Bright and early on a Thursday morning a familiar sight could be seen over by Beautiful Eagle Creek - even though it’s a sight normally reserved for fall.
    For the first time since beating Troy on Dec. 3 to salvage a 5-7 season, Georgia Southern strapped on helmets to begin their first practice of the 2017 spring.
    It was also the first time in four years the Georgia Southern practice fields didn’t have Kevin Ellison, Matt Brieda, Andy Kwon or BJ Johnson. But perhaps more importantly, it was the first time since 2009 the Eagles are coming off a losing football season.
    Georgia Southern hasn’t had consecutive losing seasons since the first incarnation of the program folded in 1941, and all eyes are on second year head coach Tyson Summers. Summers, a mere 36 years of age, has a considerable amount of pressure on him to right the ship and put the Eagles back on track for 2017.
    Summers will readily admit in his first season he made his fair share of mistakes, most notably being too hands on with every aspect of the program. Other than maybe the defensive side of the football, Summers knows letting everyone play their role will be key to getting things back to where Willie Fritz left them in 2015.
    “One of the places where I probably didn’t do a very good job was trying to do everything,” Summers said. “From a staff perspective I’m letting everyone run their phase, whether that’s the director of the football operations or the position coaches.”
    Summers will get a second go-around after overhauling almost the entire offensive staff and some other peripheral football personnel. Most notable of the staff changes was offensive coordinator Bryan Cook, who left Georgia Tech to take over the position vacated by Rance Gillespie and David Dean.
    It was evident by what was taking place on the practice field Summers meant what he said when mentioning he’d be hands off. On the field that runs parallel to Fair Road Cook ran the offense while Summers primarily stayed on the opposite field where the defense was practicing.
    “I was really impressed with the offensive staff as a whole,” Summers said. “The thing that impressed me the most was how diligent they were with stopping plays and making sure the fundamentals were clean. I really took a step back today to analyze how those things were doing.”
    Cook’s vocal presence was clear, as he surely could have been heard as far as the Arby’s across the street when pressing on the four quarterbacks Georgia Southern is working in the offense.
    The only quarterback returning with 2016 playing time, Seth Shuman, was particularly impressed with his new OC — which is saying something considering Gillespie brought Shuman with him from Valdosta High School.
    “I love the tempo he brings,” Shuman said. “It’s a high pace and he (Cook) makes you excited to be out there.”
    Myles Campbell — who returns as Georgia Southern’s leading receiver — echoed his quarterbacks sentiments when talking about the energy Cook brings to the practice field. Specifically Campbell noted this burst of enthusiasm is just what the doctor ordered for this team to start things anew in 2017.
    “It’s a good adjustment for us, it’s exactly what we needed,” Campbell said. “The way coach (Cook) talks, he’s very loud but he’s also instructive and can teach while being vocal.” 
    All of this energy talk is something Summers had been trying to emphasize this spring. Summers wants to lay a “cultural blueprint” down at Georgia Southern, trying to reroute the team’s mentality back to it’s “GATA” routes laid down by Erk Russell.
    The entire staff — old and new — has been instructed to bring “GATA”  with them every time they enter the football building. Summers wants anyone to feel like then they enter the football center or the field house that the “GATA” mindset engulfs their aura.
    “If you walk though are building we want you to feel the energy,” Summer said. “That’s the route we want to take and if we focus on the details and the fundamentals then it’ll bear the fruit we want.”
    Summers often mentioned new strength and conditioning coach Dwayne Chandler as a source of this newfound energy and swagger. Considering how much time the players have spent with Chandler doing mat drills and conditioning during the offseason, it’s no surprise the former Memphis Associate Director of Athletic Performance is fresh on Summer’s mind.
    “We certainly had a challenge last year, and coach Chandler has been brutally honest with the players about it this offseason,” Summers said. “He’s someone who’ll push the players when they need it and applaud them when they need it, which is exactly what I wanted in that position.”
    Campbell noted that Chandler brings an intensity and an energy to offseason workouts that weren’t present in the previous regime — and believes it’s made a big difference in how the team looks now compared to what they were in 2016.
    “Coach Dorsey was good, but the intensity and energy was something that was lacking a bit last season,” Campbell said. “Coach Chandler is all about his way or the highway, and that’s something this team needs.”
    Chandler and Cook do prove to be two solid pieces of evidence that Summers is making a conscience effort and trying to turn things around from a mental standpoint in the 2017 team. It’s clear with the those two coaches along with the rest of the new staffers there’s an attempt to change the mindset of a team that lost to Louisiana Lafayette 33-26 on homecoming night last season.
    There will be plenty more to discuss X’s and O’s wise as spring practice waines into late March and before the spring game on April 1st — but for now it’s clear Summers, from a cultural standpoint at the very least, is beginning a turnaround in Statesboro.