Tyson Summers finishes first signing class with Georgia Southern

STATESBORO -- Football coaches are hired to win games.

But before they can win the games they must first win the recruiting wars.

If Georgia Southern head coach Tyson Summers is correct in his assessment of his first recruiting class, the Eagles' future looks as bright as the present.

Coming off a GoDaddy Bowl win in December, and a Sun Belt Conference championship two years ago, Summers announced Wednesday the Eagles signed27 players.

Summers, who replaced Willie Fritz after he left for Tulane after two seasons, said it is the best class he had been associated with in his college coaching career.

"I would hate to be disrespectful to the places I have worked at," Summers said, "but, yes, I do believe that."

Twelve of the signees are offensive players and 14 are defenders, along with one place-kicker. Two are already enrolled in school: defensive end Alvin Ward Jr. and defensive lineman Darius Roper, both having transferred from Atlanta Sports Academy.

Summers believes he picked up two quality quarterbacks in Valdosta's Seth Shuman and Shai Werts of Newberry in Clinton, South Carolina.

"We're going to be a quarterback-driven offense," Summers said. "Any time you work in an option offense, you need quarterbacks. These two are outstanding."

Shuman played for new co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Rance Gillespie at Valdosta, where last fall he threw for a program record 3,194 yards while completing 227-of-399 passes with only three interceptions. Werts led his Newberry team to the Class AA championship game last fall as he rushed for 1,308 yards and passed for 1,204 with 32 touchdowns total. He had more than 6,000 yards total offense for his career.

The lone running back is Jermany Hawkins, a 5-foot-10, 207-pounder from Screven County. Hawkins also excelled as a linebacker for the Gamecocks.

Defensively, the Eagles' heaviest losses were at linebacker and the secondary, and that's where the recruiting emphasis was with four linebackers and five defensive backs signing, along with five defensive linemen.

"As a linebackers coach and defensive coordinator, this is the best group of linebackers I've been around," Summers said. "They're long, athletic, can run and are explosive as are the defensive backs.

The Eagles signed 15 players from Georgia, four from South Carolina, four from Florida and one each from New York, New Jersey, Texas and North Carolina.

"There was a sense of urgency since we had such a short period to recruit," Summers said. "We signed the best players we could regardless of where they were. Our coaches did a great job and the kids we signed are a reflection of where our coaches have developed strong ties.

"We put this class together in three weeks and held it together. Our staff did an exceptional job. We were looking for guys that, first and foremost, were high character guys. The second feature we were looking for was guys who were good students."

Georgia Southern's signing class

Darion Anderson, Wide receiver, Warner Robins

Chris Barrett, Tight end, Clearwater, Florida

Todd Bradley, Linebacker, Valdosta

Monquavion Brinson, Defensive back, Atlanta

Rashad Byrd, Linebacker, North Augusta

Deshon Cooper, Defensive end, Atlanta (Columbia)

Tori Delesline, Linebacker, Hampton, South Carolina

Lawrence Edwards, Offensive line, Orange, Florida

Tanner Hall, Wide receiver, Suwanee

Jermany Hawkins, Running back Screven County

Rakeem Hightower, Defensive back, Moultrie

Michael Jackson, Wide receiver, Lake City, Florida

Luis Martinez, Place-kicker, Moultrie

R.J. Merriweather, Wide receiver, Tifton

Mark Michaud, Tight end, Brooklyn, New York

Ty Phillips, Defensive line, Moultrie

Darius Roper, Defensive line, Jersey City, New Jersey

Seth Shuman, Quarterback, Valdosta

Alex Smith, Offensive line, Woodstock

Amari Thompson, Defensive back, Minneola, Florida

Kindle Vildor, Defensive back, College Park

Traver Vliem, Defensive end, Midland, Texas

Randy Wade, Linebacker, Blakely

Martial Washington, Defensive back, Hinesville

Shai Werts, Quarterback, Clinton, South Carolina

Drew Wilson, Offensive line, Bamberg, South Carolina

This story was originally published February 3, 2016 at 7:40 PM with the headline "Tyson Summers finishes first signing class with Georgia Southern ."