ATLANTA — Shawn Elliott’s sixth season opener will take him home.
The Camden native has been the head coach of Georgia State since 2017 and with his family still living in Columbia, Elliott has spent a lot of time on I-20 travelling back and forth when he can.
But his next trip to Columbia will be a business trip when he takes Georgia State to Willliams-Brice Stadium for the 2022 season opener against his former team.
Elliott spent seven seasons as the Gamecocks’ offensive line coach. In 2015, he was the interim head coach for the final six games of the season when Steve Spurrier stepped down.
He was retained by Will Muschamp and spent one final season working with the guys up front before he earned his first head coaching job with Georgia State.
Elliott has led the Panthers to bowl games and winning seasons in four of his five years in Atlanta, including the first three bowl victories in program history.
Elliott’s 2021 squad won seven of its last eight games to a set the program record with eight victories. The Panthers achieved their third straight winning season at 8-5 while earning Georgia State’s third straight bowl berth, also firsts in program history. GSU capped the season with a resounding 51-20 victory over Ball State in the TaxAct Camellia Bowl to win back-to-back bowl games for the first time.
After facing one of the toughest schedules in the Group of Five, Georgia State fought back from a 1-4 start to set the school-record for wins and establish a program record for Sun Belt Conference victories with a 6-2 mark, good for second place in the East Division.
The 2021 team achieved another milestone with the program’s first win over a nationally-ranked opponent as the Panthers knocked off No. 21 Coastal Carolina 42-20 on the road.
But Elliott is focused on what’s next and that would be South Carolina where Elliott says he had seven wonderful years but he is avoiding any talk of a homecoming or nostalgia, keeping his public comments on simply preparing his team for a tough season opener. He even had 2001 and crowd noise piped him for recent practices.