Georgia Southern Eagles Preview 2022: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Georgia Southern season with what you need to know and keys to the season.
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Georgia Southern Eagles Preview
Head Coach: Clay Helton, 1st year at Georgia Southern,
6th year overall, 46-24. 2021 Preview
2021 Record: Overall: 3-9, Conference: 2-6
Keys To The Season | Season Prediction, What Will Happen
Georgia Southern Top 10 Players | Schedule
Georgia Southern Eagles Preview 2022
Clay Helton was hardly awful at USC.
A good guy who everyone liked – you don’t survive a 5-7 season at that place if you rub people the wrong way – he won a Pac-12 title, won a Rose Bowl, and it wasn’t nearly enough for a program that demands College Football Playoff consideration.
He knows how to get an offense going, and now he gets to tweak a Georgia Southern program that also rightly expects success – albeit on a different scale.
The Eagles came into 2021 with three straight winning seasons and bowl appearances, but the O couldn’t get going, the losses kept rolling, and in comes Helton to change all of that.
With eight starters back on offense, six back on D, and with what should be one of the Sun Belt’s better kicking games, things should bounce back fast.
Georgia Southern Eagles Preview 2022: Offense
The offense has been in a pivot from the triple option style for a while, but now the new coaching staff really will adjust a bit more with a spread style that incorporates even more of a balance. Whatever it’s going to be, it has to work a whole lot better than the version of last year that struggled to average 20 points and 340 yards per game.
The running game wasn’t good enough, the passing game wasn’t efficient, and now it all has to be better with eight starters back.
The hope is for Buffalo transfer Kyle Vantrease to add a steady veteran presence. The sixth-year quarterback can run, but he’s more of a passer who can do a little of everything. The Eagle quarterbacks combined to throw for five touchdown passes and 12 picks – Justin Tomlin is gone, but Cam Ransom isn’t a bad No. 2 option to work around.
The receivers are in place to help. The emphasis wasn’t on the passing game so the numbers weren’t amazing, but Khaleb Hood led the way with 35 catches and 442 yards, and there’s just enough speed around to hit more deep plays. Three of the five touchdown catches went to TE Beau Johnson, a 6-1, 225-pound junior who needs to be a featured target.
The running backs need more room to move. The Eagles have high-powered runners who should average over five yards per carry. Leading rusher Logan Wright is gone, but juniors Gerald Green and Jalen White combined for over 800 yards, nine touchdowns, and 5.6 yards per pop.
The offensive front that couldn’t generate a push and allowed way too many plays behind the line gets back just about everyone around all-star guard Khalil Crowder.
Georgia Southern Eagles Preview 2022: Defense
The defense tried to help the cause, but it wasn’t great against the run and finished 110th in the nation overall. It’s not as experienced as the offensive side, but six starters are back with just enough upside to be a whole lot stronger under the new coaching staff.
The line should be the early strength. Sixth year senior Justin Ellis returns after tying for the team lead with five sacks. Combined with veteran Dillon Springer, the Eagles have the ends.
Now they need the tackles to form a solid rotation with good interior pass rusher CJ Wright gone off the nose.Size and bulk will be an early issue, but 300-pound former North Carolina transfer Kristian Varner should help.
The linebacking corps went young last season, and now it should pay off. Eldrick Robinson is gone to Wake Forest, and Michael Edwards is off to East Carolina. There was next to nothing happening in the backfield from the outside linebackers – that’s about to change under the new staff – but the inside guys have to emerge.
The secondary has to be far, far better. It will be thanks to the return of star CB Derrick Canteen, one of the best defensive players in the Sun Belt who missed most of last year with a torn pectoral muscle.
Leading tackler Anthony Wilson is back at one safety spot after making 78 tackles, and versatile Justin Birdsong returns for a fifth year after finishing fourth on the team with 49 stops.
Keys To The Season | Season Prediction, What Will Happen
Georgia Southern Top 10 Players | Schedule
Georgia Southern Eagles: Keys To The Season, Top Game, Top Transfer, Fun Stats NEXT
Georgia Southern Eagles: Keys To The Season, Top Game, Top Transfer, Fun Stats
Georgia Southern Eagles: Key To The 2022 Offense
Find one reliable thing that works.
You always knew what Georgia Southern was. The ground game was going to control everything, the passing attack would occasionally hit on the big play, and it was up to you to adjust. Last year the offense couldn’t find anything it could rely on.
No, the ground game won’t rumble like the past, and there won’t be a high-octane air show. However, the backs are in place to push for 200 rushing yards per game. As long as there aren’t a ton of turnovers, the situation will be better.
Georgia Southern Eagles: Key To The 2022 Defense
The secondary has to be a whole lot stronger.
Last year’s defense allowed 8.6 yards per pass and made just how five picks. The 2020 defense allowed 6.8 yards per throw and was an interception machine with 18.
Not having injured CB Derrick Canteen around didn’t help, and the secondary had to piece together several parts, but no matter what the Eagles have to come up with more interceptions and stops.
The defense picked off four passes in the win over Arkansas State, and that was about it. There was one interception against Texas State, and nothing against anyone else against passing game after passing game that fired at will.
Georgia Southern Eagles: Key Player To The 2022 Season
DT Parker Devine, Sr.
He’s only 265 pounds, but he needs to be even more of a fixture on the Georgia Southern defensive interior that’s a wee bit thin without CJ Wright on the nose – he was a big presence to work around. That’s not Devine, but he’s experienced, quick, and he’s coming off a 19 tackle, two sack, five tackle for loss season.
Georgia Southern Eagles: Key Transfer
QB Kyle Vantrease, Sr.
The former Buffalo quarterback couldn’t quite take over the job and make it his, and most of his job was to direct the ground game, but he should settle the passing game, add enough of a rushing element to matter, and he brings five years of experience to the gig.
Georgia Southern Key Game To The 2022 Season
at Georgia State, Oct. 8
Just how quickly will things start to get better? There should be a loss at Nebraska early on, going to UAB will be a problem, and the trip to Coastal Carolina isn’t going to be easy. However, at least a 2-3 start is a must, and 3-2 is possible. The slate eases up for a wee bit in the middle, but for every reason possible, beating rival Georgia State would be a big deal.
Lose to the Panthers, and it’s going to be a grind to try getting to six wins and a bowl. Win, and that’s a nice moment for the program after losing two years in a row.
Georgia Southern Eagles: 2021 Fun Stats
– 3rd Quarter Scoring: Opponents 129 – Georgia Southern 49
– Passing TDs: Opponents 28 – Georgia Southern 5
– Total Offense: Opponents 5,300 yards – Georgia Southern 4,085 yards
O.D Breakdown | Season Prediction, What Will Happen
Georgia Southern Top 10 Players | Schedule
Georgia Southern Eagles Season Prediction, What Will Happen NEXT
Georgia Southern Eagles Season Prediction, What Will Happen
No, really. Just how much was 2021 an aberration?
Georgia Southern was a regular from the Sun Belt on the bowl circuit and winning seasons were the norm after a 2-10 2018 season. The Eagles won 25 games in three seasons with its dangerous ground attack, but last season never got going offensively and everything crashed.
There’s experience returning, but do the parts fit, and just how much will all the transfers and problems of last year matter for Clay Helton and the new coaching staff?
Set The Georgia Southern Eagles Regular Season Win Total At … 5.5
There’s a good chance that win total is laughable low if everything pivots back under Helton.
It starts with finding an offensive groove again and getting the right starting 11 on defense. The Morgan State game will help figure that out, but there’s a brutal run of four road games in the next five including dates at Nebraska and Coastal Carolina.
The midsection of James Madison, at Old Dominion, and South Alabama has to be a 3-0 run, or there’s a problem with at Louisiana, Marshall, and Appalachian State to close.
Or, Georgia Southern gets its groove back and rips through teams on the way to an easy winning season and bowl appearance.
Offense, Defense Breakdown | Keys To The Season
Georgia Southern Top 10 Players | Schedule
