Father’s Day can be a busy time for restaurants and golf courses, but this past Sunday Father’s Day saw hundreds of dads, and moms, take their sons to Paulson Stadium to participate in the Georgia Southern football team’s final summer camp of the year.
"The numbers out here are amazing,” said Eagle coach Chad Lunsford. “This is our fourth camp this summer. We had a specialist camp, and then we had about 150 at the next camp and about 250 at the last one. Today we have well over 300 which is incredible considering it’s Sunday and Father’s Day.”
The camp was made up of primarily rising 9-12th graders. There were also some potential walk-on players in the mix. While the Eagles already have most of next year’s class earmarked, Lunsford says there are some who may have slipped through the cracks.
“For the most part we are looking really hard at the players that are rising ninth graders through kids in the class of 2023,” said Lunsford. “You pretty much have things pinpointed for kids in the class of 2022. From recruiting services to doing work with high school coaches, but every now and then you find a diamond in the rough, so we definitely have our eyes open.”
While the coaches put the players through drills and did a variety of speed and agility testing Lunsford feels what the camps do best is get the players on campus which gives them an opportunity to get to know the players better.
“What really happens in these camps is you get to know the players in the class of 2023 and 2024,” said Lunsford. “You start building those relationships with them and that is why we have our eyes open and our ears up. You may have seen film on someone but then seeing them in person they may show you something that you just don’t get from watching film.”
One current Eagle Lunsford says they learned a lot more about after seeing him in one of their summer camps is current sixth year linebacker Randy Wade Jr.
“Randy Wade came to our camp when we traveled down to Valdosta,” said Lunsford. “He blew away the testing and did a great job on the skills and drills. We knew a little bit about him but seeing him in person and seeing what kind of football skills he had and what kind of a person he was really made us pursue him hard.”
