Georgia Southern University Athletics

Bryan Ellis serves as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Georgia Southern Eagles, a position he assumed starting for the 2022 season. Ellis came to Statesboro after working with a record-setting offense at Western Kentucky the previous three seasons.

In 2023, the Eagles were once again a high-flying offense as they finished in the top 30 nationally in completion percentage and passing offense. Davis Brin set a new school record for completion percentage in a season and Khaleb Hood left Statesboro owning just about every record in the book for a receiver.

The 2022 season was a record-breaking one for Ellis as he transformed the Eagle offense into an aerial threat. Georgia Southern broke just about every passing record under all-conference quarterback Kyle Vantreese, who finished the year with 4,253 passing yards and 27 touchdowns. Three receivers had over 700 yards apiece and the ground game churned out 23 touchdowns. 

Prior to his new role at Georgia Southern, Ellis returned to WKU for his second stint with the Hilltoppers and served as the co-offensive coordinator and inside receivers coach for a Hilltopper team that put up record numbers in 2021 en route to a Conference USA championship game appearance and a win over App State in the Boca Raton Bowl. 

In 2021, WKU ranked second in FBS with 44.2 points per game, and was second in total offense at 535.3 yards per game. WKU led the nation with 433.7 passing yards per game, 41.1 yards above the next-best passing attack (Virginia, 392.6) and had 92 passing plays of 20-plus yards with 24 of those going for touchdowns. Under Ellis’s tutelage, 10 different Hilltoppers had a touchdown reception and 13 different players caught at least four passes. 

Ellis tutored wide receiver Jerreth Sterns who was named a semifinalist for the 2021 Biletnikoff Award and an All-American by The Athletic. He finished the season with 150 receptions for 1,902 yards and 17 touchdowns (all FBS-leading numbers) and declared for the NFL Draft. Sterns’ His 150 catches were 45 more than the No. 2 receiver in the nation while also being nine away from setting a new single-season FBS record.

Ellis was offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach during the 2020 and 2019 seasons. In 2020, graduate transfer quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome started 10 games for the Hilltoppers and set the program’s all-time record with 279 consecutive pass attempts without an interception, surpassing Brandon Doughty’s mark of 176 that spanned across the 2013-14 seasons. In 2019, Ellis helped the Hilltoppers improve their offensive production from the year prior in almost every category. WKU increased their points per game by 4.3 points and scored eight more touchdowns than in 2018. The Hilltoppers passing offense upped their totals to 259.3 yards per game and 20 touchdowns while completing 67% of their passes.

In 2018, Ellis was the quarterbacks coach at USC under current Eagle head coach Clay Helton where he was tasked with developing the successor to Sam Darnold, the No. 3 overall draft pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. During the 2018 season, Ellis navigated the development of true freshman JT Daniels, just the second true freshman to start a season opener for the Trojans in program history. Not only was Daniels a true freshman, he also reclassified and joined the program a year early. All Daniels did in his debut was post the top passing yardage performance by a Trojan in his playing debut with 282 yards on 21-of-35 passing. Under Ellis’ direction, Daniels became the first USC true freshman to throw for 300-plus yards since Matt Barkley in 2009.

Prior to his bump to a full-time role with the Trojans, Ellis assisted Helton in the quarterbacks’ room where the duo worked together with Darnold during the 2017 campaign. That season, Darnold set school record marks for passing yards (4,143, the first 4,000-yard passer in school history) and total offense (4,225 yards, the first Trojan over 4,000 yards) as well as most 200-yard (13) and 300-yard (8) passing games.

Ellis previously coached wide receivers (2016) and running backs (2015) during his first tour of duty with the Hilltoppers. Ellis came to WKU as an offensive quality control assistant in 2014 where he assisted in developing the quarterbacks.

Ellis’ previous work on The Hill was vast and varied as he worked with three different position groups on the offensive side of the ball, culminating with stepping into the offensive coordinator’s role for the 2016 Boca Raton Bowl. With Ellis calling the shots, the Hilltoppers piled up 598 yards of total offense including a WKU bowl record 262 rushing yards and 51 points. Ellis’ fake-kneel down call resulted in national attention on the program, and the play was mimicked by the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI. All-American offensive tackle Forrest Lamp also scored his one and only touchdown while on The Hill as Ellis dialed up a lateral pass to the lineman for the catch-and-run score.

In his wide receiver room that season, Ellis’ two primary pupils, Taywan Taylor and Nicholas Norris, capped their incredible careers as the then-Nos. 1 and No. 2 wideouts in school history. The duo joined a pair from Louisiana Tech as the nation’s only pair to eclipse 1,300 receiving yards on the season, and WKU’s offense was the first in FBS history to have a 4,000-yard receiver, a 4,000-yard rusher, and a 3,000-yard receiver on the same roster.

Taylor’s 2016 campaign, which preceded his selection in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft as the second-highest pick in school history, resulted in school record marks for receptions (98), receiving yards (1,730), and receiving touchdowns (17) as he extended he school career record marks in every major category including: receptions (253), receiving yards (4,234), and touchdowns (41). Norris, to his credit, finished his career second behind only Taylor in those same categories as 194 receptions for 3,091 yards and 26 touchdowns.

In his first year as a full-time assistant in 2015, Ellis inherited a bevy of talented, experienced running backs, including a senior leader in Leon Allen who had rushed for over 1,500 yards the previous season. Three games in, however, Ellis was charged with replacing Allen who suffered a season-ending knee injury. WKU’s running backs responded by producing a sixth-straight 1,000-yard rusher in Anthony Wales and an All-Freshman running back in D’Andre Ferby, the league’s top one-two combo in the back field.

Ellis came to The Hill in 2014 to serve as an offensive quality control coach, where he assisted Helton, then the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, with the development of the Hilltopper signal callers. That year was the beginning of WKU’s transition into one of the nation’s top passing offenses as quarterback Brandon Doughty led the FBS in passing yards (4,830) and touchdowns (49) in what was then his senior year.

Ellis enjoyed a stellar prep and collegiate career as a quarterback at UAB where he spent the 2013 season in a similar capacity for the Blazers.

In 2010, Ellis had nine starts at quarterback for the Blazers with 2,940 passing yards and 25 touchdowns in 11 total games. After his playing career was done, Ellis transitioned to a graduate assistant coaching role working with the quarterbacks for two seasons.

A Byron, Georgia, native, he had an outstanding prep career at Peach County High and was tabbed the Atlanta Journal-Constitution AAA State Offensive Player of the Year. He passed for more than 3,600 and threw 31 touchdowns as a senior, leading his Trojans’ squad to a 14-1 record and Class AAA State Championship. 

Ellis is married to the former Janie Cox, and the couple has a daughter, Zoey, and a son, Cade.

THE ELLIS FILE
Personal
Hometown: Byron, Ga.
Born: Sept. 13, 1988
College: UAB (2011)
Family: wife, Janie; daughter, Zoey; son, Cade

Playing Experience
UAB (2007-11)

Coaching Experience
2022-: Georgia Southern (offensive coordinator/quarterbacks)
2021: Western Kentucky (co-offensive coordinator/inside receivers)
2019-20: Western Kentucky (offensive coordinator/quarterbacks)
2018: USC (quarterbacks)
2017: USC (offensive assistant)
2016: Western Kentucky (passing game coordinator/wide receivers)
2015: Western Kentucky (running backs)
2014: Western Kentucky (offensive quality control)
2012-13: UAB (G.A.)

College Bowl/Postseason Experience
2023: Myrtle Beach (GS vs. Ohio)
2022: Camellia (GS vs. Buffalo)
2021: Boca Raton (WKU vs. App State) * 
2020: LendingTree (WKU vs. Georgia State)
2019: First Responder (WKU vs. W. Michigan)
2017: Cotton (USC vs. Ohio State) 
2016: Boca Raton (WKU vs. Memphis) 
2015: Miami Beach (WKU vs. South Florida)
2014: Bahamas (WKU vs. Central Michigan)

* - departed school before bowl game

Prominent Pupils
Sam Darnold (QB) - Carolina Panthers
Brandon Doughty (QB) - Miami Dolphins
Forrest Lamp (OL) - New Orleans Saints
Jerreth Sterns (WR) - Los Angeles Rams
Taywan Taylor (WR) - Cleveland Browns