant before moving into his role as an assistant coach. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics from Maryland in 2008 after completing his football playing career as a quarterback at the U.S. Naval Academy under head coach Paul Johnson.

In 2005, Owens directed a Navy offense that averaged 34.2 points and an NCAA Division I-A-best 319.3 rushing yards per game. He racked up 2,109 yards of total offense (1,229 passing, 880 rushing — both team highs) and accounted for 17 touchdowns (11 rushing, six passing) en route to being named to the ECAC all-East team. Behind Owens, who broke four school records for total offense, passing yards per attempt and passing yards per completion, the Midshipmen went 8-4 in 2005, won the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy and beat Colorado State, 51-30, in the Poinsettia Bowl. The triumph over CSU gave Navy consecutive bowl wins for the first time in program history.

In 2018, Owens was invited to participate in the American Football Coaches Association's 35 Under 35 Coaches' Leadership Institute and the National Football League's prestigious Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship. As part of the Walsh Fellowship, he was immersed with the San Francisco 49ers' coaching staff for two weeks during offseason training activities and mandatory minicamp.

A native of Savannah, Owens is married to the former Lindsey Vincent and they have a daughter, Lennox. He holds a Lean Six Sigma black belt and has used the techniques and tools for process improvement asserted by Six Sigma doctrine to analyze and improve recruiting processes.