STATESBORO, Ga. (WSAV) — Georgia Southern football head coach Clay Helton returned to his weekly press conferences last week. There was no presser last week because the team had an open date. But during the bye week, a lot happened. Most notably, backup quarterback Dexter Williams entered his name into the transfer portal. Head coach Clay Hilton addressed the situation to start Monday's presser.
"He introduced it during the bye week," Helton said. "He thought it was the right time for him to be able to do. He thought it was the right time for the team. We talked about it for a couple of days and he still felt firm about that decision. And I'll support him in that decision as well as our team. It's time for us to move on and honor Georgia Southern."
The response your heard was the first of only two questions Clay Helton would allow about his former quarterback.
Helton also provided an update on the depth chart since Williams' departure.
"J.T. French will continue to be the starting quarterback," Helton said. "Tyler Budge will move to the second-string quarterback and Trey Townsend will be our third-string quarterback. David Dallas is still unavailable due to injury."
As Georgia Southern turns its attention to this week's opponent, they sit in a very similar position as last season. The Eagles control their own destiny to make it to the conference championship game. If they win out, they will play for the Sun Belt title the first Saturday in December.
"The main thing for us to know is to stand in the moment," running back Jalen White said. "We can't think too far out and think about Coastal (Carolina) and App State and so on. We have to focus on the week at hand."
This week, Georgia Southern plays Troy. The Trojans won last week, which snapped a five-game losing streak. Troy is 2-7 overall and 1-4 in the conference. They are currently sixth in the West Division.
"They're pretty good up front," linebacker Davon Gilmore said. "They got some pretty good backs, nice quarterbacks. As long as we come in here and we do our job, it'll be a good game."
Georgia Southern's game against Troy is Saturday at 4 p.m. at Paulson Stadium.