STATESBORO - The 2024 preseason football camp is underway and GSEagles.com is catching up with each of the 10 position coaches early in August to get their take on their position room. Up next is offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Ryan Aplin.

Q: Who were some guys that stood out on the field this spring, then turned around and attacked the off-season?
RA: They all made pretty big strides from where they entered the spring. They're all young from an on-field perspective, and they all impressed me, but I was really impressed with Tyler Budge as a true freshman. For a kid who was supposed to be in high school, getting ready for prom and finishing his senior year to come in and make some of the strides he's made as a young guy was really impressive. He showed a lot of maturity at a young age. The ability to pick the offense up fairly quickly was impressive. The one thing that probably impressed me the most with the group was their ability to interact with each other in practice. I was impressed with the high level of communication when they came off the field regarding what they were seeing and looking for. A guy would make a mistake, and somebody else would tell him, "Hey man, this is what I'm seeing." So, to hear that and see that off to the side as a coach is really cool because it tells you those guys are functioning at a really high level.

Q: Now, let's go into the quarterback battle. You had 15 practices in the spring, and now you're early on in the 25 preseason practices. What are you looking for as the coordinator and quarterbacks coach to help you make that decision, and what timeframe are you comfortable with?
RA: That's a tough question to answer, but it has a lot to do with timing. For me, it comes down to how those guys go into camp and produce. Can they keep us on track? Can they keep us ahead of chains and not force issues? And the big one is taking care of the football. So, to answer your second question, it could happen early. Somebody may separate themselves from the jump. It may present itself early in camp or after the first or second scrimmage, or it may be a deal that drags on until you get to the first game. I don't know how it'll play out, to be honest with you. I've been in a couple of battles, and I've had one settled pretty quickly. I've had another that's gone the entire length of the spring and summer and then getting into fall camp. We're going to see which guys lean on the tools that they've been given up to this point, but also who can take care of the football, who can put us in the right situation as an offense and continue to get to playmakers of the football and make the right decisions. That's the position that guides you down the field. We want to be an attacking offense, but we also have to limit turnovers. The quarterback has to take care of the football; you have to give our guys a chance, and we have to find ways to get the guys who are extremely explosive to the ball and let them do something with it.

Q: Let's talk about the six guys in the room this preseason. Can you go through each guy alphabetically and give us a unique trait that each one brings to the quarterback room?
RA: With Tyler Budge, his ability to retain information as a young kid is impressive. Sometimes, a young guy can get overwhelmed with the game's speed, the volume of an offense, and installation. People think it's just plays, but it's also formations and motions. It's also the run game. It's coverages. It's identification. It's fronts. It's linebacker alignment. So I think Tyler's ability to retain information from the film room, process it, and go out and do it has been really impressive for a young player. There will be a little bit of a learning curve, but I think his ability to process information and transition from the film room to practice has been really impressive. I think it's really hard at a young age to do that and then have a little success. 

David Dallas, gosh, where to begin? There's a lot. I think the one thing is, I think his personality is contagious. When he walks in there, he's just got a way about himself. He always has a smile on his face. He's a very consistent person. I don't think there's ever been a day in the three years I've been here that I've seen David Dallas have a bad day, and I think that's really hard to do in today's world. And so I think his overall consistency is something that's really impressive to me, not just as a player but as a person. He's always picking guys up; he's always hugging people; he's always dapping people up. He's always stopping by the office. And so I think the consistency, not only on the field but as a person in the quarterback room, and being able to come in with that type of mindset, is really impressive. 

The one thing I love about Colton FitzGerald is that he has the ability to interact with his teammates. He's got a pretty good knowledge of all the guys on the team. He does a really good job. He's got a pretty good feel of just getting around the guys and making sure people are loved up. But also, I think he does a good job, especially with the young kids, of helping coach them up, too. I always see him talk to a young guy if they throw or run a route where something's not right, or he'll explain it from a very basic standpoint, where everybody understands it. I think that has to come with knowledge. I think he's the old guy in the room in terms of years between him and Dexter, and so just some of the ability to connect with all the kids at a high level and then the kind of respect they gave for him has been pretty impressive to me over the past couple months.

JC French is never too high, and he is never too low. You don't ever really see a moment get to JC. He's a very even-keel person. His ability to take hard coaching, not flinch, and continue to play has impressed me. He looks at you, says, "Yes, sir," and he moves on. He plays the next play, and that's how he approaches meetings. Since taking over the room, I have been impressed with his ability to come in and function the same way in meetings and practices. You're not getting two different people, which I think is impressive. And again, his ability to not get worked up in certain scenarios is impressive. It could be first and 10 or fourth and one with the game on the line; you don't see anything different. He's that same guy who is really tough at a young age. So I'm really impressed with that. Even when I'm getting onto him pretty hard, he doesn't flinch, which is pretty impressive. 

Trey Townsend has been here for a short amount of time. Trey is kind of very similar to Budge. His ability to retain information has been impressive as a young age. Trey has a lot of arm talent, and I've been impressed with how he handles himself at meetings. As a young guy, he's extremely mature for his age. Both he and Budge ask really high-level questions. Trey has done a really good job of functioning under a little bit of pressure. In that room, he'll probably answer questions for the older guys, but he is retaining what I had asked them earlier. He can spit that out, which is really hard when you sit in the meeting with a bunch of other guys, and you're probably not getting asked as many questions as some of them. So, being able to be locked into a meeting and into practice this early on makes it pretty impressive to be able to do it at a young age.

Dexter Williams II is obviously coming in as a new guy, but he does some things I haven't been around before, just in terms of natural ability. His ability to get the ball out of his hand as fluid as he does and kind of flick the football is one of the things that's been good to see. And then I think some of it is on top of just his natural ability; his work ethic is impressive. Even in spring, he would stay after practice, going through practice and working on a throwing mistake or a read to hammer that throw or that decision-making over and over and over again. Then he'd text me about it. His ability to try to correct that mistake and not let it happen is impressive. He's a guy who's been in college a little bit longer than most of the guys in that room, but his maturity level and his ability to go out there and command are fun to watch.

The most impressive thing for all of them as a collective group is being coachable. You have a bunch of guys in there that are not "me" guys. They're "we" guys. They do a really good job of being coachable and taking coaching points. And then, when there are questions, they ask. I think the best way to learn is to learn from your mistakes, ask that question, and not worry about what other people think. And so I think as a group, the ability to be on the same page, especially as a quarterback, is extremely important.

Q: Let's move to the offense as a whole. You had your first spring as the offensive, and we're into camp. What excites you about this offense?
RA: I think it's the whole group, honestly. We've got guys who have been in the program and this system for three years and understand the expectations of what we're trying to do and who we want to be. We're starting to develop a personality, and that's the exciting part is seeing some of those guys, even in spring ball when things may not have been going great, getting in the huddle and reiterating, "Hey man, this is not the standard. This is not what we're trying to do. We've had a slow start. Now it's time to pick it up." When you go from a coach-led team to a player-led team, that's when things get really exciting. And I think guys like Jalen White and Derwin Burgess Jr., Chandler Strong, Pichon Wimbley, Beau Johnson and Caleb Cook are some of those guys who have been in this program for a while. You see them interacting with these young guys just coming into the program and holding them accountable. If somebody's late, it is not the coaches having to handle it; it's the kids. When you start that transition, it normally leads to a little bit of success. We've got a group of guys excited to practice, and as a coach, that makes you excited to get out here, let those guys loose, and watch them succeed.

Q: I want to talk about technology. What are your thoughts on the coordinator-to-quarterback communication and also on the tablets on the sideline?
RA: The headset obviously is extremely unique. I've talked to a lot of people, including a couple of my buddies in the NFL and people who have used it this spring to try and find all the tricks of the trade. This new component is definitely beneficial for the offensive side of the ball to be able to relay and get the play in. I think it allows us to give the quarterbacks some mental cues that you would give them in a film room live in their ear. I think you've also got to build in your contingencies if something is to happen or it goes out. But I think just the ability to keep those guys calm and in the moment, remind them of what scenario we're in, and reiterate scenarios to them is crucial. I think sometimes you get lost in the moment, and things start happening fast. I believe this will allow them to play faster where they're not worried about getting all the information, relaying it, then lining back up, and remembering it. And so I think there is a lot of added bonus to that. And then with the tablets, I think it will allow us on the sideline with in-game adjustments confirming what we think we saw with the kids. And then I think it also allows us to figure out what the defense is doing to help us adapt and adjust. Now, it's not just based on memory or drawings on the board, but showing those guys in person what's happening.

Q:  Finally, what do you want to accomplish in the quarterback room this preseason to prepare for that opener against Boise State?
A: Well, the first thing is to continue to get a feel for who we are and what we want to do. As we press forward to Boise, we'll continue to develop in that area and then also hone in on who our playmakers are. Identifying young guys early in camp is going to be a big piece for us as an offensive staff to put ourselves in the best situation to get those playmakers the ball. For the quarterbacks, I need them to understand the big piece in terms of taking care of the ball, keeping us in manageable down and distances, and then understanding sometimes it's okay to punt and sometimes it's okay to throw the ball away. And so for those guys, it's giving our playmakers a chance to make plays, setting us up for success, and then finding a way to put the ball in the end zone and taking care of the football.

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