STATESBORO — As a player, Jaybo Shaw helped return Georgia Southern to its winning ways.
Now Shaw returns to help some more.
The 23-year-old former quarterback crossed Eagle Creek on Thursday in a new role — graduate assistant coach — as the Eagles opened preseason football practice.
He looked as if he could still run the option.
“Oh no,” he said, laughing. “I don’t think my old body could take it any more.”
But count on Shaw to bring the same diligence and attention to detail to coaching that he displayed leading Southern to two Football Championship Subdivision semifinal appearances.
Shaw, who will be working on a master’s degree in sports management, joined the staff about two weeks ago and will be helping assistant Lamont Seward with the running backs.
“I’m just trying to learn as much as I can, get in the film room,” Shaw said. “It’s almost like I was a player, sitting there with coach Seward and the offensive coaches trying to figure out as much as I can.”
Shaw transferred to Georgia Southern from Georgia Tech when coach Jeff Monken became the Eagles head coach.
Monken was transforming the team’s short passing attack to an option running game, and Shaw was an integral piece to Southern’s 2010 season when the team improved from five wins to 10.
In 2011, the Shaw-led Eagles won the Southern Conference’s regular-season title for the first time since 2004.
“He’s a special kid, a special man,” Monken said. “I think he’ll be able to provide some leadership differently than the rest of our coaches can because a lot of these guys are really close to him.”
It wasn’t an easy decision because Shaw was already coaching with his father Lee Shaw at Rabun County. The Wildcats advanced to the Class AA state playoffs last season after winning only three games the previous year.
“It was a hard decision to leave him, but this is the place I want to be,” Jaybo said. “This is where my heart is. This is the place I call home. It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”
Two weeks as a collegiate coach have provided a good coaching education already, he said.
“You realize how much work is put in, outside of the players working,” Shaw said. “You see all the other things, whether it be the support staff or the full-time coaches, all the things that go into making a successful program. That was eye-opening.”
Georgia Southern senior quarterback Jerick McKinnon said he learned from Shaw as a backup in 2010 and 2011. Last season, McKinnon applied that knowledge when he moved into the starter’s role.
“I learned how to manage a game, being vocal, voicing your opinion, watching film, learning to understand the offense inside out from the five offensive linemen to the wide receivers,” McKinnon said. “I just tried to pick his mind and learn as much as I could.”
And while Shaw will be working with the fullbacks and slotbacks, he says he’ll always have time to help McKinnon or the four other quarterbacks in camp.
“Those guys are great players,” Shaw said. “They’re a lot faster than I was. But any way I can help, I’d be more than glad to.”
Different format
To get ahead of the daily afternoon rains recently, Monken and his staff split Thursday’s practice into two sessions — one for the younger players and players not on the two-deep depth chart, and a second workout for the first- and second-teamers.
“There were a lot of repetitions for each group,” Monken said. “I think it gave us an opportunity to teach those young guys at a slower pace and pick the pace up with the older guys.”
Former Savannah Christian star Nardo Govan, a three-star rated athlete by Rivals coming out of high school, began the day with the newcomers in the morning.
Govan, who excelled at multiple positions at SCPS, will start camp at fullback.
Govan was a non-qualifier last season and had to sit out, but still has four years of eligibility.
“It was amazing, being back with the guys. … The encouragement and motivation helps you a lot,” Govan said.
And the 6-foot-2, 244-pounder didn’t mind getting a chance to play fullback.
“I think it’s a great move by the coaches because they know best,” Govan said. “They see me running the ball, contributing to the team, so it’s their decision to keep me there.”
Other players getting reps in new positions were junior Ezayi Youyoute and sophomore James Dean. Youyoute, who began the 2012 season as the starting quarterback, has been moved to slotback. Dean, a fullback a year ago, was moved to linebacker.
More transfers
Torrance Hunt, a running back from East Carolina, Darius Safford, a cornerback from Lafayette College (Pa.), and Spencer Stephens, a tight end from Mt. San Antonio College, boosted the number of transfers in GSU camp to five this preseason.
Two weeks ago, Monken said Favian Upshaw, a quarterback from Florida International, and Zander Yost, a safety from Navy, had joined the program.
Hunt, who graduated from East Carolina this summer, joined the Eagles after earning three letters as a Pirate playing running back, wide receiver and defensive back during his career. He still has a year of eligibility remaining.
Hunt averaged 4.5 yards per rush as a junior and was ECU’s leading rusher over the final six games of the 2011 season.
Safford played three years at Lafayette and earned All-Patriot League honors in 2012 after posting 51 tackles, four tackles for losses, five pass breakups and three interceptions. The Douglasville native graduated in May and has a year of eligibility remaining.
Stephens, a tight end from Mt. San Antonio College, was part of the Mounties teams that went 22-3 in his two-year career and advanced to the national title game his freshman year. He has recorded 12 receptions for 121 yards (15.1 average) with four touchdowns.
Upshaw, a red-shirt freshman, was a dual-threat quarterback at Astronaut High School in Titusville, Fla., who earned Florida Today All-Space Coast first team quarterback honors as a junior and Associated Press All-State honorable mention status. The three-sport letterman was the No. 1 high jumper in Florida and was ranked 25th nationally.
Yost, a sophomore, transferred after one year at Navy. He is a native of Johns Creek who won eight state medals in track and field during his prep career at Wesleyan.
New technology
The Eagles began practice with new equipment designed to protect players from concussions. Georgia Southern is the only collegiate football team in the state to use the Helmet Impact Telemetry System (HITS) which measures and records every hit to the head during practices and games.
In 2011, the school received a $385,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to study concussions.
Georgia Southern has equipped 40 helmets with the Riddell HITS system. There are six sensors inside each helmet that measures the severity of a hit to the head. A typical impact in football lasts about 15 milliseconds. In that instant, measurements from the sensors will be transmitted in nearly real-time to a laptop computer being monitored on the sidelines of all practices and games.
“Hopefully, that’s beneficial in figuring out what we can do to build a safer helmet,” Monken said. “(It will give data to) protect these guys better whether it’s chin straps, mouthpieces, the pads we put in the helmets, the kind of materials we’re using. … It’s such a new technology and new research. I hope it will protect our players and protect players around the country.”