MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The Georgia Southern Eagles kicked off their bowl week with a day of travel, meetings and some gift suite shopping at the Camellia Bowl.
After meetings and walk-thru, the Eagles' entire travel party of well over 300 left a frigid Statesboro at 11:45 a.m. on six charter buses for the five-hour trip to Montgomery. The travel party descended upon Buc-ee's in Fort Valley to stretch their legs and load up on snacks for the back-half of the trek. A lot of brisket sandiwches, jerkey and Beaver Nuggets were purchased to say the least!
Upon arrival, the team was greeted by members of the staff who went ahead to have everything set up at the hotel to get them checked into the Embassy Suites.
Head coach
Clay Helton walked next door to the Union Station Train Depot for a welcome press conference with Buffalo head coach Maurice Linguist while the team had a meeting to go over everything for the week. A member of the Montgomery police department briefed the team on the best places to go - and not to go - in downtown Montgomery, along with other useful items. It was a quick meeting, but the players got the point.
After a quick meal for the players, the team then lined up for what's one of the biggest perks of a bowl game: the gear. The players already received a bunch of adidas and bowl swag over the past two weeks but got even more on Friday evening. Each player and coach received points to pick out one big gift or several smaller ones based on how many points they wanted to use. The players took a long time to pick out their items with some even calling home to find out what friends and family might want for Christmas.
While the players were picking out their gifts, the staff and families had an ESPN party on the Harriott II riverboat which included music and food.
The players have their latest curfew of the week tonight, so Coach Helton is trusting his players to be smart in this town and reminded them it's a business trip.
On Saturday, the wives and kids will go to the Montgomery Zoo and the players will go to the Rosa Parks Museum and have a bowling outing in the evening after an afternoon practice at the Cramton Bowl.
The Camellia Bowl will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 27 at 11 a.m. (CT)/Noon (ET) on ESPN. Tickets are still available through
GSEagles.com/Bowl.
Gallery: (12-23-2022) 2022 Camellia Bowl - Day One
