By: Kenneth Harrison

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The 2026 college football season will start in less than a month. We will take a look at Georgia State University to see what we should expect from the Panthers.

GSU was founded in 1913 and it is also the largest in-person institution of higher education by enrollment based in Georgia, with a student enrollment of 53,144 across all of their campuses.

The football program was founded in 2010 and they are in the Sun Belt Conference. Former Georgia running backs coach Dell McGee was hired as its fourth head coach for the football program in February 2024.

In 2024, they were 3-9 and 1-7 in conference play. One of those wins was against Vanderbilt, 36-32. It was Georgia State’s first time hosting an SEC opponent, and their first victory against an SEC team since beating Tennessee in 2019.

Last season, the Panthers were 1-11 and 0-8 in the Sun Belt. The lone win was against FCS Murray State, who was also 1-11. Only two of their losses were by single digits. They were one of the worst FBS teams in the nation in 2025.

UMass was 0-12 so that’s the one program they were better than. Charlotte and Oklahoma State were also 1-11.

The team recently started preseason camp. The first day of practice was closed to the public but we were told it went well.

“Guys had great energy, great enthusiasm,” said coach McGee, who is starting his third season. “We’ve still got a long way to go but definitely encouraged by how we started today. The kids were very dialed in in their meetings and they carried those meetings onto the field.”

They brought in 34 players via the transfer portal and signed 16 freshmen.

Offensive coordinator Hue Jackson returns and the Panthers have a new look on defense, where Cam Clark and John Haneline take over as co-coordinators.

They have several players that are coming from major programs. Some of the incoming players are: DL Kelze Howard (Oregon State), LB Jaydon Hood (Michigan), S Keenan Nelson Jr. (Ohio State), OT Jordan Brown (Arizona), IOL Kelton Smith Jr. (Georgia), WR Isiah Stone (LSU), IOL Deylin Hasert (Iowa State), IOL Marcus Mascoll (Florida), IOL Gage Stanaland (Oklahoma State) and RB Keith Adams Jr. (Clemson).

Fifth year senior QB Cameran Brown is the best returning player on the team. He played at Texas Tech in 2024 and appeared in eight games.

Last season he passed for 1,296 yards, 13 touchdowns and 1 interception. He also rushed for 284 yards and 4 TDs. He missed two of the final three games last fall. Brown was named to the Pro Football Network Preseason All-Sun Belt Third Team.

OL Deandre Duffus is on the PFN First Team Preseason All-Sun Belt Team and RB Savion Hart is on the Second Team.

Here is the schedule:

9/4 vs North Carolina A&T

9/12 @ Kennesaw State

9/19 @ UCF

9/26 vs Northern Illinois

10/3 vs Old Dominion (Homecoming)

10/17 @ James Madison

10/24 @ Arkansas State

10/31 vs Coastal Carolina

11/7 @ Appalachian State

11/14 vs Georgia Southern (Rivalry)

11/21 @ Marshall

11/28 vs Louisiana

I think they’ll start the year with a win over North Carolina A&T because that’s an FCS opponent.

Conference play begins Week 5 against ODU. Only three SBC opponents had losing conference records last season; which were App State, Marshall and Louisiana.

On paper I think they have a chance to win 3-4 games. If that happens, they will be looking for a new coach.