Report: Georgia Southern could hire Clay Helton as head coach this week

Clay Helton became available when the USC Trojans relieved him of his duties in September after just the second game and first loss of the season.

According to Adam Rittenberg of ESPN, the Georgia Southern Eagles are in negotiations with Helton about their head-coaching vacancy. Rittenberg added on Tuesday afternoon that Georgia Southern could put pen to paper on a deal with Helton, 49, "in the next 24 hours." 

Georgia Southern fired Chad Lunsford in September after a video showing a player chugging a beer while surfing atop a moving team bus went viral. The Eagles were 1-3 at that time.

Helton, meanwhile, went 46-24 overall during his USC tenure. Former associate head coach Donte Williams has served as interim coach for the Trojans since Helton was let go. 

Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin has repeatedly been linked with the USC opening and recently had to address those rumors ahead of this past Saturday's loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes that dropped his team to 5-3 on the campaign.