Hiking snaps and out running defenders are obstacles that all quarterbacks encounter, however, the Eagles of Georgia Southern University have a slight advantage over its opponents—a dual quarterback system.

Ever since the beginning of the season both GSU quarterbacks, sophomore Ezayi Youyoute and junior Jerick McKinnon, have battled back and forth for the starting position. With a mid-season switch, GSU coaches replaced starter Youyoute with the secondary McKinnon. Although McKinnon now takes the first snap, the offensive coaches have found a way to use both quarterbacks to their advantage.

This weekend, at one of the most anticipated competitions of the season against Appalachian State University, the Eagles will have the chance to perfect the quarterback tag-team. With the McKinnon-Youyoute pair, the Eagles have the opportunity to run up the passing and rushing yard records.

Compared to ASU’s junior quarterback Jamal Jackson, the GSU pair has not put up anywhere near the same number of passing yards combined. As an aggressive passer, the Mountaineer quarterback has totaled up 2,190 passing yards and 15 touchdowns. Jackson’s longest throw was for 69 yards, and he averages 243 passing yards per game.

Although the Eagle’s offense is more centered around running the ball on the ground, the offense has opened up more to the passing game. Both McKinnon and Youyoute have stepped back from the snap to look for receivers at least once while taking their turn on the field.

Even though Youyoute has attempted and completed more passes than his teammate, McKinnon still has accumulated the most yards of the two. The junior also has the longest throw and averages the most yards per game. McKinnon averages 32 yards per game while his teammate averages 21.

However on the rushing side of things, the Eagle pair stacks higher individually than Jackson in rushing yardage. The Mountaineer has only 366 rushing yards so far this season. McKinnon and Youyoute tally up a total of 1,184 yards rushing together when McKinnon contributed 734 yards and while Youyoute recorded 450.