Georgia Southern Extra: Eagles football reacts to prediction of 5th in the East Division
Georgia Southern football player Dillon Springer is not taking as a slight the team's predicted finish of fifth place of seven teams in the East Division.
That's not to say results of the Preseason Sun Belt Conference Coaches Poll won't be motivation for the Eagles this season.
"To be realistic, last year we had a three-win season. Talking about the preseason polls, that's expected," Springer, a sixth-year defensive end, said Tuesday at the Sun Belt Conference Football Media Days in New Orleans.
"What we focus on as a team and planning our goals and our vision for what we want out of the season, what we focus on is inside the locker room. Everything outside of that is just noise. What we want to do is win the day, week by week, and then go 1-0."
Quarterback Kyle Vantrease, a sixth-year player who transferred from the University of Buffalo, agreed that "it's all a lot of noise."
"You just take it with a grain of salt," Vantrease said Tuesday. "Our focus is controlling what you can control and being where your feet are. That's the most important thing. If you start taking yourself out and wasting energy on other aspects on things that won't help you on the field, in between the lines, in between the whistles, then you're setting yourself up to have a lot of adversity on the field."
The Eagles are coming off a 3-9 season and are transitioning with an almost entirely new coaching staff headed by Clay Helton. He is on the same page as his players in keeping the focus on preparation each week to play one game.
"If your lack of focus is worried about what other people think, you're not going to be a good football team," Helton said Tuesday. "It's proven year after year. Our job is to worry about us. Let people say what they want to say. We'll add them up at the end of the year."
In a vote of coaches and selected media members, Appalachian State is the favorite to win the East Division with 94 points (10 first-place votes), followed by Coastal Carolina (77; 2), Georgia State (68; 1), Marshall (62; 0), Georgia Southern (35; 1), James Madison (31, 0) and Old Dominion (25, 0).
In the West, defending league champion Louisiana is the favorite (95; 12), followed by South Alabama (79; 2), Troy (76; 0), Texas State (41; 0), Southern Miss (40; 0), Arkansas State (37; 0) and ULM (24; 0).
"We're excited to compete in this league, which in my mind has become the premier Group of Five league in the country," Helton said. "While other conferences were breaking apart, this league continued to grow strong and contined to add quality schools like ODU and James Madison and Southern Miss and Marshall."
Middle Tennessee added to schedules
Georgia Southern has announced a home-and-home series with the Middle Tennessee football program for the 2031 and 2032 non-conference schedules.
The Eagles are slated to host the Blue Raiders on Sept. 20, 2031 at Paulson Stadium and will play in Murfreesboro at Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium on Sept. 25, 2032.
Georgia Southern leads the series 7-4 overall (4-1 at home, 2-3 on the road and 1-0 at a neutral site).
The Eagles also have a non-conference game for 2031 at Army West Point on Nov. 8. This is the first announced non-conference game for the 2032 season.
Celebrating 40 years of Eagles football
The Georgia Southern Athletics Department is celebrating 40 years of Eagle football in the modern era. Several items are planned for throughout the season. Among them are:
40th-anniversary pennants for fans at a game;
40th-anniversary commemorative stickers available throughout the season;
Special recognitions of former players, coaches, administrators, donors and fans throughout the season;
Free specialized posters at every game;
Moments honoring the national championship teams and iconic moments in Georgia Southern football history at each game;
The 40th anniversary logo sticker will adorn the back of the Eagles' football helmets all season;
Signage throughout Paulson Stadium to celebrate 40 years;
Photo moments and opportunities for fans to join the 40-year celebration at each game;
The 40th-anniversary logo has been made available to retailers to sell officially licensed apparel and items which benefit the athletic department due to its licensing agreement.
Eagle Nation will be able to select the All-40th Anniversary Team. Starting on Aug. 1, any eligible offensive and defensive linemen will be open for voting. Other groupings will be released each Monday, and the full team is slated to be announced on Sept. 2. A full release detailing the process will be available on Aug. 1.
Georgia Southern began playing football in 1924 as Georgia Normal School but suspended the sport after the 1941 season due to World War II. The Eagles resumed playing as an NAIA independent in 1982, and the first year of NCAA unclassified play was in 1983.
In 1993, Georgia Southern joined the Southern Conference and began transitioning to the FBS in 2013 before beginning play in the Sun Belt Conference in 2014. The Eagles have won six NCAA Division I-AA national championships, 11 conference titles and three bowl games in their 40 years of uncompromised excellence.
The Eagles open the 2022 season on Sept. 3 at home against Morgan State.
Erk Russell Fund Donors' Weekend schedule
The Georgia Southern Athletic Foundation's second annual Erk Russell Fund Donors' Weekend is Aug. 12-13 in Statesboro.
All Erk Russell Fund donors are invited to this interactive weekend, which includes a home run derby at J.I. Clements Stadium, a tournament at the Georgia Southern Golf Course, and Fan Fest/Scrimmage at Paulson Stadium.
The Home Run Derby is Aug. 12 at 6:30 p.m., with Eagle baseball alumni greats coming back to participate, including Victor Roache (2012) and Aaron Mizell (2015).
Entry tickets are $15 and includes dinner, two drink tickets, and automatic entry into the raffle to participate in the home run derby. All proceeds from the ticket sales will go toward helping to upgrade the baseball facilities.
The golf tournament is Aug. 13 at the Georgia Southern University Course and consists of an 18-hole scramble and an afternoon lunch and awards. Weather permitting, GS student-athletes, coaches and staff will be at select holes interacting with fun activities throughout the course.
Tentative golf tournament schedule:
9-10 a.m.: Check-in and driving range open (All players must be pre-registered online before the event); 10 a.m.: Shotgun start; 2 p.m.: luncheon, remarks and awards.
Entry and sponsorship information: foursome $200 ($50/person); on-course table sponsor $1,000 (limited number available; includes foursome in tournament); hole sponsor $750 (includes foursome in tournament).
The annual Georgia Southern Fan Fest is Aug. 13. Erk Russell Fund members are invited to a pregame social in the Ted Smith Family Football Center when gates open at 6 p.m. There will be beverages, snacks and a prescrimmage chalk talk by head coach Clay Helton.
This will be followed by an exclusive tour of the FOC by Eagles football greats Tracy Ham and Adrian Peterson.
The deadline to RSVP is Aug, 8. All proceeds from the weekend's events directly support the student-athletes.
For additional questions about registration or sponsorships, contact Stephanie Roberts, special events and stewardship coordinator, at stephanieroberts@georgiasouthern.edu.
To register:
https://give.gseagles.com/event/2022-erk-russell-fund-donors-weekend/e415898
More Sun Belt coverage for Eagles fans
For the second straight year, Sun Belt Conference Commissioner Keith Gill announced during his annual State of the Conference address at Sun Belt Football Media Days that the conference has expanded its media rights deal with ESPN.
The new agreement, which still runs through the 2030-31 academic year, will provide the Sun Belt with additional resources, exposure and linear opportunities for Sun Belt football and basketball.
The agreement expands upon the Sun Belt’s extended ESPN media rights relationship — announced last year — which resulted in a more than 50% increase in the number of Sun Belt football games that appeared on ESPN’s linear offerings (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU), including 40% of those new opportunities televised on a Saturday.
The new agreement, which still runs through the 2030-31 academic year, will result in more than 6,000 additional live events available on ESPN+, including men’s soccer, women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, baseball and softball.
This commitment to Olympic sport coverage will include an equal number of baseball and softball contests — over 1,000 events in each sport — and will feature instant replay for the 2023 season. The conference also plans to decrease the overlaps of baseball and softball conference homestand weekends in future seasons to further enhance ESPN+ coverage.
For more coverage of Georgia Southern athletics, go to https://www.savannahnow.com/sports/college/georgia-southern/
Nathan Dominitz is the Sports Content Editor of the Savannah Morning News and savannahnow.com. Email him at ndominitz@savannahnow.com. Twitter: @NathanDominitz
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Georgia Southern football team reacts to Sun Belt Conference poll
