ugh. Would be a great week for ull to catch a team I like ppl don’t know about. Guess this ain’t the one tho.
There starting qb just ruled eligible after initially ruled out cuz of fake covid heart issues.
Georgia State
Head coach: Shawn Elliott (17-26, fourth year)
2019: 7-6 (4-4), 107th in SP+
2020 projection: 6-6 (4-4), 103rd
Five best returning players: LG
Shamarious Gilmore, LB
Trajan Stephens-McQueen, NG
Dontae Wilson, CB
Quavian White, RB
Destin Coates
First, you draw up the blueprint. Then you build the house. For Shawn Elliott and Georgia State, Aug. 31, 2019, was the blueprint. Against Tennessee in Knoxville, the Panthers fell behind 23-21 early in the fourth quarter but physically dominated down the stretch. Capped by a rugged 22-yard touchdown by quarterback
Dan Ellington, they went on a 17-0 run and scored their most high-profile win ever. It was time to sell some T-shirts.
This was Elliott's platonic vision made real. The 46-year-old former Appalachian State and South Carolina offensive line coach wants a physical squad, one that can lean on the run when it needs to, and it had just pushed over an SEC team that, later in the season, turned out to be pretty good.
Getting the house built is a lot harder than drawing up the plans. GSU still has work to do there. Two weeks after the win in Knoxville, the Panthers lost 57-10 at Western Michigan, then suffered a wacky 37-34 loss at Texas State, too. They rebounded, winning four in a row and positioning themselves for their best FBS season ever, but quarterback Dan Ellington tore his ACL in a tie game at ULM. Granted, he showed utterly ridiculous leadership and toughness by
continuing to play out the rest of the damn season, but his and GSU's production took an obvious hit, and the Panthers lost four of five to finish 7-6.
With Ellington and 1,400-yard rusher
Tra Barnett now gone, it's hard to get a read on what GSU might be capable of in 2020. The Panthers are seasoned in the trenches, returning all-conference candidates in left guard Shamarious Gilmore and center
Malik Sumter, and the skill corps is still exciting. Juniors Destin Coates and
Seth Paige matched Barnett's per-carry productivity, and last year's top three receivers (
Cornelius McCoy,
Sam Pinckney and tight end
Roger Carter) return. But the depth chart behind Ellington was destitute -- the starter in 2020 will likely be one of four freshmen (three redshirts and an incoming first-year) -- and the Panthers' defense is not nearly disruptive enough to be as small as it is. The average size of the top six returnees up front is 6-1, 253.
Elliott has, in glimpses, proved that Georgia State has the potential you would assume a G5 program based in Atlanta to have. But he's entering his fourth season, and if the quarterback situation is sketchy and the defense (which ranked 122nd in defensive SP+) doesn't improve quite a bit with experience, he could finish 2020 having had as many setback seasons (two) as breakthroughs.
There's still a chance at a big year, though. SP+ projects
seven Panther games within a touchdown, including five in a row through the middle of the season. If the new QB -- be it
Cornelious Brown (last year's backup), Vandy transfer
Jamil Muhammad,
Kierston Harvey or incoming Mikele Colasurdo -- exceeds expectations, this could be the breakthrough year we thought 2019 might become last season
.
Georgia St. QB cleared to play; no virus issuesGeorgia St. QB cleared to play; no virus issues