On the heels of National Signing Day, we sat down with new head football coach The George-Anne Reporter: Just under a month since being hired, you’ve had a crazy month; what’s it like being a Georgia Southern Eagle?

Willie Fritz: Really excited. Learning about the university everyday and learning about the community as well, just a tremendous reception from the people here at Georgia Southern and the people in the community so I’m really thankful for that.

G-A: Take me back to the beginning. How did you find out you were going to become the next head coach of the Eagles?

F: I was here on an interview. I went to a room with everyone on the committee and our athletic director,

G-A: What did you see as the biggest hole that needed to be filled on this team?

F: Offensive-line-wise we have a lot of seniors that are playing this next year so we need to get some freshman so that we didn’t have that big problem next year. Wide receivers – how Georgia Southern’s been playing offensive football the slots have been more halfbacks or running backs than receivers. Those were some areas of immediate concern for us.

G-A: The linemen are going to be doing a lot less cutting and will be doing more engaging. Does that change the type of offensive lineman you are going to try to recruit?

F: We’re going to be going after bigger offensive linemen. We got some kids committed and, knock on wood, that we’ll sign them on Wednesday, that really got some outstanding size. But you also want to have that movement as well, whether he can climb to block the second level. We’re not adverse to cutting either but it just won’t be quite as much in our style of play as what they’ve done in the past.

G-A: With Signing Day two days away, how big are these next two days for you and your staff?

F: Huge. We got to hold on to the guys that we had and we have really made a conscious effort to sign guys that we think can play at this level. Sometimes people want to fill a class out but we’re not one to do that. We want to have guys that are going to be able to play at this level. If we have a few extra scholarships for next year when we have the advantage of a full year of recruiting we’ll do that.

Photos by Ryan Woodham

Video by Chelsea Wright