The 2021 Georgia Southern Eagles football team represented

Georgia Southern University Georgia Southern University (GS or Georgia Southern) is a public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia. The flagship campus is in Statesboro, and other locations include the Armstrong Campus in Savannah and the Liberty Campus in Hine ...

during the

2021 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2021 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the 152nd season of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision. The r ...

. The Eagles played their home games at

Paulson Stadium Allen E. Paulson Stadium is a 25,000-seat on-campus football stadium in Statesboro, Georgia. It is home to the Georgia Southern Eagles football team and the focal point of Erk Russell Athletic Park. Paulson Stadium was dedicated on September 29, ...

Statesboro, Georgia Statesboro is the largest city and county seat of Bulloch County, Georgia, Bulloch County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States, located in the southeastern part of the state. Statesboro is home to the flagship campus of Georgia Southern ...

, and competed in the East Division of the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...

. They were led by third-year head coach

Chad Lunsford Chad Kevin Lunsford (born February 24, 1977) is an American football coach who is currently the tight ends coach at Florida Atlantic Owls football, Florida Atlantic. He previously served as the head coach of the Georgia Southern Eagles football ...

until he was dismissed mid-season following his third consecutive loss within the first four games of the season. Cornerbacks coach

Kevin Whitley Kevin Whitley (born February 26, 1970) is an American football coach and former cornerback who is an assistant coach at Georgia Southern University. For the 2021 season, he assumed the role of interim head coach. He was previously the cornerbacks ...

was tapped to serve as interim coach until a new head coach was hired by the university. Whitley was in his third year as cornerbacks coach and previously played for Georgia Southern as a four year starter from 1988 to 1991, helping to win two national titles for the Eagles. On November 2, 2021,

Clay Helton Clay Charles Helton (born June 24, 1972) is an American college football coach and former player, who is currently the head coach at Georgia Southern. He was previously the head coach of USC from 2015 to 2021. Helton has also been an assistan ...

, former head coach of the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ' ...

, was hired to become the next head coach for Georgia Southern, starting in the 2022 season.

Previous season

The Eagles finished the 2020 season 8–5, 4–4 in Sun Belt play to finish in third place in the East Division and. Southern was then invited to play in the

New Orleans Bowl The New Orleans Bowl is an NCAA-sanctioned post-season college football bowl game that has been played annually since 2001. It is normally held at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans; when the Superdome and the rest of the city suffered damage due to ...

, their fourth postseason FBS bowl game and their third consecutive appearance. They played

Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activi ...

, where they steamrolled the Bulldogs 38-3.

Preseason

Recruiting class

Source:

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

Preseason

Sources:

Sun Belt coaches poll

The Sun Belt coaches poll was released on July 20, 2021. The Eagles were picked to finish fourth in the East Division.

Sun Belt Preseason All-Conference teams

Offense ''2nd team'' *JD king – Running Back, SR *Aaron dowell – Offensive Lineman, SR Defense ''1st team'' *Derrick canteen – Defensive Back, RS-SO Special teams ''2nd teams'' *Anthony beck ii – Punter, RS-JR *Khaleb hood – Return Specialist, JR

Personnel

Schedule

The 2021 schedule consists of 6 home and 6 away games in the regular season. The Eagles will travel to Sun Belt foes

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...

South Alabama South Alabama is the various parts of southern Alabama. Although it is not a strictly defined geographic region, it generally includes all Alabama counties south of the Black Belt. In that view, ''South Alabama'' consists of just the two counties ...

Texas State Texas State University is a public research university in San Marcos, Texas. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has grown to the second largest university in the Greater Austin metropolitan area and the fifth largest university ...

, and

Appalachian State Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dough ...

. Southern will play host to Sun Belt foes

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

Arkansas State Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage l ...

Georgia State Georgia state or ''variation'', may refer to: Primarily * Georgia State University ("State", "Georgia State"), a state university * Georgia (U.S. state) ("Georgia state"), a state of the United States of America Sports * sports teams of Georgia St ...

, and

Coastal Carolina Coastal Carolina University (CCU or Coastal) is a public university in Conway, South Carolina. Founded in 1954 as Coastal Carolina Junior College, and later joining the University of South Carolina System as USC Coastal Carolina, it became an in ...

. The Eagles will host two of the four non-conference opponents at

, Gardner–Webb, from

NCAA Division I FCS The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic ...

Big South Conference The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. Originally a non-football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 as part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Th ...

and

BYU Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S ...

, a FBS Independent, and will travel to

Florida Atlantic Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Jupiter, and Fort Pierce. FAU belongs to the 12-cam ...

of the

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

and

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

Game summaries

Gardner–Webb

At Florida Atlantic

At Arkansas

, Score=ARK 14–0

Louisiana

Arkansas State

At Troy

At South Alabama

Georgia State

Coastal Carolina

At Texas State

BYU

At Appalachian State

References

{{Georgia Southern Eagles football navbox

Georgia Southern Georgia Southern University (GS or Georgia Southern) is a public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia. The flagship campus is in Statesboro, and other locations include the Armstrong Campus in Savannah and the Liberty Campus in Hin ...

Georgia Southern Eagles football seasons

Georgia Southern Eagles football The Georgia Southern Eagles football program represents Georgia Southern University in football as part of the Sun Belt Conference. The current head coach is Clay Helton. The Eagles have won six FCS (I-AA) national championships and have produce ...