STATESBORO - While the team has been on campus working out most of the summer, the official start to the 2025 Georgia Southern football season was signified Wednesday morning as the squad took the field at the Anthony P. Tippins Family Training Facility for the start of preseason camp. On a day when the real-feel temperatures are expected to reach close to 110 degrees, the players, staff and practice-goers were appreciative of the covered practice facility.
The team went through a spirited two-hour practice in helmets and jerseys after starting the day with an early breakfast, a team meeting and a brief walk-through. The rest of the day consisted of lunch, a lift, a team meeting, practice review, Day 1 of photo days, dinner, installation meetings and finally a snack before breaking for the evening. The team will repeat this schedule for the next three days before having Sunday off.
A few notes from the day and the start of camp:
• The official start-of-camp roster was released last week and it features 115 players. The NCAA allows 105 players now after the House settlement was passed, but players can be grandfathered in, either by their current school or a past school. That accounts for the Eagles' larger number and that number could grow with the
Edwin Jackson Memorial Walk-On Tryouts in August.
• Now in his fourth season as the head coach of the Eagles,
Clay Helton finally has his general behind center back as
JC French IV returns for his second year as the starter. The first three seasons featured Kyle Vantrease, Davis Brin and French IV, but now Helton gets his signal caller back. French IV is one of just seven (of 14) starting quarterbacks in the Sun Belt who return to their team this year and is coming off a solid first year as the starter in Statesboro where he won eight games, led the Eagles to a bowl game and completed a school-record 65.6 percent of his passes (269-410) for 2,831 yards and 17 touchdowns last year. He also ran 117 times for 239 yards and two scores. The Roswell, Georgia, product started his career at Memphis, where he redshirted in 2022 before transferring to Georgia Southern in 2023. He was a preseason second-team All-SBC selection by Phil Steele this year. French IV dropped over 8% body fat this offseason and entered fall camp down to 12% after changing his diet and workout regimen. He also lost nearly 15 pounds as well.
• Several new faces to the Georgia Southern squad took advantage of the NCAA's transfer rule to come play in Statesboro. Since the end of last season, Georgia Southern added 17 transfers from NCAA schools (in addition to two JUCO players) to its roster, bringing talent and experience to the team. Of those 17 transfers from NCAA schools, 10 have previous experience Power Four programs. The Eagles' 17 first-year transfers with FBS or FCS experience came into the season with a combined 233 games played and 107 starts in their careers.
• Georgia Southern is one of four current FBS teams (there are 136 this year) that have never had a 1,000-yard receiver in a season. Khaleb Hood set the Georgia Southern school record in 2023, but came up just short of the milestone and finished with 948 yards. The other three schools that have never had a 1,000-yard receiver are Kennesaw State, Army, and Navy. With a strong receiving corps that features such stars as
Josh Dallas,
Camden Brown,
Marcus Sanders Jr. and
Dalen Cobb, it'll be interesting to see if someone can finally crack that elusive mark.
• Thirteen Eagles are playing this season as college graduates. Graduating from Georgia Southern, in alphabetical order:
Chris Crouch,
Jacob Ferguson,
Chance Gamble,
Davon Hicks,
Jeremiah Holmes,
Jackson Wheeler,
Caelan Williams,
Pichon Wimbley. Also playing as graduates of other universities are:
Chance Carroll (North Carolina),
Kyle Frazier (Savannah State),
Ahmon Green (Georgia State),
Brendan Harrington (App State) and
Ethan Pouncey (Florida).
• Head coach
Clay Helton put together a young, but experienced, staff upon his arrival to Statesboro. Heading into the first game of this year, the average age of the six full-time offensive coaches is 32.7 years while the average age of the four full-time defensive coaches is 32.5. With special teams coordinator
Blake Wilson 30 years old, the average age of the 11 full-time assistant coaches is just 32.4 years old. Offensive coordinator
Ryan Aplin turned 35 in May and defensive coordinator
Brandon Bailey has been the youngest defensive coordinator in the FBS for the three previous seasons and is still just 31 years old. The duo is the youngest coordinator duo in the FBS.
• Numerous coaches and staff members have deep roots to Statesboro as graduates of Georgia Southern. From the coaching staff, defensive coordinator
Brandon Bailey, wide receivers coach
BJ Johnson, cornerbacks coach
Darius Safford, assistant special teams coach
Anthony Beck II, offensive assistant
Khalil Crowder and assistant defensive line coach
Dillon Springer all went to Southern with the latter five playing for the Blue and White. Additionally, staff members
Adrian Peterson,
Andrew Bevill,
Elease Ryals and Matt Wise also graduated from Georgia Southern with Peterson and Wise playing for the Eagles.
• The 2025 season marks the first time since 2019 that Georgia Southern returns the same head coach (
Clay Helton), offensive coordinator (
Ryan Aplin), defensive coordinator (
Brandon Bailey) and director of football strength & conditioning (
James Heiss) that it started with the season before. According to FootballScoop, only 56 of the 136 Football Bowl Subdivision schools return these four staff members (41 percent). Of those 56 teams, 38—including Georgia Southern—are entering just their second season with each Core Four members in place. Additionally, this marks the first time since 2020 that Georgia Southern's offensive line coach (
Zach Lankford) returned. Since 2020, Georgia Southern has had five different O-Line coaches in the past six seasons.
• Here's a breakdown of the classifications:
Seventh-Year Seniors (1); Sixth-Year Seniors (7); Redshirt Seniors (11); Seniors (7); Redshirt Juniors (15); Juniors (5); Redshirt Sophomores (18); Sophomores (1); Redshirt Freshmen (27); Freshmen (24)
• Here's a breakdown of home states:
Georgia (69); Florida (14); North Carolina (7); Alabama (6); South Carolina (5); Kentucky (2); Missouri (2); New Jersey (2); Alaska (1); California (1); Hawaii (1); Louisiana (1); Mississippi (1); Tennessee (1); Australia (1); Ireland (1)
Below is the practice schedule for the remained of preseason camp for fans who wish to attend.
Georgia Southern Preseason Football Camp Schedule
Date (Time, Location)
Georgia Southern Preseason Football Schedule
Date (Time, Location)
Thurs., July 31: 3:30 p.m. (Tippins)
Fri., Aug. 1: 3:30 p.m. (Allen E. Paulson Stadium/Evans Family Field)
Sat., Aug. 2: 3:30 p.m. (Paulson)
Sun., Aug. 3: Off
Mon., Aug. 4: 10 a.m. (Tippins)
Tues., Aug. 5: 3:45 p.m. (Beautiful Eagle Creek)
Wed., Aug. 6: 3:30 p.m. (Tippins)
Thurs., Aug. 7: 3:30 p.m. (Tippins)
Fri., Aug. 8: Off
Sat., Aug. 9: 7 p.m. (Paulson) - SCRIMMAGE #1
Sun., Aug. 10: Off
Mon., Aug. 11: 10 a.m. (Tippins)
Tue., Aug. 12: 10:15 a.m. (Eagle Creek)
The Fan Fest and Lil' Eagles Clinic will take place on Aug. 9 around the first scrimmage, from 7-9 p.m. The second scrimmage will be on Saturday, Aug. 16.
While these announced practices are open to the public and media, we ask you help us keep a competitive advantage by not posting videos and detailed information (including injuries) from practice on social media.
