Sidelines – Summer 2013
FOOTBALL
Three Eagles Named to 2013 CFPA Watch List
Three Georgia Southern football players have earned spots on the College Football Performance Awards Watch List for the upcoming 2013 season. With 129.79 rushing yards per game in 2012, senior quarterback Jerrick McKinnon’s 1,817-rushing yard total ranked third on the University’s single-season list, behind only Adrian Peterson and Jayson Foster. Dominique Swope’s performance as a running back earned him a place on the Watch List. He ran for 1,246 and 16 touchdowns in 2012, becoming the first Eagle to run for back-to-back 1,000-yard plus seasons since 2002 and 2003. Three-year Eagle letterwinner Javon Mention made the defensive linemen Watch List. The rising senior from Tampa, Fla., earned three starts on the veteran defensive line in 2012.
Three Eagles Sign with NFL teams
Three defensive starters from the 2012 season signed with NFL teams this past spring. Safety and Eagle All-American J.J. Wilcox became the highest-ever NFL draftee in the history of the Georgia Southern program when the Dallas Cowboys selected him in the third round of the NFL Draft. Wilcox has signed a four-year contract worth about $2.8 million with a signing bonus of more than a half million dollars.
Darius Eubanks signed a free agent contract with the Minnesota Vikings, and defensive tackle Brent Russell inked a free agent deal with the Chicago Bears. Russell finished his Georgia Southern career at the top of the career sacks chart. Eubanks, who moved from linebacker to safety in his senior season, was third on the team with 77 total tackles. He is the first member of the Eagle Nation to join the Vikings.
Lunsford Returns to Eagles Staff
Chad Lunsford has returned to Georgia Southern as the new wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator. In his first stint with the Eagles from 2003-2005, Lunsford was the slotbacks coach. He spent the past four years in an administrative position with the Auburn football program, serving as the director of scouting from May 2009 through December 2012, and most recently as the director of player personnel.
Yoshida Added as Defensive Line Coach
Clifford Yoshida has joined the football coaching staff as a defensive line coach. He brings more than 40 years of coaching experience to the team, serving as the coordinator and line coach at Grambling State from 2007-2012.
BASKETBALL
Byington Names New Men’s Basketball Staff
New Men’s basketball head coach Mark Byington has named Randy Peele, Larry Dixon and Andrew Wilson as his assistant coaches, and Jason Slay as director of basketball operations. Peele has nine years of experience as a Division I head coach, most recently serving in that role at Winthrop University where he took the team to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances. Dixon was a member of Peele’s staff at Winthrop, and he has 10 years of experience as a collegiate assistant coach. Wilson spent six seasons as an assistant coach at the College of Charleston under head coach Bobby Cremins. Slay joins the Eagles after coaching last season at Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia.
Men’s Basketball to Play in 2013 Cancun Challenge
Georgia Southern has been selected as one of the eight teams to compete in the 2013 Men’s Cancun Challenge at a resort near Playa del Carmen, Mexico in late November. The road trip will be the team’s first international trip in program history. The Eagles are part of the Mayan Division which features Bowling Green, Oral Roberts and Presbyterian College. Each contest in the Mayan Division will be televised on CBSsports.com ULive. The Rivera Division features Old Dominion, St. Louis, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Women’s Basketball Coach Adds to Coaching Staff
Women’s basketball coach Chris Vozab tapped Chris Gillett to join her staff as an assistant coach. Prior to joining the Georgia Southern team, Gillett worked at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Ga., where he served as the graduate assistant coach on the women’s basketball staff for the last two seasons.
RIFLE
Georgia Southern Adds Women’s Rifle
Georgia Southern is adding a women’s rifle team as the University’s 16th intercollegiate sport. The team will begin competition in the 2013-14 season and will compete in the Air Rifle discipline to start. Air Rifle uses a 0.177 caliber pellet, and shooters are 10 meters from the target. MSG Tim Parks will serve as the program’s first coach. The Eagles will use the shooting range behind the Recreation Activity Center as their home facility until the Georgia Southern Shooting Sports Education Center is completed.
SOFTBALL
Purvis Voted Pitcher of the Year
For the second season in a row, Sarah Purvis was voted Southern Conference Softball Pitcher of the year. Purvis of Warner Robins, Ga., went 8-2 in league play while posting a 1.30 ERA. The junior twirler struck out 71 batters and held opposing batters to a .144 average.
Softball Wins Back-to-Back SoCon Championship
Kourtny Thomas’s solo home run in the 11th inning clinched the second-straight Southern Conference (SoCon) Tournament Championship for Eagles Softball and guaranteed a repeat trip to the NCAA Tournament. Sarah Purvis pitched a gem, blanking UNCG 1-0 in her 17th win of the season. The SoCon Pitcher of the Year earned a spot on the SoCon All-Tournament team.
BASEBALL
Hess Named to All-Tournament Team
Pitcher Justin Hess was selected to the 2013 All-Southern Conference Tournament team. Hess was the only Eagle on the 12-man All-Tournament team after throwing 11 scoreless innings over two appearances. The senior tossed his first career complete game shutout in the tournament opener against the College of Charleston and threw two scoreless innings two days later in the second game against Elon. The right-hander was also an All-Tournament selection in 2012.
SCHOLAR-ATHLETES
Tomic and Bellissimo Named Scholar-Athletes of the Year
Men’s soccer player Aleksandar Tomic and volleyball’s Moriah Belllissimo were selected the 2013 Georgia Southern Scholar-Athletes of the Year for their outstanding work on the playing field and in the classroom. Tomic played in 14 matches this past season as a team captain from his holding midfield position. This was the second year that Bellisimo earned the honor, making her the fifth female student-athlete to repeat as Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The nutrition and food science major boasted a 4.0 grade point average.
Georgia Southern Athletes Make the Grade in Spring Semester
During the spring semester, 40 Georgia Southern student-athletes made the President’s List by posting perfect 4.0 grade point averages. Altogether, 194 members of the men’s and women’s athletics teams posted a 3.0 GPA or better in the spring. The combined GPA for all student-athletes was a 3.03.
TENNIS
Men’s Tennis Ranked in Regional Top-10
After posting their first winning season since 2009 and finishing with an 11-9 record, and a 6-4 mark in Southern Conference play during the 2013 season, Georgia Southern’s men’s tennis team finished eighth in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s (ITA) Southeast Regional rankings. The Eagles finished behind South Florida and ahead of Georgia Tech and Central Florida in the regional rankings. The team reached the quarterfinals of the SoCon tournament with a 4-0 sweep of The Citadel. The Eagles made one of their biggest improvements in school history by winning eight more matches than a year ago.
Men’s Tennis Recruiting Class Named Honorable Mention
Men’s Tennis was one of 11 programs to get an honorable mention by the Tennis Recruiting Network when it released its 2013 top-25 mid-major men’s tennis recruiting classes. The Eagles advanced to the SoCon quarterfinals for the second consecutive year.
SOCCER
Dunleavy Promoted to Women’s Soccer Head Coach
Assistant coach Brian Dunleavy is the new head coach of the women’s soccer program at Georgia Southern. He worked the previous two seasons under former head coach Lindsey Vanderspiegel, who resigned to accept a position in her native state of Virginia. Dunleavy was an integral part of the Eagles 2012 Southern Conference championship season. The team finished the 2012 campaign with a 10-8-5 overall record, winning the league championship over Furman on penalty kicks (5-4) before falling to Wake Forest in the NCAA Tournament.
CHEERLEADING
Cheerleaders Named 2013 STUNT All-Americans
Ashley Riggs and Katherine Daniel were selected by USA Cheer as First Team 2013 STUNT All-Americans. Riggs, an early childhood education major from Sharpsburg, Ga., was the captain of the Georgia Southern STUNT team and Daniel, a middle grades education major from Rincon, Ga., participated in 10 of the 19 STUNT routines as a flyer. STUNT is an emerging NCAA competitive team sport that removes the crowd leading and focuses on the technical and athletic components of cheer. USA Cheer is the national governing body for sport cheering in the United States.
FISHING
Anglers Qualify for College Championship Series
Georgia Southern anglers Tanner Parker and Trent Palmer have qualified for the Carhartt College Series National Championship scheduled Aug. 1-3 on Chatuge Reservoir in north Georgia. They join 12 other college fishing teams who will compete for the championship.
ATHLETIC FOUNDATION
Future Eagles
All babies born at the East Georgia Women’s Pavilion will receive an “Eagle Nation” baby blanket thanks to a joint effort between Georgia Southern and the East Georgia Regional Medical Center. The blankets are white and designed with the athletics logo printed in the middle in navy blue. More than 1,500 babies are born every year at the Women’s Pavilion. Eagle Fund Executive Director David Beaubien said the program is a great way to welcome the newest members of the community and to plant the seed of passion that will grow into a lifetime of embracing the University.