Georgia Southern University head football coach Chris Hatcher and his staff have made final preparations for Wednesday when 90 players report to fall camp. Players are scheduled to report Wednesday afternoon with Friday as the first of 29 scheduled practices prior to the season opener on Saturday, Aug. 30, at the University of Georgia.

            Members of the program that are not part of the 90-man fall camp roster can begin drills following the first day of classes on Aug. 18.

            This fall's practice schedule begins Friday, and for the first three days half the Eagles will go in session one and the other half in session two. On Friday and Saturday times are 8-10 a.m. and 1-3 p.m. Sunday's scheduled times are 12-2 and 3:25-5:15 p.m. All sessions are tentatively scheduled to take place at the practice field complex and Herring Pavilion. Only media members are allowed to take pictures during any practice session.

            As he begins his second season at Georgia Southern, Hatcher and his staff are looking forward to the start of fall camp.

            "We are very optimistic, very excited. This is the time of year we look forward to more than any other point during the season. We are very optimistic about the team we have coming in," said Hatcher. "We have a lot of inexperience, a lot of unknowns and a lot of questions that hopefully will get answered in the next week or so of practice."

            As practice opens the Eagles will have numerous players seeing their first collegiate action.

            "We have so many new players, half our team is brand new to Georgia Southern. So we must go and find out what those guys do best, and finagle or tweak our schemes to put them in the best position to succeed each and every Saturday during the course of the season," stated Hatcher.

            Of the returning players, four were named First Team preseason All-Southern Conference, including three on defense. Senior defensive end Larry Beard (Fairburn/Sandy Creek), senior defensive back Chris Covington (Lawrenceville/Brookwood) and junior defensive back Carson Hill (Milledgeville/Baldwin County) earned preseason accolades, as did senior placekicker Jesse Hartley (Tallahassee, FL/Lincoln). Hartley and Covington earned Honorable Mention All-America honors last year.

            Hatcher announced that redshirt-freshman Jared Flowers will miss the 2008 season after failing to meet academic requirements. "Jared fell one hour short of meeting his academic requirements to gain eligibility. He will remain as a member of the team and can practice after August 18th (first day of classes) while he works to regain his eligibility for the 2009 campaign."

            Junior Ricky Ponton is no longer a member of the Georgia Southern team due to medical reasons. According to coach Hatcher, Ponton underwent surgery on his knee following spring practice and would not be ready for the 2008 season.

            Hatcher also announced that senior defensive end Dakota Walker (Mays Landing, N.J./Oakcrest) and junior defensive back Brandon Echols (Decatur/St. Pius) have been reinstated to the team.

            "I expect our players to 'Do Right'. I spelled out for both what they needed to do to regain status on the team, and they have done everything asked of them,” said Hatcher. “Both Dakota and Brandon will be eligible to rejoin their teammates at Eagle Creek."

            Coach Hatcher announced that sophomore quarterback Billy Lowe and defensive linemen Matt Wise (senior) and Jerome Pelham (junior) will be medical non-counters, which means they will remain on financial aid but not count against the 63 maximum scholarships allowed. Also, junior wide receiver Adam Rooks (Hoschton/Jefferson) and redshirt-freshman linebacker Brent Gordon (Fitzgerald/Fitzgerald) will miss the 2008 season. Both are recovering from a knee injury.

            Despite dealing with all the injuries, Hatcher was pleased to find out how well summer workouts went.

            "I think our participation was good, there looked like a lot of people coming and going out of the weight room during the course of the summer," said Hatcher, as players are allowed only voluntary workouts during the summer per NCAA rules. "Our guys' spirits seem to be high. We are excited about kicking off a new season, and hopefully we can take this year and improve on the foundation we laid last season."

            Georgia Southern opens the home portion of the 2008 season on Saturday, September 6th versus Austin Peay.