Perhaps no coach in college football has more of an uphill battle than Georgia State head man Dell McGee. After the late departure of former head coach Shawn Elliott for South Carolina, the Panthers scrambled late in February to find their next head coach.
It might not be surprising that McGee has a four-way competition on his hands, as the first-year head coach detailed the battle between Zach Gibson, Kyle Lowe, Braylen Ragland, and Christian Veilleux at Sun Belt Media Days on Tuesday.
Georgia State Searching For Answers At QB
The Panthers are in a tough spot, but McGee’s first year at Georgia State will be markedly better if he can get the starting quarterback decision correct.
The four guys in contention are all over the place in terms of their journeys to Atlanta and playing styles.
Ragland is the lone player in the discussion who was with the Panthers last season, as the redshirt freshman signed with Georgia State in 2023 and didn’t see action as a freshman. He was a true dual-threat quarterback in high school, throwing for 2,000 yards and rushing for another 600 as a senior at Briarcrest Christian in Memphis.
Also from Tennessee, Lowe ran for over 750 yards during his senior year of high school before spending two years at Middle Tennessee State, where he redshirted in 2022 and saw limited game action in 2023. He transferred during the second window, so he’s had less time with the team than some of the other contenders.
Veilleux came from Pittsburgh, where he started five games in 2023. A more pro-style passer, Veilleux took over as the starter in an upset against Louisville but struggled some down the stretch. He completed just 51% of his passes and finished with a seven-to-eight touchdown-to-interception ratio.
Gibson started his career at Akron, playing in 17 games over three seasons from 2019-2021. However, once he transferred to Georgia Tech, Gibson found it hard to get on the field, making just three starts in 2022 and failing to see game action in 2023. His numbers at Akron were solid but unspectacular, and it’s always difficult to play after a year without game action.
Unfortunately for the Panthers, none of these guys really scare opponents, at least on paper. The quarterback situation is indicative of the state of affairs in Atlanta.
Quarterback Situation Contributing to “Year Zero” Vibes
No coach ever wants to make excuses, but if asked privately, I’m sure Dell McGee would have some thoughts on the current state of affairs at Georgia State. When Shawn Elliott left, Georgia State went scrambling to keep things together. All in all, the transfer portal numbers aren’t terrible and, once hired, McGee was able to flex some of his recruiting muscles and land a few transfers from Power Four schools.
Still, the quarterback situation is certainly contributing to the lack of short-term optimism at Georgia State. The Panthers were voted last in the preseason Sun Belt polls, perhaps unsurprisingly. As a first-time head coach, it’s probably not the place McGee wants to be.
That being said, many people believe McGee is the perfect man for the job (and I’m one of them). Winning at Georgia State can be difficult. Elliott had the Panthers as a consistent winner but never broke through the eight-win ceiling.
McGee has excellent recruiting connections in the state of Georgia and is widely considered one of the best recruiters in the country. However, he’s recruited at the state’s top football school for nearly a decade. He hasn’t been part of a rebuild in a long time.
Still, you can tell McGee is a natural recruiter, always selling his school. He’s fantastic at the high school level and showed he can hold his own in the transfer portal.
All of that can be true and the Panthers might still be woefully bad in 2024. It takes time to build a program, and I’m not sure anyone would disagree that Georgia State is starting from Ground Zero, at best, under McGee.
This quarterback battle is vastly different from the battles at places like SMU or USC, where the coaches are trying to decide between two attractive, exciting options on good teams. McGee is more diplomatic than to say it out loud, but he can’t be incredibly excited about his options in 2024.
That’s not to take anything away from any of the contenders for the starting spot, as they have to be talented to play at the Group of Five level. Still, this is more a question of which guy the coaches can tolerate most throughout the season rather than choosing between a few who will elevate the offense.
It’s not an impossible task, but any win in year one of McGee’s tenure will feel like a big deal. The long-term outlook might excite Georgia State fans, but in the short term, it’s going to be rough. It’s year zero in Atlanta, and it’s not looking great.
