Maybe the Southern Conference is bidding good riddance to the Georgia Southern Eagles, but the 2013 season for the Eagles in Statesboro is all about “Join the Journey” to the Sun Belt Conference.
After three decades and six I-AA national championships, Georgia Southern finally decided to make the move to the I-A (now called the Bowl Subdivision). That will take place in 2014, but for the Eagles there will not be one final FCS playoff run even though they are still playing Southern Conference teams.
Head coach Jeff Monken certainly knows everyone’s question will be about Georgia Southern’s motivation just for this one season. He said even the Southern Conference teams will look at their games with the Eagles as non-conference.
“We’ve always had a lot to play for at Georgia Southern,” he said. “We have a tradition as good as anybody in the country.”
In fact, he said it’s no different than when Eagle football was re-established in the early 1980s. He said those teams either were not eligible for the playoffs or didn’t have a guarantee to make it by not being in a conference.
One goal would be for Georgia Southern to go 8-0 against the conference, something that hasn’t happened in Monken’s previous three seasons.
“It would be hard to argue that we are not the Southern Conference champions,” he said. “Though we are not eligible for the playoffs. That is certainly a disappointment. We would love the opportunity to get in that (national championship) game.
“But this is an exciting day in our history, to move to the highest level of college football and in a great Sun Belt Conference … start some new (rivalries).”
Monken said they owe it to their school to go out and have the best season possible. The Eagles won the conference at 6-2 last year and lost by three to eventual champion North Dakota State. It will be quarterback Jerik McKinnon’s senior year after he scored 27 touchdowns.
“I’d take him again 100 times,” said Monken on whether his program’s recruiting pool will change. “He’d start at safety, corner, slot, receiver, nickel, quarterback, B-back. He’s started at four different skill positions on offense and two on defense in three years. A lot of people in the Sun Belt would too.”
He even said of his recently graduated defensive tackle Brent Russell that he would have a spot at Georgia Southern even in the Sun Belt.
“I hope we will have a good football team,” said Monken. “I think we have a talented enough football team to have a good year. That will depend on how our guys play together and play up to their full potential. If we’re not tough, we probably won’t be very good.”
Those who regularly visit Statesboro for Eagle football games will see a new look at Paulson Stadium plus a new football operations center. Monken said these plans actually preceded the Sun Belt invitation, so the timing was perfect.
“It will increase the actual seats in our stadium,” he said. “It will go from 14,400 to over 20,000. We average over 20,000 fans a game, so that’s a lot of people sitting on the grass or standing up. I think it’s only the start of what’s coming in the future.”
What is also happening this season is a build towards competing in the Sun Belt with the underclassmen, especially the incoming freshmen. Among those are receiver Keshun Hill and lineman Taylor Lay of Northside and punter Wayne O’Neal of Westfield.
“They’re terrific high school players,” said Monken. “We’ve had players from this area for many years. Hopefully these guys are going to have a great experience at Georgia Southern and help us win a lot of football games.
“We are counting on the guys in this freshman class to be that first class to take us into the new league and experience similar success like we’ve had.”
And when he learned that Lay was a member of the 2007 Little League World Series champions from Warner Robins:
“I didn’t realize he was on that team! That’s great stuff!”
THE DEFENDING CHAMPS FROM VSU
With all of the shuffling around, football programs hoping from one level to another all at the same time, Valdosta State looks to be quite content to stay where it is, the Gulf South Conference and NCAA Division II. In ways other than just football, the Blazers are in that class of this division’s powerhouses, and it was football that notched the latest achievement with the national championship of 2012.
The Blazers actually finished second in the Gulf South at 4-1 but had the wins to get into the playoffs and win the second title under head coach David Dean. The first was in his debut season, 2007, so this latest accomplishment completely had his stamp on it.
“We have great support down there,” he said. “We’ve been fortunate to not have a lot of injuries, and at our level, where you don’t have a lot of depth, you have to go injury-free.
“I really felt going into the (2012) season we had a chance to be pretty good. About the third game through … it’s kind of funny because we lost the fourth game … I felt we had a chance to make a big run. After we lost, our kids rallied and grouped up and made a new commitment to each other.”
Valdosta State, as always, did it with offense, averaging 41.6 points and more than 6,500 yards almost split evenly in rushing and passing. They had two 1,000-yard rushers, including Columbus’ Austin Scott as a freshman. The other was a Dublin freshman, Cedric O’Neal.
But Valdosta State had five seniors on the offensive line. Dean didn’t lose much on defense, an end and two cornerbacks.
“Mostly, it was a lot of redshirt freshmen and sophomores,” said Dean, estimating that 38 of the 60 who traveled were in these classes.
“The expectation when you live in Valdosta is to win the national championship. We’re approaching (2013) that way. We have to have a lot of luck and have a lot of guys grow up.”
Dean pointed out that a deep playoff run can put somebody behind in recruiting, especially in December. The championship success would give the Blazers a leg up on all of the newcomers in the state, and Dean said all they have to see is Valdosta State to know that’s a place that wins.
“For our program, it’s tough because we have to share a lot of recruits,” said Dean. “It’s great for the high school kids. It gives them a lot of opportunities to go play and stay in the state. We want to keep the great high school players in the state.”
And it’s not that nobody talks about a possible Division I move, but Dean said from a financial standpoint it looks to be better for the Blazers to stay put.
NEW FOOTBALL AT REINHARDT
Two years ago, one of Georgia’s high school football coaching mainstays for three decades, Danny Cronic, took on a new job. At a smaller scale than when Bill Curry took on the responsibility of building Georgia State Panther football, Cronic, who’s led such traditional winning programs like LaGrange High and East Coweta, accepted the position of head coach at Reinhardt College.
On Aug. 31, Reinhardt, once with only a junior college athletic program, will play its first football game under Cronic against another debuting team, Mercer University, in Macon.
“There’s interest up there,” said Cronic about the school with three campuses headquartered in the Cherokee County town of Waleska. “The community is changing. I-575 is not far away and has opened up the mountain area. The school has been growing by leaps and bounds.”
Reinhardt has its own stadium, and that certainly helped Cronic in finding players.
“I have been in the state coaching a long time,” said Cronic, who was a walk-on player himself at the University of Georgia out of Madison County High School. He also has six years of college coaching experience as an assistant at West Georgia and Middle Tennessee State. “The main thing about Georgia is the quality of high school coaches and the interest in the community. They don’t want to quit when they are seniors in high school.”
For this season, Cronic has either redshirt freshmen who have been with him a year, true freshmen or a handful of sophomore and junior transfers. His son and offensive coordinator, Drew Cronic, worked with Lamb for nine years at Furman, and his defensive coordinator, Steve Wilson, coached with Lamb for 14 years. Cronic himself coached Lamb’s brother Hal at West Georgia.
Reinhardt is an NAIA program in the Mid-South Conference. The Eagles are eligible for the conference championship, but Cronic knows the main goal this first year is being competitive.
“They are going to be playing against juniors and seniors,” he said. “That will have some impact as the season wears on. I can tell a lot of difference in our players (from last fall) through the weight program. I’ve always wanted to be a head coach in college, so it’s special. I want to go as long as I can. I enjoy playing golf, but I enjoy football more.”
And Cronic knows the importance of recruiting the entire state, including middle and south Georgia.
“I think we get a majority of the kids who come on campus,” he said. “The main thing is getting them to see the campus, see the mountains. We have a beautiful fieldhouse and good coaching staff. I think it sells itself.”
GEORGIA TECH
Large senior class. Hard work in the offseason. And a challenging schedule. That’s what’s on the mind of Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson. The Yellow Jackets played in last season’s ACC championship game, and whether or not they can return will be decided pretty early with four early division games.
“We have two new teams coming in, Pitt and Syracuse,” said Johnson. “Pitt will be in our division, and Syracuse is a crossover game. We look forward to getting started and trying to build on a bit of momentum we seized the last half of last year when we dug ourselves out of a hole.”
The main story out of Georgia Tech football last year was the change in defensive coaching. Ted Roof, a former head coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference, is the new coordinator.
“He really cares and loves Georgia Tech,” said Johnson. “He’s had a very successful coaching career and brings a lot of fire to that side. We have a lot of guys coming back, so we’re hopeful that will be a real upgrade.”
A couple of names known in the GISA football circles look to be major contributors to the Jacket offense. One is receiver De’Andre Smelter of Tattnall Square Academy. Johnson said Smelter was a highly recruited junior by ACC and SEC schools, but out of high school Smelter signed with Georgia Tech to play baseball. But this spring Smelter decided to join the football squad, something he hasn’t played since that junior year.
“How quickly he can come on, we’ll see,” said Johnson. “He wants to play. You can’t teach 6-3, 220 (pounds) who can run like that. Athletically, he fits the bill. It would be premature for me to speculate what he can do until we see him out there.”
Johnson also has in his backfield former Deerfield-Windsor Knight Tony Zenon. The coach called him elusive and quick who could also help in the return game.
“He has a lot of ability to make people miss,” he said.
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