With the NFL season officially getting going on Thursday, Georgia Southern has a handful of former team members representing them at the professional level.

Most notably, the San Francisco 49ers have two great Eagle alumni on their NFL roster, but received unfortunate news on one of them after a preseason practice injury.

Still fresh off of signing a four-year, $30 million deal with the 49ers, former Eagle quarterback and running back Jerick “Jet” McKinnon suffered a knee injury in the final play of the team’s practice on Saturday. The diagnosis came back as what the team personnel had feared, a torn ACL.

The injury will sideline Mckinnon for the entire 2018 season, but even with all the bad news about the projected starter, Eagle and 49er fans can both be happy about the man charged with taking his place in the lineup.

Another former Eagle running back, Matt Breida, is now officially listed as the starting running back on the 49ers’ depth chart. After getting 126 touches as a backup in his rookie season last year, Breida is expected to receive the bulk of the carries in San Francisco this year.

Other former Georgia Southern standouts making their mark in the NFL are J.J. Wilcox, a safety who signed a new deal with the New York Jets during the offseason, Ukeme Eligwe, who signed with the New York Giants on Monday after being let go by the Chiefs and Antwione Williams who was picked up by the Seahawks Monday.

Ryan Pye, The George-Anne Sports Reporter, gasports@georgiasouthern.edu