TWITTER: @Coach_Upshaw
Favian Upshaw, who was named MVP of the 2015 GoDaddy Bowl, joined the Georgia Southern football staff as the running backs coach in 2021. The former Georgia Southern quarterback joined an offensive staff led by Doug Ruse, who was his position coach and offensive coordinator his first two seasons in Statesboro.
Upshaw came back to Georgia Southern after two stops at two schools that did not play during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, he was named the quarterbacks coach at Benedict College and was in the wide receivers and A Backs coach at Savannah State in 2020. Prior to those two stops, he was a graduate assistant coach at Tulane University in 2018 and 2019 under former Eagle head coach Willie Fritz.
Upshaw served as Tulane’s on-field assistant coach for the quarterbacks during the 2018 Cure Bowl, a convincing win over Louisiana, and was apart of the first back-to-back bowl wins in school history. In 2019, Pro Football Focus ranked Tulane as the ninth-best rushing team in the country and the team finished season with a school record of 5,841 total yards. He served as the offensive assistant coach with a concentration on quarterbacks while assisting the coaching staff with daily operations including practice planning, film related activities, and coordinating individual, position and staff meetings.
Prior to Tulane, Upshaw was the co-offensive coordinator and a teacher at Astronaut High School in his native Titusville, Florida.
Upshaw is no stranger to the Georgia Southern program, racking up over 2,400 yards of total offense in four years as a co-starter at quarterback for Georgia Southern. His breakout year for the Eagles came in 2015 when he rushed for 583 yards and six touchdowns. In his senior year, he threw four touchdown passes despite being limited with injuries.
He was named the MVP of the 2015 GoDaddy Bowl, leading his team to a 58-27 victory over Bowling Green in the Eagles’ first bowl game in school history. He helped secure the championship with a career-high 199 rushing yards on 12 carries with four touchdowns. Both the yardage and touchdown totals still stand as school bowl records. Upshaw has been a part of three winning bowl teams, one as a player and two as a coach.
Upshaw graduated from Georgia Southern in 2016 with a degree in sport management and a minor in business administration and earned his Master’s degree in liberal arts from Tulane in 2020.
THE UPSHAW FILE
Personal
Hometown: Titusville, Fla.
Born: January 4, 1994 in Ocala, Fla.
College: Georgia Southern (2016); Tulane (2020)
Playing Experience
Georgia Southern (2013-16)
Coaching Experience
2021- Georgia Southern (running backs)
2020 Savannah State (quarterbacks)
2018-19 Tulane (G.A.)
2017 Titusville H.S. (co-offensive coordinator)
College Bowl/Postseason Experience
Player
2015 GoDaddy (GS vs. Bowling Green)
Coach
2018 Cure (Tulane vs. Louisiana)
2019 Armed Forces (Tulane vs. Southern Miss)
Prominent Pupils
Justin McMillan (QB): Tulane
