Ever since bringing Georgia Southern graduate Brandon Bailey from Buffalo to be the Eagle’s defensive coordinator coach Clay Helton has praised Bailey’s coaching ability to get stops on third down, and create turnovers. Saturday Bailey lived up to the hype as the Eagle defense pitched a shutout in helping defeat the Citadel 34-0.

The win was the 21st shutout in Paulson Stadium history and only the second in a season opener. The Eagle defense held The Citadel to 2-12 on third down conversions and created a big turnover on the Bulldogs only trip inside the red-zone.

“I would say the best way to describe coach Bailey’s defense is aggressive,” said senior linebacker Khadry Jackson. “We had two weeks to prepare for The Citadel and I feel like we did a great job sticking to our assignments and being aggressive out there. We got one takeaway, but I feel like that is an area in which we need to get even better because turnovers change the outcome of a game.”

“I thought the defense played a great game and they got the game ball,” Helton said. “The defense got off the field, and that is what creates separation which ended up being a five-score separation.”

In his first start as an Eagle, quarterback Davis Brin completed 23 of 36 passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. Brin and Helton both see room for improvement but were pleased with Saturday’s effort.

“You could tell he was a vet out there today,” Helton said. “You could see his juices were amped up on the first drive, but he calmed down quickly. I thought he really settled in nicely. I think there were a couple of throws in the second half he would like to have back, but I thought he managed the offense very well and played a very mature game.”

“I have been ready and waiting for this atmosphere and I thought it was great,” Brin said. “I was a little juiced coming out, but I really had fun using some of those weapons we have out there. I thought we executed very well tonight but I think we had some penalties we need to work on to get even better.”

While it was the first game at Paulson for Brin, it was the first time being able to get on the field since the Marshall game last year for senior running back Jalen White. White showed no signs of rust as he led the team with 125 yards and one touchdown.

“It was a great feeling just to be back at Paulson Stadium hearing our fans cheer,” White said. “We had a gameplan that if they came out in a certain look, we were going to run the ball more. Last year I felt like I started off slow in our season opener, and I feel like more is expected of me, so coming in for our season opener I really wanted to have a big game.”

Helton said he felt like offensive coordinator Bryan Ellis used much of his playbook Saturday, but admitted once they got rolling and saw what The Citadel was doing, he may have held a few things back for UAB next week. Helton said Saturday was a great early season win because they had success on the scoreboard, but still have things they need to correct at practice this week.

“There is a lot to coach off of, which is awesome,” Helton said. “It is the perfect scenario as you get a five-score victory and you get to coach them really hard tomorrow. We only put 10 points up in the second half and shot ourselves in the foot with two turnovers. Nine penalties hurt and most were hands penalties that we need to correct.”

Next up the Eagles host UAB Saturday at 6:00.