With cameras rolling and the lights beaming on his bald head, Georgia Southern’s first-year head coach Chad Lunsford entertained questions from a thirsty media room about his starting quarterback Shai Werts last week at the Sun Belt Media Day.

“Shai is somebody that I think fits us very well,” Lunsford said. “He’s a guy that, you know, was thrown into the fire as a redshirt freshman last year and lots of times I felt like he kinda relied on his athletic ability instead of fundamentals.”

Lunsford continued and talked about how the young quarterback would be featured as the centerpiece of the offense.

“What we’re doing on offense with the gun-triple(option) fits him very well,” Lunsford said. “We want to make sure we’re getting better with him fundamentally, so we’ve put a lot of time into that in the offseason to make him a better fundamental quarterback.”

A pair of seniors joined the head ball coach and flew south to New Orleans in running back Wesley Fields and safety Joshua Moon.

Fields looks to lead the Eagle backfield this year, and talked about what true blue fans should expect from the offense this upcoming season.

“Pretty much the same thing,” Fields said, referring to the patented triple-option threat Georgia Southern has always bolstered. “Maybe kind of similar to the ’15 year, triple-option, simple.”

The 2015 season that Fields referred to was the season where HC Willie Fritz had the spread-option unsolvable, leading the Eagles to their first ever bowl victory in the GoDaddy Bowl.

Fields also talked about what he’s seen, and liked, from the man under center, Shai Werts, who enters his second season as the starting QB.

“I definitely see a lot of progression,” Fields said. “Because when he first came in he had the freshman butterflies in his stomach, because I had it when I played as a freshman. I definitely see him more confident, he’s getting more comfortable playing and playing at the position and filling those shoes, playing on Saturdays, reading defenses better, working extra hard.”

Going from the offensive side of the ball to the defensive side of the ball, Moon is one of the anchors of the GS defensive backfield and he talked about the improvements and expectations out of the Eagle defense.

“This year we’re running the 3-4,” Moon said. “Really you can expect us to be a disciplined, sound, fast and physical defense. Coach Sloan [is] coming in with a good game plan with the 3-4, so I have real good confidence in what he brings to the table.”

Moon mentioned Coach Sloan, who is just one of the many new coaches on Lunsford’s staff, and the star safety talked about what the newcomers were bringing to the squad.

“Everybody’s really buying in,” Moon said. “Everybody has it made up in their mind that we’re not trying to go through what we went through the past two years. We’re on the same boat, on the same page, so we’ll get it done this year.”

The Eagles look to improve in the upcoming campaign, and with a two-win season in the rear-view mirror, they appear to be on the right path.

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