The Georgia Southern football team will take on in-state rival Georgia State in the last game of the season at home.

Before the game, at 5:35 p.m., all 17 seniors will be honored in a brief ceremony. These players are listed below.

Tyler Bass

Jay Bowdry

Monquavion Brinson

Will Browning III

Jakob Cooper

Lane Ecton

Jake Edwards

Jessie Liptrot 

Emory McKenzie

Mark Michaud

Derrick Newby Jr.

Ty Phillips

Colby Ransom

Donald Rutledge Jr.

Kindle Vildor

Ryan White

Stedman Waiters

“They’ve seen a lot, they’ve been through a lot,” Head Coach Chad Lunsford said. “They’ve continued to work, scratch, claw in just trying to make sure Georgia Southern football has a product that everybody is proud of.”

After beating another rival, with ranked Appalachian State a few weeks ago, GS is looking to continue this good fortune as they take on a 7-4 Panther team.

Both teams hold a 4-3 conference record and are bowl eligible. The Panthers lead the overall series 3-2, but GS defeated GSU 35-14 in Atlanta last season after a three-year losing streak.

The Panthers are having their best season since the two schools began the rivalry in 2014. They have broken four school records this season for total points scored, 379, number of touchdowns, 50, total rushing yards, 2,834, and number of rushing touchdowns, with 38.

GSU is led by conference leading senior running back Tra Barnett, who has rushed for 1,208 yards and 11 touchdowns this season. He is ranked No.6 in the FBS and is the school’s all time leading rusher. He has averaged about 120 yards per game this season.

Senior Panther QB Dan Ellington has been named Sun Belt Player of the Week twice this season and is a dual-threat. He is just as comfortable in the air as he is on the ground. He threw for a season-high 208 yards against South Alabama and has rushed for 608 yards this season.

GS is coming off of a tough loss to Arkansas State on the road which saw the Eagles going into the half down, 35-19. GS made several comeback attempts but could not make up for the RedWolves big second quarter. 

Redshirt-junior quarterback Shai Werts had his best passing game of the season, putting up 175 yards for three touchdowns.

The game will conclude regular season play as players and fans alike wait for GS to be named to a bowl game. As of writing, there are several bowl predictions but none have been confirmed.

The game will begin at 6 p.m. and can be viewed on ESPN+.

Amanda Arnold, The George-Anne Sports Editor, gasports@georgiasouthern.edu