By: Colin Lacy

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

As Clay Helton enters year four in Statesboro at the helm of the Georgia Southern Football program, one of the big themes (at least heading into the season) is consistency.

2025 will mark the first time since 2019 that Georgia Southern will begin the year with the same Head Coach, Offensive Coordinator, Defensive Coordinator and Director of Strength and Conditioning that they began the previous year with.

The other piece of consistency for Helton heading into 2025 is at quarterback. 2025 will mark the first time in Helton’s tenure that Georgia Southern returns the starting quarterback from a year ago with JC French slated to command the Eagle offense.

2024 wrapped up for the Blue and White with an 8-5 record and an appearance in the R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl against Sam Houston State.

In his first season as the field general, French completed a Georgia Southern record 65.6% of his passes while racking up over 2,800 yards and connecting for 17 touchdowns.

The former transfer from Memphis put a huge emphasis on the nutrition and conditioning programs in the offseason and has shed over 8% body fat and dropping about 15 pounds.

The Eagles bring back two key pieces of the backfield with running backs OJ Arnold and David Mbadinga returning after not going through spring ball due to rehabbing injuries but look to be full go when boot meets ball in 2025.

Arnold was the second leading rusher a year ago after the leading rusher, Jalen White, signed a free-agent deal with the Green Bay Packers.

Georgia Southern will lean on a number of returners on both sides of the ball but also brought in 17 transfers to the program.

Two guys that really impressed in the spring and look to make an impact defensively are Brendan Harrington (transferring in from rival App State), and Brandon Tyson (transferring from Elon) in the linebacker room.

The Eagles will open the 2025 season in a unique way. Clay Helton will return to familiar territory as the Eagles get the season going on a ten-day west coast trip that begins at Fresno State on August 30^th.

The team will stay in California the following week as Southern will then face the USC Trojans in week 2 the following Saturday.

Coach Helton spent a combined 11 years (from 2010-2021) in Southern California as an assistant coach, interim head coach twice and Head Coach of the Trojans from 2015-2021.

After the left-coast swing, the Eagles open the home slate against Jacksonville State who burst on the scene in their first year as a member of Conference USA and appeared in the Cure Bowl last season.

With conference road trips coming to JMU, Arkansas State, App State, and Marshall, the Eagles welcome Southern Miss, Georgia State, Coastal Carolina, and ODU to Allen E. Paulson Stadium this season.

Georgia Southern showed flashes of greatness last season in the 8-5 campaign and again carry consistency into the new year.

It seems that year four under Coach Helton is set to be a jumping point for Georgia Southern in getting the program back to not only Sun Belt prominence, but also national excellency that Coach Helton has talked about since arriving in Statesboro.