EAGLE EXTRAS: Georgia Southern coaches recruiting for December signing day; bowl projections indicate West Coast trip for Eagles

The regular season has come to an end for Georgia Southern (7-5, 5-3 Sun Belt Conference), and the Eagles now await a bowl destination following this Saturday’s championship games across the country.

Before moving on to preparing for a bowl opponent still to be determined, head coach Chad Lunsford and his entire staff will use this week to begin putting the finishing touches on the 2020 recruiting class.

While coaches are busy recruiting ahead of the Dec. 18 early signing day, players will be preparing for final exams during this week, the last of the fall semester.

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“The first thing we’ve got to do is come up with our schedule (for the next week),” Lunsford said after Saturday’s 38-10 beating of rival Georgia State. “We gotta make sure it’s conducive to making sure our guys can finish strong in the classroom. We got one more week of class, and then we’re going into finals. And so I want to be very mindful of that.

“We obviously need to get our practices in and make sure we are ready for this bowl game, But the other piece to it is the contact period is starting for recruiting. So coaches are going to be out on the road and we’ve got to make sure we’re doing a good job there so we can make sure we are finishing off with that December signing period.”

According to 247 Sports, GS has 11 verbal commitments for the 2020 class, including 10 3-star prospects. Last year, Southern inked 19 players in the early signing slot and four more on the traditional February signing day (Feb. 5, 2020 this season).

Bowl projections

Georgia Southern will be in a bowl game somewhere, but the Eagles won’t officially know their destination and opponent until Sunday, Dec. 8. It’ll be the third bowl appearance in program history and the second consecutive bid. Last season, Southern beat Eastern Michigan in the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama.

Several media outlets have projected bowl matchups for this year, including Southern’s. Here’s a look at where each publication/website thinks GS is going bowling.

• Brett McMurphy — Arizona Bowl — Dec. 31 vs. San Diego State

• CBS — Arizona Bowl — Dec. 31 vs. Utah State

• ESPN’s Mark Schlabach — Arizona Bowl — Dec. 31 vs. Nevada

• ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura — Camellia Bowl — Dec. 21 vs. Western Michigan

• Sporting News — Mobile Alabama Bowl — Jan. 6 vs. Ohio

• College Football News — Arizona Bowl — Dec. 31 vs. Toledo

• Athlon — Camellia Bowl — Dec. 21 vs. Kent State

Rankings roundup

Here's how several college football media outlets rank the Eagles (of 130 FBS schools) after the 12-game regular season.

Rankings with an asterisk indicate teams are ranked by data and formula, not by human polling.

•ESPN* (Football Power Index) — 85 (89 last week)

•CBS Top 130 — 60 (79)

•The Athletic 130 — 55 (63)

•Athlon 130 — 75 (74)

•Massey Ratings* — 68 (73)

•Sagarin Ratings* (256 FBS/FCS teams ranked) — 83 (91)

•Southern Pigskin OAYP* — 72 (81)

Travis Jaudon is a sports reporter covering Georgia Southern athletics at the Savannah Morning News. Follow him on Twitter @JaudonSportsSMN.