Future playmakers for the Eagles

Hayden Boudreaux

Last week, it was pointed out how head coach Willie Fritz was rebuilding the offensive line. This week will delve into the skill positions and see who will be putting points on the board in the coming years.

The Eagle defense had a lot of ups and downs this season and is looking to improve their pass defense. With safety Matt Dobson graduating after next season, it only makes sense to start bringing in some more talent to the secondary. For that, Fritz traveled down to Fairburn to pick up three-star safety, Joshua Moon.

Ranked at an 84 percent overall on 24/7 Sports, this Creekside High School athlete excels on the defensive side of the ball. He stands at 6”0 and tips the scales at 185 pounds. He saw a lot of attention from other schools, namely Syracuse, UNC and Appalachian State. Moon committed to Georgia Southern on Sept. 26 of last year as the Eagles began their championship season.

One thing can be said for certain after watching his tapes: he has big play ability. Moon lays huge hits and is an expert at taking people off their feet. He shows great talent as a return man and has college level speed. He can also play linebacker and has great vision into the backfield; he gets around blocks well and is all over the field.

As productive and powerful as the offense was this season, it is important to keep putting skilled athletes in positions to succeed and keep breaking rushing records. The three-headed rushing monster of sophomores Kevin Ellison and Matt Breida, along with redshirt freshman L.A. Ramsby will all be entering their third year of eligibility next season. They will be in a perfect spot to mentor younger guys and mold them into future college stars. One that has his eyes on the horizon is running back Eric Montgomery.

Another three star prospect, Montgomery has the potential to do big things at Georgia Southern. 24/7 Sports has him rated at 80 percent overall and shows that he got major interest from Georgia, Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky. He shows great combine talent as he clocked in a 4.46 40-yard dash, squatted 350 pounds and has a 36-inch vertical.

Montgomery played his high school ball for Hillgrove High and was able to learn behind current Alabama running back Kenyan Drake. While 5”11 and 191 pounds certainly doesn’t sound like a power runner, his highlight tape shows some interesting talents. He has ability to explode through a hole, which fans could consider comparable to Breida. He has a good stiff arm and rips through arm tackles easily.

The only area of concern is his speed down the field and his ability to accelerate or hold his speed once he is through the hole, which can be fixed with conditioning. He may not be a big guy, but he is not afraid of throwing leveling blocks.

Both prospects are strong talents that will have quite the future at Georgia Southern. Moon has the talent to come in and make an impact right away. If he can adjust to the speed of the game, he will be one of our biggest playmakers on defense. Montgomery is a player with a lot of potential that could possibly be redshirted his freshman year and just build on those talents to save a year of eligibility.

There are still a few players to mention in our weekly recruiting section. Next week we will be our last look at a couple more three star recruits: defensive end Alex Davis and cornerback Montre Hartage.