Georgia Southern has rolled up some impressive offensive numbers this season, and they are testament to an offensive line that has had more ups and downs than a pogo stick.
    ”We’re a work in progress,” said Brent Davis who is the Eagles’ offensive line coach as well as offensive coordinator.
    Head Coach Jeff Monken likens Davis’ charges to an aging furnace.
    “We’re holding them together with duct tape and baling wire,” Monken said.
    Nine different players have started on the offensive line for No. 1 ranked Georgia Southern this season. The Eagles have used a different starting combination in each of their eight games.
    Who will trot on the field at 2 p.m. on Saturday when Georgia Southern meets Appalachian State at Paulson Stadium is anyone’s guess.
    The only certainty is that the starter at right tackle — barring any misfortune this week — will be Garrett Frye.
    Frye, a 6-foot-4, 258-pound sophomore from Cumming has been the one constant on the Eagle line. He has started all eight games as he somehow has managed to escape the injury bug which has hit everyone else at some point. 
    Blake DeBartola, the only senior among the top nine, is the most versatile of the group. DeBartola has started six games —  two at left tackle, two at left guard, and two at center.
    The only other player with as many as six starts is sophomore Manrey Saint-Amour, and all of his have been at center.
    Dorian Byrd has five starts at left tackle, Raymond Klugey has a start at left tackle, Zach Lomas two at left guard, Darien Foreman one at left guard, Logan Daves six at right guard, and Trevor McBurnett four, two at left guard and two at right guard.
    Saint-Amour’s stint in the Eagles’ 39-31 triple overtime win at Chattanooga last Saturday was a short one. He left with an injury after four plays, and was replaced by DeBartola who had started at left tackle.
    “Blake did a great job for us,” Davis said. “He had not practiced a snap at center all week. He did not play a perfect game, but he hung in there, and he knew his assignments.”
    Saint-Amour will be back for the Mountaineer game, Davis said.
    The Eagles (7-1, 6-1) will be gunning for their second straight Southern Conference championship and seventh consecutive win when they meet the Mountaineers (6-3, 4-2) who are fighting to keep their FCS playoff hopes alive.
    This will be the third straight year one of the two teams has entered the game ranked No. 1 in either the FCS Coaches Poll or The Sports Network poll.
    Georgia Southern is ranked first by the coaches, second by the media while App State is ranked 14th by the coaches, and 15th by the media.
    Two years ago the Eagles beat then No. 1 Appalachian, 21-17 in overtime, to jumpstart a season ending three-game win streak which propelled them into a playoff run which ended with a semifinal loss at Delaware.
Last year Georgia Southern had held the top spot for six weeks before losing to ASU in Boone, N.C.
    “We’re all going to try and get healthy for App State,” Frye said. “This is one of those games that if you get injured you don’t hurt. You just run on fumes.If we win this one we win the conference and will have home field advantage (in the playoffs). That’s big because we’re hard to beat in Paulson.”
    The fact the lineup has looked differently each week is not the problem some would think it is, Frye said.
    “We switch around in practice and play with different people so we can be ready for anything that comes up,” Frye said. “Playing with different people is not that big of a deal. The way we practice we don’t miss a beat.”
    Frye is typical of many of the offensive linemen Davis and the Eagles have recruited over the years.
    Lightly recruited out of South Forsythe high school Frye weighed 215 pounds when he came to Georgia Southern. He believes he can put on an additional 20-30 pounds.
    “His dad is a big man,” Davis said. “He played college football, and his mother is 6-2 and she was a college athlete (volleyball) at Eastern Kentucky. He’s got the frame to get bigger.”
    The Eagles got Frye on the cheap. He was a “book scholarship” meaning he signed for books only. At the FCS level scholarships     can be split many ways.
    “He’s getting more now,” Davis said. “He’s a very bright and sharp kid. He’s filling out, and gaining more confidence. He’s hard on himself, sometimes to a fault. He’s played a lot of snaps in several games. He’s come out and played well, and he’s getting better.”