STATESBORO - Georgia Southern's Robert Brice and Cornelius Collins get a chance to return home this weekend. And they're not looking to stock up on food staples or save quarters on dirty laundry.

No, this is a business trip for the Atlanta natives. Southern takes on Georgia State on Saturday in the Georgia Dome.

Brice is a reserve in Southern's secondary. Collins is an Eagle running back who is red-shirting this season. Both were recruited by Georgia State.

Both are happy with their decisions to look 220 miles southeast.

"On my (recruiting) visit, (Georgia State) players didn't seem to click, but here it seemed like a real family. I'm big on family," said Brice, who starred at Southwest DeKalb before becoming part of the Eagles' 2013 recruiting class.

Collins, who turns 19 on Saturday, starred at North Paulding High School. He ran for 1,400 or more yards in both his junior and senior seasons.

As a red-shirted player, the 5-foot-10, 230-pound running back can't be on the sidelines. But Collins plans to be in the stands behind the Georgia Southern bench encouraging his teammates.

"I'll be the team's No. 1 fan (Saturday)," he said. "I'll be giving it all I got."

Brice and Collins aren't alone in their migration south. The football team has 48 players from the Atlanta-area among its 92 players from Georgia.

The Georgia Southern student body follows a similar trend. School officials said 36 percent of the entire student body comes from Atlanta and 48 percent of the incoming freshmen class is from the metro or greater-Atlanta area.

There are approximately 20,000 Georgia Southern alumni in Atlanta.

"It all depends what a kid is looking for," Eagles coach Willie Fritz said. "Some kids want to stay home, but some want to be their own person. That's my sales pitch.

"I've been so impressed with the talent-level in this (Georgia, South Carolina, Florida) area. The area we're recruiting is the best area I've ever recruited. … Now that we're playing Division I football, kids are realizing, hey, I can stay in state. Everyone recruits Atlanta, but I think there are a lot of ties between that area and Georgia Southern."

Southern has so many ties in Atlanta, it is organizing a white-out - asking Eagle fans to wear white to the game as a show of solidarity.

"(Georgia State is) probably excited about the revenue," said Fritz about the expected large and loud Statesboro contingent.

Southern had about 15,000 fans attend a Sept. 13 game between the Eagles and Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

Southern linebacker Edwin Jackson expects about 100 friends and family in attendance Saturday.

Brice nodded.

"It's good to go back home, play in front of my family and friends, I might have 100, too," he said.

It won't be the first time Brice has played in the Georgia Dome. As a 10-year-old, he played in the dome for a parks and recreation all-star game. He also played in the dome in high school against North Atlanta during North Atlanta's homecoming.

"I know a lot of people I went to high school with who say they're going to come out and support me," Brice said. "It's going to be a great environment."





Return to Dome

Georgia Southern's game with Georgia State on Saturday will mark the second time the Eagles have played in the Georgia Dome.

Southern defeated Middle Tennessee State 34-26 in the dome on Sept. 9, 1995.





Sun Belt leaders

Saturday's contest will showcase several of the top performers in the Sun Belt Conference. Georgia Southern running back Matt Breida and quarterback Kevin Ellison, both sophomores, are 1-2 in the league in rushing.

Breida has 831 yards - 176 more than Ellison's 655.

The Eagles' average of 372.0 rushing yards a game is 29 more than Football Bowl Subdivision leader Wisconsin. Southern, in its second year of transition to the FBS, is not eligible in the FBS rankings.

Georgia State's junior quarterback Nick Arbuckle leads the conference with 2,064 passing yards.

Southern's junior placekicker Alex Hanks leads the league in scoring with 54 points and is tied for the conference lead averaging 1.29 field goals a game.





Potential milestones

Georgia Southern will be looking for its 300th win since restarting football in 1982.

Georgia State is looking for its first Sun Belt Conference victory ever. The Panthers, who joined the league last season, went 0-12 overall, 0-8 in conference play last season and are 1-6 overall, 0-4 in the league this season.





GEORGIA SOUTHERN AT GEORGIA STATE

Records: Georgia Southern 5-2, 4-0 Sun Belt; Georgia State 1-6, 0-4 Sun Belt

When: 2 p.m. Saturday

Where: Georgia Dome, Atlanta

TV/Radio/Internet: No TV/103.7 FM (Statesboro), WZAT 102.3 FM (Savannah)/ESPN3