STATESBORO - Two-time Sun Belt Conference Student-Athlete of the Year Ryan Aplin has been hired as the tight ends and inside receivers coach and the passing game coordinator for the Georgia Southern football program as announced Tuesday by head coach Clay Helton.

"We are pleased to welcome Ryan Aplin to Eagle Nation," Helton said. "Ryan is known in the profession as a relentless recruiter and an incredible coach who knows how to develop talent. With his experience in the SEC and having led as a coordinator, he brings a wealth of knowledge to our football program. He also knows the Sun Belt Conference intimately, having played and coached at Arkansas State. His entire playing and coaching career has been in the southeast, and he has extremely strong relationships in our recruiting footprint. Ryan will be a major asset to our football staff."

At Arkansas State, where he led the Red Wolves to conference titles in 2011 and 2012 as a player, he coached the running backs in 2021. Before returning to his alma mater, he was the co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach at Western Kentucky.

Following his playing career at A-State, Aplin made coaching stops at Auburn (2014-15), North Alabama (2016, 2018-19), UT Chattanooga (2018-19), WKU (2020) and Arkansas State (2021). Aplin's lone season with the Hilltoppers saw him help lead the program to an appearance in the LendingTree Bowl while serving as co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach with new Eagle offensive coordinator Bryan Ellis.
 
Prior to WKU, Aplin was North Alabama's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2018 and 2019. UNA averaged 285 passing yards per game in his final season as the team eclipsed the 3,000-yard mark over the 11-game season. Quarterback Christian Lopez targeted many different options, with four different wide receivers posting at least 25 receptions, 550 yards and two touchdowns.
 
North Alabama assembled a 7-3 record in the program's first season, competing at the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level in 2018, the first year of Aplin's second stint with the program. The Lions mastered four fourth-quarter come-from-behind wins, while the team set a school record with the fewest turnovers in a season in school history with just nine. Lopez also set an individual school record by throwing 253 consecutive passes without an interception.
 
Aplin was previously North Alabama's wide receivers coach in 2016, then took a position as the wide receivers coach at Tennessee-Chattanooga in 2017. The Lions' 2016 campaign saw them compile an 11-2 record, claim the Gulf South Conference and Super Region 2 championships and advance to the NCAA Division II National Championship game.
 
Prior to his first stop at UNA, Aplin served as a graduate assistant coach at Auburn for two years from 2014-15 while earning a master's degree in adult education. He spent the 2013 season as a football administrative assistant at Ole Miss.
 
A Tampa, Florida, native, Aplin was twice named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year in 2011 and 2012 when the Red Wolves won back-to-back league titles. His senior season, the three-time first-team all-conference player was also MVP of the GoDaddy Bowl. The former quarterback still holds the school records for total career offense (12,514 yards), completions (906) and passing yards (10,758), while his 67 touchdown passes stand as the second most.
 
Aplin earned his bachelor's degree in exercise science from Arkansas State University in 2012.

He is married to the former Victoria Price of Fleming Island, Florida, and they have two sons, Maverick and Hawkins, and a daughter, Naomi.