The Georgia Southern Eagle football team is now less than two weeks away from kicking off the 2021 season. This past weekend the Eagles held their final scrimmage of the preseason and coach Chad Lunsford had put that as the timetable to decide on who will start the Eagles opener against Garnder Webb.

“I am really happy with how Cam Ransom and Sam Kenerson are progressing,” said Lunsford. “Amare Jones is jumping in there and doing some wildcat stuff for us. I’m not ready to name a starter publicly but I do have a pretty decent idea right now.”

Justin Tomlin will sit out the first two games, but still got a large number of reps with the first unit. Ransom and Jones both took some snaps with the first unit as well as the second while Kenerson worked primarily with the second team.

“I feel our offense lends itself well to all of their strengths,” said Lunsford. “If we feel one throws the ball better than another, we have the passing game in. If we feel one runs better than the other, we definitely have the quarterback run game like our offense and I feel like the guys we have here fit what we do.”

Lunsford did say whoever they decide on at quarterback will begin to get the majority of snaps with the first unit over the next two weeks.

"We will increase the reps with the person who will be starting for us,” said Lunsford. “Don’t be shocked if we are playing two quarterbacks. I feel they can have packages designed for them and can make plays for us. Obviously, we have start honing in and making sure the ones that are going to start for us are getting the reps.”

Lunsford revealed after practice that the Eagles will be without the services of super-senior linebacker Todd Bradely-Glenn for the season with a torn bicep and addressed the fact that running back J.D. King had his knee wrapped and was on crutches Saturday.

“We are being a little bit cautious with J.D. coming off of knee surgery,” said Lunsford. “He has done a great job of rehabbing from his torn ACL and has been cleared to go, but as you progress a guy sometimes you have some nicks and bruises that can happen. He is fine there is no issues we are just being precautious with him.”

“Losing Todd Bradely-Glenn is a huge blow for us at the linebacker spot, but more importantly it’s a huge blow for us because what an awesome leader he was on the field,” said Lunsford. “Todd is still planning on being a leader for us off the field. He has been kind of snakebit with injuries since he’s been here, but he is a mentally tough dude and I know he is still going to add value to us. I hate it for him, and I love him, and I know he will have a very important role on this team.”

Lunsford also discussed the Eagles vaccination rates in regard to COVID-19. He said the team met with a few different doctors including Dr. Emilio Carranco from the Sun Belt Conference.

“When you look at our three-deep depth chart on offense we are at about 89 percent vaccinated,” said Lunsford. “On defense we are about 77 percent vaccinated and I believe special teams are about 72 percent. Our entire team three-deep is about 82 percent so I think we are in good shape, and I feel we are doing a great job educating our guys. Until you sit down and discuss with a guy why they did or didn’t get vaccinated it’s hard to judge someone.”

As for the days leading up to the season opener Lunsford said things will start progressing pretty quickly to getting ready for Gardner Webb.

“We will have a personnel meeting and start determining roles for everybody on the team,” said Lunsford. “We will meet with our guys on Monday and let them know their role on the team and then we will start progressing to more game planning and split into scout teams. We will start putting in our game plan and start working on different opponents on the year and Gardner Webb.”

The Eagles open the season Sept. 4 at home against Garnder Webb. The game is scheduled for a 6:00 start.