Saturday's game at Charlotte has been postponed. For more information, click here

GEORGIA STATE (0-1, 0-1 Sun Belt) at CHARLOTTE (0-1)
Sept. 26, 2020  |  12 p.m.  |  Jerry Richardson Stadium  |  Charlotte, N.C.
TV: ESPNU  |  Radio: WRAS-FM 88.5
 
THE KICKOFF: Georgia State faces its first road game of the season with a nationally-televised game (ESPNU) at Charlotte.
 
> The Panthers are coming off a 34-31 overtime loss to No. 19 Louisiana. Despite the loss, Georgia State showed many positives in its season opener, including 150 yards rushing by Destin Coates.
 
QUOTING HEAD COACH SHAWN ELLIOTT: "It was great to that first game under out belt. As a head coach, it was everything you wanted a first game to be, other than coming out with the victory. The effort, the enthusiasm, the concentration, the mindset ... everything that you need when playing a team like Louisiana. We fought to the bitter end and came up a bit short. Certainly it was a disappointing loss, but we'll rebound this week against a good Charlotte team."
 
> Charlotte opened the season with a 35-30 loss to Appalachian State on Sept. 12 but its Sept. 19 game at North Carolina was cancelled due to COVID/contact tracing.
 
> The game is a match-up of two of the newer programs in FBS. Georgia State started its program in 2010 and became a full FBS member in 2014, while Charlotte began play in 2013 and became a full FBS member in 2016.
 
> Playing just its 11th season of football and seventh at the FBS level, Georgia State looks to build on a successful 2019 season, when the Panthers earned their third bowl berth in five seasons and second in three years under head coach Shawn Elliott. GSU finished 7-6 last season.
                     
CAREER HIGH FOR COATES: Taking over for GSU's all-time leading rusher Tra Barnett, junior Destin Coates responded with a career-high 150 yards rushing vs. No. 19 Louisiana. He had four catches for 21 yards for a total of 171 all-purpose yards
 
> That is the sixth-highest single-game rushing total in GSU history, while his 34 carries tied the program record set by Barnett last season vs. Troy
 
> Coates ranks No. 3 in FBS in rushing and No. 3 in all-purpose.
 
HOMECOMING TO THE QUEEN CITY: The week's game is a Homecoming for two Georgia State seniors from Charlotte: inside linebacker Trajan Stephens-McQueen and wide receiver Jonathan Ifedi.
     
Stephens-McQueen (West Mecklenburg HS) is a team captain and one of the Panthers' top defenders. The Preseason All-Sun Belt selection led the team in tackles in 2019 and ranks sixth in GSU history with 206 career stops.
     
Ifedi (Vance HS) is a fifth-year senior with 45 career receptions for 454 yards. He earned his bachelor's degree last December in Computer Information Systems and is now working on a Master's in Information Systems with a concentration in Cybersecurity.
     
Two other Panthers are also from North Carolina: senior PK Noel Ruiz (Wilson/Fike HS), a graduate transfer from North Carolina A&T, and sophomore outside linebacker T.J. Smith (Laurinburg/Scotland HS).
 
HONORS FOR QUA: Junior cornerback Quavian White was tabbed to the weekly honor roll for the Paul Hornung Award, which recognizes versatility. Against No. 19 Louisiana, White made seven solo tackles in the game, along with an interception and two pass breakups. He also had one kickoff return (22 yds) and two punt returns for 17 yards.
     
SERIES vs. CHARLOTTE: Georgia State and Charlotte have met twice previously and the series is tied at 1-1, with each team winning on the other's home field.
 
> Georgia State won the last meeting 28-0 at Charlotte on Sept. 23, 2017 in the first and only shutout recorded by the Panthers.
 
> Then a freshman, left guard Shamarious Gilmore made history as the first and only GSU offensive lineman to score a touchdown. After a GSU field goal attempt was tipped, a Charlotte defender tried to field the ball in the end zone but fumbled, and Gilmore recovered it for the score.
 
> Gilmore is one of two current Panthers who started that game, along with linebacker and Charlotte native Trajan Stephens-McQueen. Four other current Panthers saw action: Jonathan Ifedi, Victor Heyward, Dontae Wilson and Hardrick Willis.
 
> Charlotte won the first meeting 23-20 in the 2015 season opener at the Georgia Dome.
 
> This year's game is the first of a four-year contract. The two teams will also play in 2021 and 2022 at GSU and then back at Charlotte in 2023.
 
THE COMMON THREAD: Georgia State and Charlotte have a common thread in former player Mark Hogan, who was a member of the inaugural team at both schools.
     
Hogan enrolled at Georgia State in January 2009 as the program's first scholarship player. His father, Mark Hogan Sr., had played football at Georgia Tech for coach Bill Curry, who went on to become Georgia State's inaugural head coach. The younger Hogan spent the spring of 2009 as the Panthers' first--and only--player until the rest of the class enrolled in the fall of 2009. An outside linebacker, Hogan started GSU's inaugural game on Sept. 2, 2010, a 41-7 win over Shorter.
     
After playing three years of football and two seasons of baseball and earning his degree from Georgia State, Hogan moved to Charlotte as a graduate transfer. Not only did he start Charlotte's inaugural game in 2013, but he scored the 49ers first touchdown on a pick six.
     
Hogan is now an assistant coach at Davidson.
 
QUAD TAKES OVER UNDER CENTER: Redshirt freshman Cornelious Brown IV is Georgia State's starting quarterback, taking over for two-year starter Dan Ellington.
     
Brown, known as Quad, made his first start against No. 19 Louisiana, and he was 22-for-39 for 196 yards and one TD while rushing 15 times for 64 yards and a touchdown.
 
He is the 10th different quarterback to start a game for Georgia State, and he passed for more yards than any other GSU QB in his first start except career passing leading Nick Arbuckle (413 vs. Abilene Christian, 2014).