Georgia State Professional Athletes

Georgia State doesn't have the NFL alumni depth of an Alabama or Ohio State, but this week one Panther alum delivered the most dramatic kick of the young season — and did it on the biggest stage available.

Wil Lutz sends Seattle home stunned

Kicker Wil Lutz turned Thursday Night Football into a Georgia State highlight reel, drilling a 53-yard field goal with 4:53 remaining in overtime to lift the Denver Broncos over the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, 17-14. The kick capped a sequence that started when Broncos safety Ja'Quan McMillian picked off Sam Darnold in overtime — Darnold's second interception of the night — setting Lutz up with a manageable field position and an enormous moment.

Lutz didn't flinch. Fifty-three yards, dead center, game over.

It's the kind of kick that defines a kicker's season — and potentially his contract. Lutz has long been one of the more reliable specialists in the league, and beating the reigning champions in OT with a mid-50s boot on national television is the sort of résumé entry that doesn't need footnotes. Denver improves on the back of it, and Lutz is the reason why.

For Georgia State fans who remember Lutz suiting up for the Panthers before the Saints made him a priority free agent signing years ago, watching him silence a championship crowd is a particular kind of pride.

Glover holds his ground in Green Bay

While Lutz was making noise in prime time, offensive tackle Travis Glover continued a quietly significant stretch in Green Bay. The Packers started Glover at right guard for the second consecutive week over Pro Bowl veteran Kevin Zeitler, a decision head coach Matt LaFleur has stood behind publicly. Glover didn't play in the first three weeks of the season, making his back-to-back starts all the more notable — the coaching staff clearly likes what they're seeing.

Earning and holding a starting job over a veteran with Zeitler's pedigree is no small thing. Glover's situation is one to monitor as the Packers push deeper into their schedule.

The rest of the Panthers

The research brief notes several other Georgia State alums on NFL rosters this week — Chandon Sullivan (Steelers), Sam Pinckney (Panthers), Jamari Thrash (Raiders), Robert Lewis (Vikings), Dexter Moody (Ravens), and Benjamin Chukwuma and Ted Hurst III (both Buccaneers) — though no notable statistical or news items emerged for those players during the period.

Still, the headline writes itself: a game-winning overtime field goal against the defending Super Bowl champions on national television. Georgia State's NFL footprint may be small, but Wil Lutz made sure nobody was ignoring it on Thursday night.

Travis Glover Earns His Stripes in Green Bay

Georgia State has quietly built an NFL pipeline, and Travis Glover just put the program back on the map in the most tangible way possible.

The Packers offensive lineman — who had been working primarily at tackle — slid inside to right guard for Green Bay's Week 4 matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the first meaningful snaps he'd seen since 2024. It was the kind of high-stakes audition that can define a career or quietly end one. Glover passed.

Green Bay won 17–14, and despite a reshuffled interior line that also featured Laken Tomlinson — freshly signed from the Dallas Cowboys' practice squad — the unit held together. Quarterback Jordan Love made his feelings clear afterward: he liked what he saw. Love's endorsement of the new-look line wasn't just diplomatic postgame noise; it was a direct acknowledgment that Glover and his linemates gave him room to operate in a tight, low-scoring game where every series mattered.

For a player who spent time developing at tackle before being asked to make an in-game position adjustment under regular-season pressure, the performance was notable. Adaptability is currency for offensive linemen on the fringes of rosters, and Glover spent his Week 4 opportunity like someone who had been saving it.

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Around the League

The Glover storyline wasn't the only Georgia State thread woven through Week 4.

Ted Hurst III found himself on the wrong side of Glover's best night. The Buccaneers wide receiver — a fellow Panther — caught 2 passes for 25 yards in Tampa Bay's 14–17 loss to Green Bay, a quiet afternoon in a game that ultimately came down to which line held up better. It didn't, and Hurst's Panthers connection made for an odd alumni subplot: one Georgia State product helping seal the win, another absorbing the loss.

Wil Lutz and the Denver Broncos dropped their game to San Francisco, 14–24, on Sunday. Specific stat line details for Lutz were not available, but the Broncos offense struggled to find traction against the 49ers.

Elsewhere, Chandon Sullivan (Steelers), Robert Lewis (Vikings), Sam Pinckney (Panthers), Jamari Thrash (Browns), Dexter Moody (Ravens), and Benjamin Chukwuma (Buccaneers) are all active in the league, keeping Georgia State represented across multiple franchises heading into the back third of the season.

The Glover moment, though, is the one that lands. A position switch, a starting nod, a quarterback's public approval — for a program that doesn't always see its linemen make headlines, this is the kind of week worth circling on the calendar.

Georgia State wide receiver Ted Hurst III made his mark in Week 3, hauling in a 40-yard touchdown — the first of his professional career — as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fell to the Minnesota Vikings, 23–16, on Sunday.

Hurst's lone catch of the afternoon was anything but quiet. The 40-yard grab put him in the end zone and etched his name into Buccaneers history as a Georgia State alumnus making good on the sport's biggest stage. The score wasn't enough to carry Tampa Bay to victory, but it announced Hurst as a legitimate weapon in the Bucs' receiving corps — one worth tracking as the season deepens.

The Panthers alum isn't alone in the league. Georgia State has a quietly robust NFL footprint, with nine active alumni spread across the league. Benjamin Chukwuma provides protection up front for Hurst and the Buccaneers as a tackle, making Tampa Bay something of a Panthers satellite office. Travis Glover is handling offensive line duties in Green Bay, while Chandon Sullivan, a veteran of the secondary, is suiting up for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

On the defensive side, Robert Lewis is patrolling the middle for the Minnesota Vikings — the same squad that handed Tampa Bay the loss on Sunday — while Dexter Moody holds down a safety role for the Baltimore Ravens.

The receiver room has particularly strong Georgia State representation. Sam Pinckney remains active for the Carolina Panthers, and Jamari Thrash is in the mix for the Cleveland Browns. With Hurst now breaking through in Tampa, three GSU wideouts are active contributors at the NFL level simultaneously.

Kicker Wil Lutz, the most seasoned name on the list, continued his NFL tenure with the Denver Broncos, who edged the Los Angeles Rams 30–26 on Sunday. Lutz's stats from the game weren't detailed in available reporting, but Denver's four-point margin in a close affair suggests the veteran kicker had work to do.

For a program that doesn't always command national recruiting headlines, Georgia State's professional pipeline is quietly building something real. Hurst's first touchdown is the kind of moment that resonates beyond the stat sheet — a validation of the Panthers' development track and a rallying point for alumni watching from Atlanta and beyond. Week 4 can't come soon enough.