Bryan Ellis,  just finished his first season at Georgia Southern and who worked at Western Kentucky the previous three seasons and helped guide a record-breaking Hilltopper offense in 2021, has been named the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach of the Georgia Southern football program as announced Monday by head coach Clay Helton.

"We are very excited to introduce Bryan Ellis as our new offensive coordinator," Helton said. "Having worked with Bryan at USC, I had the opportunity to witness first-hand his ability to recruit and develop quarterbacks at an elite level. His leadership as a coordinator at Western Kentucky has taken the Hilltoppers to three straight bowl games and this year a conference championship game. This year's offense ranks second in the nation in both scoring offense and total offense as well as holding the title as the top passing offense in the nation. As a Georgia native, he has extremely strong recruiting ties within our state. We look forward to his innovative style taking our offense to new heights."

"I've been a fan of Georgia Southern my entire life," Ellis said. "It's an honor to be a part of a program with such a winning tradition and I look forward to doing my part in getting this place back to where it belongs."

Prior to his new role at Georgia Southern, Ellis returned to WKU for his second stint with the Hilltoppers and served as the co-offensive coordinator and inside receivers coach for a Hilltopper team that put up record numbers in 2021 en route to a Conference USA championship game appearance. Heading into its bowl game, WKU ranks second in FBS with 43.1 points per game, averaging 5.2 offensive touchdowns per game. In 2021, WKU leads the nation with 436.5 passing yards per game, 43.9 yards above the next-best passing attack (Virginia, 392.6) and has had 85 passing plays of 20-plus yards with 22 of those going for touchdowns. Under Ellis's tutelage, 11 different Hilltoppers had a touchdown reception and 14 different players caught at least four passes. Ellis tutored wide receiver Jerreth Sterns who was named a semifinalist for the 2021 Biletnikoff Award and has 137 receptions for 1,718 yards and 14 touchdowns. Sterns' 111 catches lead the next-closest FBS receiver by 39 two receivers have 98), his 1,718 receiving yards rank first in the FBS and his 14 touchdowns are second in the country. Ellis was offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach during the 2020 and 2019 seasons.

In 2018, Ellis was the quarterbacks coach at USC under Helton where he was tasked with developing the successor to Sam Darnold, the No. 3 overall draft pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. During the 2018 season, Ellis navigated the development of true freshman JT Daniels, just the second true freshman to start a season opener for the Trojans in program history. Not only was Daniels a true freshman, he also reclassified and joined the program a year early. All Daniels did in his debut was post the top passing yardage performance by a Trojan in his playing debut with 282 yards on 21-of-35 passing. Under Ellis' direction, Daniels became the first USC true freshman to throw for 300-plus yards since Matt Barkley in 2009.

Prior to his bump to a full-time role with the Trojans, Ellis assisted Helton in the quarterbacks' room where the duo worked together with Darnold during the 2017 campaign. That season, Darnold set school record marks for passing yards (4,143, the first 4,000-yard passer in school history) and total offense (4,225 yards, the first Trojan over 4,000 yards) as well as most 200-yard (13) and 300-yard (8) passing games.

Ellis previously coached wide receivers (2016) and running backs (2015) during his first tour of duty with the Hilltoppers. Ellis came to WKU as an offensive quality control assistant in 2014 where he assisted in developing the quarterbacks.

Ellis, a Byron, Georgia, native, had an outstanding prep career at Peach County High and was tabbed the Atlanta Journal-Constitution AAA State Offensive Player of the Year. He passed for more than 3,600 and threw 31 touchdowns as a senior, leading his Trojans' squad to a 14-1 record and Class AAA State Championship.

Ellis is married to the former Janie Cox, and the couple has a daughter, Zoey, and a son, Cade.

Bryan Ellis

OC: Georgia Southern University