2003 Southern Miss Football Preview

Etric Pruitt

The Southern Miss football program enjoyed another successful season in 2002, finishing with a 7-6 record after earning an appearance in the Houston Bowl, its fifth bowl game in the past six years. The Golden Eagles are one of only 10 programs in the nation to finish with a winning season for nine or more years in a row.

Even though last season was a success in terms of wins and losses and receiving a bowl invitation, the players and coaching staff still believed that they didn?t accomplish their goals and left unfinished business. Since winning three of the first four Conference USA championships and setting the bar at a high level, the Golden Eagle football program expects to challenge for the conference championship, a berth in the Liberty Bowl, receive national ranking and recognition and be among the top teams in the nation every year.

The 2003 season won?t be any different from other years, with the same expectations. The Golden Eagles return 46 letterwinners, including 15 starters, from a year ago as they look to make a run at their fourth Conference USA title.

The good news is that the defense returns eight starters and 28 letterwinners, led by All-American linebacker Rod Davis, All-American defensive back Etric Pruitt and All-Conference USA performers Michael Boley, Terrell Paul and Greg Brooks. The defensive unit will look to once again wreak havoc by putting pressure on its opponents.

Areas of concern for the defense include finding a starting tackle on the line and adding depth at both inside positions and at the ends. Players were switched to fill the vacant strong-side linebacker position and someone will need to emerge as the starting field cornerback.

Questions surround the offense and special teams as both areas have holes to fill before the start of the season. Gone from last year on offense are three mulit-year starters on the offense line, one of the top running running backs in the school?s history and three-year starters at tight end and at one of the wide receiver positions. On special teams, the kicker, punter and deep snapper all have to be replaced. Developing depth in all three areas is always a concern heading into a new year.

A new offensive staff and offensive philosophy was installed during the spring. Former Memphis Head Coach Rip Scherer brings a solid base of offensive experience and will serve as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Mitch Rodrigue, last year?s tight ends coach, moves over to coach the offensive line, and Shelton Gandy returns to coach the running backs. David Warner will coach the receivers, and Jay Johnson will work with the tight ends. The special teams duties will be split among the staff. Head Coach Jeff Bower will not coach a position this year, allowing him to fully devote his time to administering the overall program.

Another area of concern, heading into the new season, will be getting the players to learn and run the offensive system. After several years of running the one-back set, the offense will be more multiple this year, running one-back and two-back offenses.

Once again, the schedule has fans excited as the Golden Eagles host six home games for the second straight year and for only the second time in 20 years. Southern Miss opens the season at Cal on Aug. 30 and then plays UAB on Thursday night Sept. 4, the first of three Thursday night nationally-televised ESPN games. The Golden Eagles return home to host Memphis on Sept. 13, and then play the biggest home game in the history of the program, against Nebraska on Thursday night, Sept. 25, a game that will be televised by ESPN.

Trips to Cincinnati and Alabama on Oct. 4 and 11 follow before the Golden Eagles welcome new conference member South Florida to Hattiesburg on Oct. 25. Louisiana-Lafayette visits The Rock for Homecoming on Nov. 1, before a trip to Houston. Southern Miss hosts Tulane on Nov. 15 before hosting the final Thursday night game of the season, against conference co-champion, TCU, on Nov. 20 on ESPN. The Golden Eagles close the season at East Carolina with a Thanksgiving weekend, Nov. 29, game.

The Defense
Golden Eagle fans have come to expect the Southern Miss defense to be among the best in the nation every year and this year won?t be any different. Twenty-eight letterwinners return, including eight starters. The coaching staff is excited about this year?s defensive unit and expects it to be hard-hitting, aggressive and opportunistic.

Defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix, in his third year as coordinator and eighth year overall, has an extensive Southern Miss background to go with his growing national reputation for fielding attacking, hard-nosed defenses. The veteran defensive staff also enjoys the talents of Assistant Head Coach Randy Butler, who is in his 12th season at Southern Miss. Lytrel Pollard, entering his fifth season on the Golden Eagles staff, already has made a name for himself. Jay Hopson, in his third season as the defensive backs coach, also can call on his extensive coaching experience at such schools as LSU, Florida and Marshall.

Nix, who was the youngest coordinator in the nation two years ago, was the second youngest and youngest defensive coordinator in the country last season. He was an outstanding player at Southern Miss in the early 1990s and then moved immediately into the coaching ranks following his career, and his success has more than justified the decision by Bower to place Nix in the high-profile position. Nix will coach the inside linebackers for the third year in a row. Butler again will work with the defensive line, Pollard the outside linebackers and Hopson with the defensive backs.

And don?t look for the defensive philosophy to change. Nix?s roots are solidly implanted in the bedrock of such former Golden Eagle defensive coordinators as John Thompson and Dave Wommack. Nix played for and coached with both, and their influence can be seen daily in the work ethic of Nix and his staff and players.

Last year?s defense finished the season ranked No. 4 in pass efficiency defense, No. 10 in pass defense, No. 15 in scoring defense and No. 34 in total defense. Ranking among the best in the nation for Southern Miss defenses has become almost commonplace. The defense led the nation in fewest passing touchdowns given up (6) and tied for second in the nation in fewest defensive touchdowns allowed (19). In fact, since the 1999 season, the Golden Eagle defense leads the nation in fewest defensive touchdowns allowed (69).

Several defensive players were honored for their stellar play in 2002. Senior linebacker Rod Davis and senior defensive back Etric Pruitt were both highly decorated.

Davis was named the 2002 Conerly Trophy recipient, signifying the top player in the state of Mississippi. He was named to the Associated Press, All-American Football Foundation, The Sporting News, CollegeFootballNews.com and CNNSI.com?s All-American teams and was a semifinalist for the Butkus Award.

Pruitt was named to The Sporting News, CollegeFootballNews.com and CNNSI.com?s All-American teams and was a semifinalist for the Thorpe Award. Terrell Paul and Michael Boley both were selected for All-Conference USA honors.

Returning Starters
The Golden Eagles return eight starters and 28 letterwinners from last year?s team. The list includes defensive ends Ronald Jones and Terrell Paul, defensive tackle Eric Scott, linebackers Rod Davis (MLB) and Michael Boley (SLB) and a trio of quality defensive backs in Greg Brooks (corner), Alex Ray (rover) and Etric Pruitt (free safety).

It?s a group that the defensive staff thinks will continue the long tradition of outstanding Golden Eagle defenses. ?Our strength this fall will be our speed and our experience,? says Nix. ?We want to get even more speed on the field this season than we?ve had in recent years. We also will have to count on the leadership this veteran group will provide as another of our strengths.?

And, of course, there are areas that cause concern. Says Nix, ?We have to be a more consistent defense. We have to be able to go out and do it day in and day out. Every game, we want to play with the same great attitude and same great intensity. My biggest concern right now is getting them ready to play 12 weeks of football.?

Nix said the defense used spring practice to become a stronger, more physical defense, as well as one that tackles better. ?We still have a long way to go to be the type defense that we want to be,? he said. ?We want to be better this year, but we also want to be one of the top-ranked defenses in the nation, year in and year out.?

He also said more experience and depth will make the defense even better. ?We?ll be able to put more players on the field,? he said. ?We?re going to really stress defensive line play. We?re going to pressure the quarterback, and still continue to get eight or nine defenders in the box to stop the run. We would like for that to force other teams to be more one-dimensional and have to pass the ball more. With the experience we have returning and the play we expect from our linebackers and secondary, we?ll be able to do some of these things that will make us a better defense.?

Defensive Line
Butler feels confident his area of the defense came out of spring work in good shape, especially at the bandit and defensive end positions. A pair of key returning players at those two positions, in Terrell Paul and Ronald Jones, is the major reason for that optimism.

Paul, an all-Conference USA performer and a 2003 All-American candidate, finished with 67 tackles last year. He also had six sacks and blocked a kick. Ronald Jones, an all-conference candidate, finished strong at the end of the season and is looking to take his play up another level. He finished with 63 tackles, eight sacks and 11 tackles for loss. He also forced three fumbles, recovered one and broke up two passes.

?I think they have a chance to be as good as anyone in the conference,? Butler said. ?In the past we?ve had one bandit, or one end, who was good, but this year we have a chance to have two different playmakers out there.?

Quality backup help also is available. LaVon Pears can play bandit or end, Akeem Lockett started one game last season and knows both positions and Seante Williams, who saw considerable playing time last season, will make both these positions solid.

Pears finished with 19 tackles, Lockett had 12 tackles and a sack and Williams had 21 tackles.

But elsewhere on the defensive line, Butler is concerned about depth. ?Inside, we?re not as deep as I would like to be,? he says. ?I feel good about the starters and backups we have at both spots. We?re solid with Eric Scott at tackle. Terrance Ford played a lot last season, because of injuries to Skylor Magee and Chad Ruffin. Getting Ruffin back at full strength also will help.?

Scott finished with 34 tackles, including 4.5 tackles for loss and a fumble recovery. Ruffin also had 34 tackles and finished with two tackles for loss and Ford, seeing time as a true freshman, finished with 13 tackles.

Butler is excited about redshirt Greg Casnave. ?He?s a player with a lot of ability,? said the veteran coach. ?He?s very strong, he?s still learning the defense, though he has mastered a lot of it, and he can be a playmaker. He needs to get a little quicker and a little stronger, and he has to learn the total package; but once he does that, the sky?s the limit for him.?

In addition to Casnave, Butler said Jared Parten can be a major factor as well. ?He?s a kid who really loves to play the game,? said Butler. ?And he plays 100 miles an hour on every snap. He still needs to get bigger and stronger and learn the entire defense, but when the ball is snapped he just goes full blast. Sometimes he goes the wrong way, but he goes at 100 mph.?

Butler also says there are areas of concern, and most of those center around depth. ?We?ve got four positions there, where, on every play, every one of them gets hit,? he said. ?While you can?t worry about injuries, depth is a concern. You really can?t count on newcomers to come in and offer immediate help, but if we can have someone come in and challenge for one of these spots, it would make us a better football team.?

With as much experience as the Eagles have returning on defense, Butler says that defense can be ?pretty good.?

Middle Linebackers
Looking at his coaching position, the middle linebackers, Nix says his All- American, Rod Davis, named to the Bronko Nagurski Award ?Watch List? for the best defensive player in the nation and one of only two 2002 Associated Press linebackers returning this season, needs to become an even more dominant player.

?Rod needs to keep working hard to be a more complete football player,? said Nix. ?He needs to dominate the run even more, keep improving his pass coverage skills and be a dominant leader on the field. He sets the tempo for us defensively.?

Davis, already named to the prestigious 2003 Playboy Preseason All-American team, was named the top defensive player in the nation coming into the 2003 spring by CollegeFootballNews.com and a first-team All-American by every preseason publication during the summer.

He led the Golden Eagles in tackles with 168 stops last season, the third most in a season in the school?s history. He also led the team in quarterback sacks (10.5), ranking second on the school?s single-season list and set a school-record in tackles for loss with 23.5. He also had two interceptions, three pass breakups, one forced fumble and three fumble recoveries. He was No. 6 in the nation in total tackles, No. 3 in solo tackles, tied for No. 13 in tackles for loss and tied for No.18 in sacks.

Dillon Cleckler will back up Davis with Terry Anderson adding depth. ?With the addition of Terry, we?ve created a lot of competition at the position and it brings out the best in all of them,? said Nix. ?We have three quality players at that position who can go in and play at any time. A freshman walk-on, Tyler Patterson, will add even more depth.?

Cleckler finished with 25 tackles and one pass breakup, and Anderson finished with 16 tackles.

Weak/Strong Linebackers
Pollard also can count plenty of experience and depth at the strong side linebacker position, but basically three new players at the weak side spot.

?Antoine Cash, who moved over from free safety, came out of the spring as the number one guy at the position,? said Pollard. ?Carsha Stromas and Naton Stewart add depth. Carsha has come a long way and has the talent and potential to push Cash for the top position. We moved Stewart over from wide receiver, he?s had to learn the position, and has done a great job. He has all the tools to be a great player. He just has to learn to play on the defensive side of the ball again.?

On the strong side, Michael Boley moves over from the weak side, where he was an all-conference player last season, and finished spring work in the top spot on the strong side. Kevis Coley is in the No. 2 spot there, with Beau Maggio in the third spot.

Boley, named as an honorable-mention All-American by a few preseason publications, and as one of the top players in the country entering the spring by CollegeFootballNews.com, was the team?s second-leading tackler in 2002 with 142 stops, including 89 solo stops. He finished with eight sacks and 16 tackles for loss, six pass breakups, one forced fumble, three fumble recoveries and returned his one interception for a touchdown at Alabama. He was third in Conference USA and 27th in the nation in tackles. He was third in sacks and fifth in tackles for loss in Conference USA.

?Kevis is a smart, solid player, who gained experience on the special teams last season and has the potential to push for a starting spot,? said Pollard.

Looking at the strengths, Pollard says having a player such as Boley, who has the potential to one day play in the NFL, has to be at the top of the list, and on the flip side of that coin he talks about lack of strength as a weakness.

?We?ve just got to get a whole lot stronger that we are now,? he said. ?We?re playing right now on ability, and we have to get stronger and bigger in order to take full advantage of that ability.?

Defensive Backs
As experienced as the defense is at the linebacker position, the secondary may be in even better shape, with experience available in abundance. ?We have a senior-laden group of guys, and I?m really excited about the upcoming season,? said Coach Jay Hopson.

He lists that experience as one of the major strengths of the defense. ?We have Etric Pruitt, An All-American, and Greg Brooks, an all-conference player, and then factor in Corey Yates, who I?ve been waiting to see play for two years, and Alex Ray, an all-conference candidate, and you have a group of guys who have played together for two or three years and have molded into what I think will be one of the top defensive secondaries in the country.?

In discussing his individual players Hopson says Pruitt, Ray and Brooks all will provide quality leadership, and that each brings different talents to the game.

?Greg is a great cover player,? he said. ?And, Etric is one of those players who throws his body all over the field, does whatever it takes to win, and Alex is one of those players, who will make a few mistakes mentally, but he?s mentally tough and no one wants to win more than him, and both Corey and John (Eubanks) are vying for the other spot.?

Pruitt was named the sixth best defensive player and 25th overall coming into the spring by CollegeFootballNews.com, a preseason All-American by several preseason publications, and named to the ?Watch Lists? for the Bronko Nagurski Award, given to the best defensive player in the nation, as well as the Thorpe Award, given to the best defensive back in the nation.

He was ranked No. 21 in the nation in interceptions and No. 26 in passes defended. He was the team?s third-leading tackler with 139 total tackles, including 78 solo tackles. He also had seven tackles for loss and 13 pass breakups. He forced three fumbles, recovered two, and blocked three kicks. He was second in Conference USA in interceptions and tied for No. 3 in pass breakups.

Brooks led the team in pass breakups with 14 and is now the school?s all-time pass breakup leader. He finished with 41 tackles, including 31 solo stops, two blocked kicks and three interceptions. Ray finished with 56 tackles, four pass breakups, one interception and two tackles for loss.

Hopson calls Yates one of the fastest players on the squad and a former starter, and Eubanks had a solid freshman year and should be ever better. Seth Cumbie will provide backup for Brooks and will be challenged by Jasper Faulk. At the strong safety spot, Darrell Bennett is behind Ray and Karone Champagne is in the mix there as well. At free safety, Trevis Coley will back up Pruitt. Look for Coley, Cumbie, Champagne, Faulk and Bennett to make major contributions to the defense, as well as to the special teams.

Cumbie finished with 18 tackles, including 17 solo stops, Bennett finished with 13 tackles and Coley finished with five solo tackles.

At the boundary corner, the battle is between Yates and Eubanks. As a freshman last season, Eubanks finished with 11 tackles, one interception and one pass breakup in a limited role.

Hopson says look for his area of the defense to look much the same. ?We?ll use much the same package as we?ve always executed,? he said. ?You hope that with the experience and leadership we have, that everything will be executed right. In fact, you expect it to be done right.?

The Offense
Even with a solid spring practice in the books, the Golden Eagles will go into fall practice with a number of questions that will have to be answered on the offensive side of the ball. Most of those questions will center around a mostly-new offensive staff, the addition of a new two-back package to the offense and how quickly players are able to assimilate the intricacies of that new offense.

Bower sees the change to the two-back offense as a positive move for his Eagles. ?While we didn?t get in nearly all of the offense during spring practice, we have 29 practices in the fall, and we?ll move as fast as the players will allow us to move,? he said. ?I think the players are excited about what we are doing offensively. It definitely is a learning experience for them.

?We?ll continue to use some one-back sets, but we?re committed to the two-back offense. We?ll probably also move our quarterbacks more than we have in the past. We?ve been primarily a drop-back passing team, but we?ll move them around more and that will help us be a less predictable team that perhaps we?ve been in recent years.?

Running Backs
James Walley came out of the spring as the starter at the tailback position in the newly-installed two-back scheme, and Steel Adams and Anthony Harris will battle for the No. 1 spot at the fullback position. However, position coach Shelton Gandy says there?s plenty of room for improvement at both spots.

?Walley had a productive spring,? said Gandy. ?His lateral movement and his quickness and agility got better throughout the spring, but he has to continue to improve on his fundamentals, his first-step speed and his ability to break tackles.?

Walley, hampered by injuries throughout the 2002 season, was the team?s third-leading rusher with 256 yards on 73 carries, a 3.5 yard-per-carry average, and finished with two touchdowns and a long run of 17 yards.

Harris and Tim Blackwell will be the backups at the tailback position, while Ryan Earnest also is in the mix.

Harris was the team?s second-leading runner last season, finishing with 324 yards on 78 carries, an average of 4.2 yards-per-carry and scored four touchdowns. He had a season-high 121 yards against Memphis and scored a season-high three touchdowns against Jackson State.

Blackwell, who sat out last season, finished with 75 carries for 237 yards, an average of 3.2 yards per carry and scored three touchdowns as a sophomore in 2001. He had a season-high 97 yards against UAB and finished with three touchdowns at Louisiana Lafayette.

?Blackwell and Walley are interchangeable and both offer different bursts of speed and quickness,? said Gandy. ?Tim is probably the quicker of the two, but he needs to be more consistent. In the one-back set, Harris is probably the best of the running backs, and that he has the talent and ability to help in both the one-back and two-back sets. And while Ryan has the ability to make people miss tackles, he has to continue to improve on his running abilities between the tackles as well as his pass protection.?

At the fullback position, the situation is not as clearly defined. ?Adams had a lot of missed assignments during spring work,? Gandy said. ?But, we only had 15 practices, and he?ll get better as he understands the offense better.?

Harris was slowed during spring work with shoulder problems but should be back to full strength for the beginning of fall camp.

?Probably our biggest concern at both the running back position is that we?re really young there,? Gandy said. ?We?ve got the personnel available to be effective, but we need someone to emerge as the leader.?

Wide Receivers
From the head coach to the offensive coordinator to the position coach, all agree that a veteran and talented group of wide receivers should be a strong point for the 2003 Golden Eagles.

?We have players coming back with some experience,? said first-year receivers coach Dave Warner. ?Chris Johnson and Marvin Young both played a lot last season, and have continued to show that they?ll be our go-to guys this fall. Marvin had some hamstring problems during the spring, but we know what he can do and we?ll have these two guys on the field pretty much all the time.?

Johnson led the team with 50 catches for 673 yards, an average of 13.5 yards-per-catch and scored three touchdowns. He finished with two 100-yard receiving performances, including a career-high 141 yards on eight catches against Louisville.

Young led the team in receiving touchdowns with six. He finished with 41 catches for 615 yards, an average of 15.0 yards per catch. He had a season-high five catches for 91 yards at TCU.

Solid backups also are available. ?Antwon Courington had a solid spring for us,? said Warner. ?Also, Rocky Harrison returned from his injury last season, and, while he started slow in the spring, did work himself back into solid playing shape. We started the spring with him at one of the outside receiver spots, but he didn?t adapt to that very well. So we moved him back to one of the inside positions, and he came along much better. He has the ability to be a major factor for us, and I expect him to do that.

In his freshman season, Harrison finished with 21 catches for 268 yards and scored a touchdown. He sat out last year after suffering internal injuries from falling on a football he laid out trying to catch during a scrimmage during two-a-days.

Daron Lawrence received the most improved offensive player award following spring practice, and Warner says he has the size and speed to be a big target as well as provide quality depth. Adam Hurst is still learning at the position, after playing at running back for most of his career. According to Warner, both players had solid springs, but Lawrence needs to become more consistent in catching the football, and Hurst needs to spend the summer working on gaining weight and getting stronger so he can ?get in there and mix it up some with those bigger guys.?

Pedi Causey also can be a factor. ?He has a ton of potential, because of his size,? said Warner. ?He has good hands, is big enough that you can throw it up and let him go get it, but he also needs to improve his route-running techniques.?

Kenny Johnson, coming back from a knee injury, along with Frank Leshure, Kelsey Winters and Marvin Barnes will give Warner solid depth at the position, but going into the fall it will be Chris Johnson, Marvin Young and Courington in the starting spots, with Harrison backing up Courington, Causey backing up Chris Johnson and Daron Lawrence backing up Marvin Young.

Kenneth Johnson was fourth on the team in receiving last year, finishing with 13 catches for 152 yards, an average of 11.7 yards per catch. He suffered a knee injury during spring practice and had to have surgery.

Tight Ends
As deep and talented as the wide receiver position is, another first-year coach, Jay Johnson, finds much the same situation at tight end, where at least four players will factor into the mix.

?Overall, things went well for the tight ends during spring workouts,? Johnson said. ?We have four guys, each with different talents, who give us adequate depth. Terrell Browden came out of the spring as the top guy. He did an exceptional job in the run game throughout the spring, and, while he needs to improve on the passing game, he?s a solid player.?

Browden, who the coaches are looking to for leadership, as well as playing at an all-conference level this season, finished with four catches for 94 yards, an average of 23.5 yards per catch and scored two touchdowns last year. He had a 44-yard over the shoulder catch against Oklahoma State in the Houston Bowl at the beginning of the third quarter, helping set up the Golden Eagles? game-tying field goal.

Jonathon Simmons is in the No. 2 spot at the position. ?He did an exceptional job during the spring and gives us solid depth at tight end,? Johnson said. ?Though, at times, he was a little inconsistent mentally. He needs to get a little more physical and aggressive.?

Otho Graves is in the No. 3 position, and may be the most athletic of the group. ?He played a flex tight end/slot receiver at Pearl River Community College and after being reshirted last season, he is a little behind from a team environment standpoint,? said Johnson. ?But, he?s a truly talented receiver, and if he continues to pick up on what we?re going, he can push the two guys in front of him.?

In addition, Patrick Corbett, who moved to tight end from the offensive line, moves well for a big guy, offers even more depth at the position, and will devote a lot of his focus to long snapping for the Golden Eagles.

Offensive Line
The offensive line took the biggest hit of all from last season, where the talent level was such that three members of that group have moved on to the NFL. In addition, the position will work with a new position coach after Rodrigue moved there from the tight end position he coached last season. And while the losses were heavy, Rodrigue sees his cupboard as anything but bare.

?We obviously will be inexperienced,? he said. ?And we also have to work to get to a place were we have three guards, three tackles and two centers we can count on. We really lack depth all across the front, where we had only 13 scholarship players during spring, and that?s a young group.?

Looking at his positions, Rodrigue says redshirt freshman Travis Cooley came out of the spring in the No. 1 position at left guard and junior college transfer Chris White holds down the guard spot on the other side.

?What Cooley lacks in experience, he makes up for with pure athletic ability,? said Rodrigue. ?We need him to get bigger and stronger over the summer, but he eventually can be a really good player for us. And, White is in much the same position. He?s very athletic, but needs playing experience as well as getting bigger and stronger.?

The only experience to be found across the front belongs to center Jim Hicks, an all-conference candidate, and tackle Jeremy Parquet, and Rodrigue says that Hicks, with his experience and ability, can be a steadying influence for the entire front unit.

Parquet sits atop the depth chart at the right tackle position, and his coach says he excels at pass protection. Neal Mead occupies the same position on the other side of center and both need to improve in the same areas. ?Both need to lose some weight and get stronger during the summer,? said Rodrigue. ?Both can be solid players for us though.?

There?s also a lengthy list of players who had solid spring practices who will be counted on for depth at all five positions. That group includes George Batiste, Ben Culp, Addaryl Edwards and Myron Powe, all with solid abilities, but also all with areas that need to be improved prior to the start of fall practice. ?We need Batiste to get bigger and stronger for us, but we?re expecting good things from him,? said Rodrigue.

?Culp was having a decent spring until he was injured and then had to have surgery during the summer, and how quickly he manages to come back from that injury is a question mark. Edwards had a really good spring, and I expect him to play a lot this fall if he can continue to improve as much as he did during the spring. We also need Myron (Powe) to compete with Neal (Mead) at one of the tackle positions. He needs to become more consistent for us.?

Quarterbacks
The quarterback position is important to any team, and the Golden Eagles? top two can offer both similarities as well as differences.

?We have two players who have played, who understand the game and who have won games,? said Rip Scherer, who will also coach the quarterbacks. ?Micky (D?Angelo) has a good feel for the passing game, and a real understanding for the game, probably because he grew up with it.

?On the other hand, Dustin (Almond) has a little bit better arm strength and is a hardnosed competitor, but he doesn?t have the same feel for the game or see things as well.?

Zac White, who was hampered by Mono early last season, adds depth at the position and could push the two front runners.

D?Angelo completed 122-of-232 passes for 1,647 yards and threw seven touchdowns but had eight interceptions. He threw for over 200 yards in four games last season and had a season-high two touchdowns against Louisville. Almond completed 63-of-138 passes for 757 yards and threw three touchdowns but had three interceptions. He came off the bench and threw a season-high 258 yards at South Florida, putting the Golden Eagles in position to attempt the game-tying field goal as time expired.

?Both are guys with pride, and we?re going to need both of them to win. Perhaps our biggest drawback is that in this day and age you need players who can play off rhythm, who can create things and keep the ball alive. Our current quarterbacks are adequate athletes in that regard, but we just don?t have a player back there who can create play after play.

?More and more today, quarterbacks are players who, when things break down, can flush out and make things happen. We have a couple of players coming in who can do that. They?re just so athletic that you almost have to give them both a look. You also have to make an early decision on how quickly you feel they will be able to assimilate things, and if they demonstrate that they can do that, then you have to try to get one of them ready.?

Offensive Overview
?Certainly I think we made progress during the spring,? said new offensive coordinator Rip Scherer. ?We?ll also be a work in progress in that we?ll be building the offense through at least the first third of the season and maybe even the first half of the season.

?I made the mistake once of putting in a new offense and trying to get it all in at once, only to see it become a cluster of nothing. This way, we?re trying to have enough in so that we can handle each situation and with enough diversity, tools in the tool box so to speak, to handle all the different situations. That will be a fine line we have to straddle.?

Scherer says there are question mark at positions, but also solid groups, and that the players have been receptive to the offensive changes being made. ?I do think the players see the positives in what we are doing, and what we can become,? he said. I want us to be a ?provocative? offense, and in order to do that, I think we have to work with our strengths.

?As an example, I don?t think there?s a better group of wide receivers in Conference USA than what we have here. There may be someone with a superstar, but, as a group, four, five or six players deep, we have quality wide receivers.

?We have questions along the offensive line, we have a solid group of tight ends, and we don?t have a lot of depth at the running back position. We?ll have to be creative there.?

Scherer used words such as unpredictable and big play to describe what he wants from his offense. ?I want us to be an unpredictable offense,? he says. ?I think offenses today have to have big play capabilities. Defenses being what they are today, it?s hard to grind out 18-20 play drives on a consistent basis, so you need to have that big play capability to help counteract the defenses.

?You make those big plays by getting the ball into the hands of players capable of making those plays. For us, that means getting the ball to wide receivers. There?s no question that you have to be able to run the football effectively, but effective doesn?t necessarily mean running for a lot of yards, but rather the yards needed to complement your offensive game plan.?

Scherer also says installing a new offense in a limited time is a disadvantage but also can work to your advantage. ?Sure, I wish everyone had more of a foundation, and that we had more time to put in more of the offense, but, at least for the first couple of games, the people we?re playing also won?t know what we?re doing. That buys you some additional time to add more of the offense.?

In his still short stint as a Golden Eagle, Scherer says the building experience between the veteran coaches on the staff and the new offensive coaches as well as the process of growing a relationship with the players has been productive. ?We have good coaches here, with knowledge and understanding of the game, and I want us to use that to our advantage,? he said. ?I see my role as coordinator as trying to pool the resources of the entire staff and use all the strengths of the staff. It?s important that we all remember that this is not Rip Scherer?s offense, but rather the Southern Miss offense. I believe that coaches are more excited about coaching when they see their ideas invested in something, and that they have a say in it.

?Much the same is true of the players. Nothing brings you closer together than Saturdays. If you don?t have that foundation, then, of course, you and the players can?t build that relationship and closeness. Right now, the door is wide open for us to build on our relationship and I think the foundation is there.?

The Special Teams
While there won?t be a special teams coach this season, Pollard will coordinate a system that will see position coaches handle different aspects of the special teams? game, and he says the potential is there for the special teams to be strong.

The punting battle will be between Luke Johnson and Neal Schmidt, with Schmidt possessing the stronger leg, and Johnson being the more consistent of the two.

Brad Langley and Jacob Matlock each bring different talents to the kicking game, with Langley being the more accurate kicker from the 30-35-yard range, and Matlock having a stronger leg but needing to be more consistent. Matlock will handle the kickoff duties once again this season.

Patrick Corbett, Otho Graves, Robby D?Angelo and newcomer Adam Kelly, who joined the team after performing the snapping duties at Pearl River Community College, all have ability at the snapping position, with Corbett atop the group going into the fall.

Marvin Young will again handle the punt return duties with Chris Johnson available as well. John Eubanks will return kickoffs, with Chris Johnson, Jasper Faulk and Adam Hurst also in the mix.

Young finished with 29 punt returns for 388 yards, an average of 13.4 yards per return with a long of 40 yards. Eubanks had 22 kickoff returns for 526 yards, an average of 23.9 yards per return with a long of 53 yards. Johnson finished with 11 kickoff returns for 238 yards, an average of 21.6 yard per return with a long of 35 yards.

Quarterbacks Zac White and Micky D?Angelo will handle holding duties for the kickers.