Georgia Southern would like nothing better than to send its 28 seniors off with a win Saturday when it closes out regular season play against arch-rival Appalachian State.
In what has become the norm in college football thanks to the transfer portal, NIL and an extra COVID year for some, this senior class is a mixed bag: there’s one true senior, 12 redshirt seniors, eight fifth-year seniors and seven who are in their sixth-year of college football.
Some have spent their entire careers with the Eagles and others have come from elsewhere.
The roster lists players who started their careers at: Oklahoma, Kansas State, Washington, Auburn, West Virginia, Florida, Wingate, Presbyterian, Rochester Tech, Iowa Western, North Carolina, Savannah State, Alabama State, Georgia State, Georgia and Georgia Tech.
Quite a mix to say the least but the bottom line is, whether natural born or adopted, they will take the field as Eagles with the sole purpose of beating the school’s most bitter rival.
And, more importantly, playing to stay alive in the Sun Belt Conference’s East Division race. A Georgia Southern win and a Marshall loss at James Madison puts the Eagles in the conference championship game against either Louisiana or Arkansas State on Dec. 7. The Eagles kickoff at 6 p.m., Marshall and the Dukes two hours later.
Every player, in his way, has contributed to the Eagles (7-4, 5-2) having their first winning season since 2020 something not lost on third-year Coach Clay Helton.
“These seniors trusted us, they built a relationship with as a coaching staff,” said Helton as his Monday press conference. “They were a three-win football team in 2021 and now they sit here three years later in the last game of the season fighting like heck to try and play for a championship.
“Players win games, players love success and they’ve done that this year.”
Helton was hired following that 2021 season when Chad Lunsford, now the interim head coach at Florida Atlantic, was fired in midseason.
Among the “old” Eagles in their final home game are Marques Watson-Trent, Jalen White and Derwin Burgess, Jr., all looking to add to stellar careers.
Watson-Trent is one of the finest linebackers to grace a Georgia Southern uniform. He has 97 tackles, second best in the SBC, and three more will give him his third 100-tackle season. His 342 career tackles are third in program history behind Paul Carroll (375) and Freddy Pesqueria (353).
The Pittsburgh, Pa., fifth-year senior has four forced fumbles which has him tied for second in FBS and he has had 15 double-digit tackle performances, five this season.
White has 2,802 career rushing yards with 32 touchdowns and became the school’s 14th 2,500-yard career rusher at Georgia State. White’s career high came in 2021 when he ran for 167 yards and two touchdowns on only 12 carries against Arkansas State.
The Daleville, Ala., product had a spectacular high school career as he led the nation in rushing his senior year with 3,517 yards in 11 games and had eight touchdowns in the first half of a game.
Burgess is the lone true senior (four years) on the team and he has proved to be a reliable and dependable receiver who needs one more touchdown catch to equal the school record of 18 held by Monty Sharpe.
For his career, Burgess has 198 receptions and 2,425 receiving yards, both second on the all-time list to Khaleb Hood who finished with 245 catches for 2,692 yards. Burgess also needs one more 100-yard game to equal Hood’s school mark of six.
Davion Rhodes, who starts at linebacker, no doubt echoed the sentiments of those who will take the field against the Mountaineers.
“It’s been great,” Rhodes said of his two-years with the Eagles. “I haven’t been here that long being a transfer (Wingate), about a year and a half, but it has been a great change for me.
“I thank Coach Helton every day for bringing me here. It’s a great program and I wouldn’t want to be any place else.”
