James Charles French IV (born December 4, 2003) is an American college football quarterback for the Cincinnati Bearcats. He previously played for the Memphis Tigers and Georgia Southern Eagles.
Early life French attended Blessed Trinity Catholic High School in Roswell, Georgia. A three-star recruit, he committed to play college football at the University of Memphis over offers from Arkansas State, Virginia Tech, and Tulane.
College career French redshirted as a freshman at Memphis, before entering the transfer portal. He transferred to Georgia Southern University to play for the Georgia Southern Eagles. After playing sparingly his first season with the Eagles, French was named the team's starting quarterback entering the 2024 season. In his first career start against Boise State, he threw for 322 yards and two touchdowns in a 56–45 defeat.
On January 6, 2026, French announced that he would transfer to the University of Cincinnati to play for the Cincinnati Bearcats.
Statistics SeasonTeam Games Passing Rushing GP GS Record Cmp Att Pct Yds Avg TD Int Rtg Att Yds Avg TD 2022Memphis 2023 Georgia Southern 10 0 — 13 16 81.3 122 7.6 1 1 153.4 14 48 3.4 0 2024 Georgia Southern 13 13 8–5 269 410 65.6 2,831 6.9 17 11 131.9 118 238 2.0 2 2025Georgia Southern 13 13 7–6 248 389 63.8 2,929 7.5 20 8 139.9 133 315 2.4 6 Career 36 26 15−11 530 815 65.0 5,882 7.2 38 20 136.1 265 601 2.3 8
References
External links Georgia Southern Eagles bio