When Darren Grainger walks off the field Saturday following the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, he will leave as the most accomplished quarterback in the program’s 14-year history.
And he will have fulfilled his obligation as one of the team’s captains and leaders. He stuck around and finished his commitment, the sort of loyalty not lost on coach Shawn Elliott, who labeled him “the statesman” of the program.
“For all those guys that, when you start something and you finish it, I’m always proud of that,” Elliott said. “It may not have always been as easy and as successful as we would have wanted, but those guys stuck with us and made the most of every opportunity.”
Georgia State (6-6, 4-4 Sun Belt) will play Utah State (6-6, 4-4 Mountain West) in its sixth bowl appearance, the fifth in seven years since Elliott arrived. Kickoff is 3:30 p.m., and the game can be seen on ESPN and heard locally on WRAS-FM 88.5. It will be the first meeting between the two teams.
Although more than a dozen players jumped into the transfer portal and others opted out of the bowl game, Grainger never considered not playing in his final collegiate opportunity.
“My whole thing looking toward this game was going out one more time with my guys,” Grainger said. “I’m very loyal to the guys that I play the season with. We don’t get these experiences again, especially with this being the last one. I’ll have no more years left. I can’t do a medical redshirt, so this will be my last one. I want to go out there with those guys and play one more ballgame.”
Grainger enters the game as the program’s career leader in total offense, touchdown passes and touchdown responsibility. He ranks second in passing yards and fourth in rushing yards; he needs 138 yards rushing to move into second place on the all-time list.
This season he has passed for 2,364 yards and 17 touchdowns and rushed for 625 yards and eight touchdowns and was an honorable-mention selection on the All-Sun Belt team.
Grainger transferred to Georgia State after one season at Furman and earned the starting job early in the 2021 season when incumbent Quad Brown struggled to move the team. Elliott remembered making the decision to start Grainger for the first time against Charlotte and how he has grown since then.
“He’s understood the game of football each and every year, so much better than the year before,” Elliott said. “He’s been a great leader for us. He’s a guy everybody looks to, and he’s always going to be welcome back here, I can tell you that.”
All-conference cornerback Gavin Pringle transferred in this season from Bucknell and is a fan of the way Grainger handles his business.
“I definitely look at him as a leader,” Pringle said. “When I first got here, he showed me the ropes. He can throw and he can run, but most of all I think he’s a great leader, and we follow him.”
Grainger will be handicapped going into the bowl game, with his No. 1 running back, No. 1 receiver and two starting tackles out of the game. At least he has some proven receivers available in Tailique Williams (46 receptions, five touchdowns), Jacari Carter (34 receptions), Cadarrius Thompson (20 receptions), tight end Ahmon Green (17 receptions) and Ja’Cyais Credle, who is healthy after missing six games with an injury.
“I expect a good, competitive football game,” Elliott said. “I think we’re very similar in how our season unfolded. They’re 6-6, the same as us, and I think we want to get that seventh win.”
The game could evolve into a shootout. Utah State is second in the Mountain West and 24th in the nation in scoring average (34.1 points) and first in the conference in total offense (448.3 yards). The Aggies have had 10 defections to the portal and one graduate senior who opted out to focus on track and field.
Utah State has two Georgians on the roster, both from Cobb County – wide receivers Jalen Royals from Hillgrove High School and Micah Davis from Harrison. Royals has 68 receptions and 14 touchdowns and was named third-team College Football Network All-America.
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