Connect with us

All Sports

Previewing the Southern Miss Offense

The 2017 edition of Kentucky Football opens the season versus a familiar opponent, but the Wildcats hope that this year’s result is much different than 2016. The Wildcats make the trip south to Hattiesburg, Miss., where they take on the Golden Eagles of Southern Mississippi.

 

A season ago, the Golden Eagles upset Kentucky in what was then Commonwealth Stadium (Kroger Field) with a comeback 44-35 win. The Wildcats stormed out to a 35-10 advantage, before Southern Miss scored 34 unanswered points to emerge victorious, leaving Wildcat fans in a state of shock. However, that was last season and a lot can change in a year.

 

Replacing the All-Time Leading Passer in School History

 

Wildcat fans will breathe a sigh of relief knowing that the Golden Eagles starting quarterback Nick Mullens, who torched the Wildcats through the air in last season’s matchup. Mullens completed 18-of-28 pass attempts for 258 yards and 2 touchdowns. Mullens finished his college career with 11,994 yards passing and 87 touchdowns, both school records.

 

Enter 2017 and head coach Jay Hopson has question marks at quarterback, as he has yet to name a starting quarterback for week one. The depth chart lists Kwadra Griggs and Keon Howard because Hopson plans on playing both versus the Wildcats on Saturday.

 

Both Howard and Griggs have faced adversity to get to this point. Howard saw action late in the 2016 season, following an injury to starter Nick Mullens, but the 6-1, 205-pound quarterback turned the ball over five times in the two games he started. Likewise, Griggs faced adversity of his own and it forced him to watch from the sidelines last season. The 6-3, 225-pound junior college transfer was forced to sit out, as a result from being ruled academically ineligible heading into fall camp last summer.

 

Ito Smith Returns

 

The Golden Eagles may have questions at quarterback, but I can assure you, there are no questions when it comes to the starting running back position. Senior Ito Smith returns to lead the Southern Miss ground attack and he has to be eager to face the Wildcats again. A year ago, Smith ran for a season high 173 yards on 36 attempts, while adding 40 yards receiving on 5 receptions.

 

For the 2016 season, Smith carried the ball 265 times for 1,459 yards and 17 touchdowns. The 5-9, 195-pound running back from Mobile, AL., averaged 5.5 yards per carry and eclipsed the century mark 8 times last season. Smith is also a threat to catch the ball out of the backfield, as he hauled in 43 receptions for 459 yards and 2 touchdowns, which was third best on the team.

 

Smith is the only active running back in the country with over 3,000 rushing yards (3,123) and 1,000 receiving yards (1,050). Smith is a pre-season Conference-USA selection and a watch list honoree for the Maxwell Award (most outstanding player) and Doak Walker Award (best running back).

 

Weapons in the Passing Game

 

Whoever the starting quarterback is, he will have plenty of weapons at his dispense, as 11 receivers who caught a pass a year ago are set to return. Southern Miss returns 3,152 of 3,877 receiving yards from a season ago, which is an equivalent to 81.3 percent of the receiving offense. Allenzae Staggers, the Golden Eagles leading receiver in 2016, returns to lead the passing attack.

 

Staggers, a 6-2, 169-pound senior, led the Golden Eagles with 63 receptions, 1,165 yards and 7 touchdowns. Staggers was quiet versus the Wildcats last season, finishing with 2 catches and 46 yards. The senior receiver broke the school record for receiving yards in a game with 292 against Rice last fall.

 

Staggers is a pre-season All Conference-USA selection and a pre-season watch list honoree for the Paul Hornung Award (most versatile player) and Biletnikoff Award (best receiver).

 

Staggers wasn’t the man caused the Wildcats trouble last season, as senior Isaiah Jones led the Golden Eagles versus Kentucky with 93 yards receiving on 3 catches, while adding a touchdown.

 

Along with Staggers and Jones, the Golden Eagles also return Korey Robertson, who hauled in 37 catches for 437 yards and 3 touchdowns for the 2016 season.

 

Youth on the Offensive Line

 

The Golden Eagles are set to return only three players that have played a snap of college football. Redshirt senior Devin Farrior, who is making the moving from guard to center this season, leads the unit. Farrior has seen action in 41 career games with 27 starts, all at the guard position.

 

Experience is thin up front for the Golden Eagles and, other than Farrior, only senior Jerry Harris (21 career games and 4 starts) and Ty Pollard (13 games and 13 starts) has experience.

 

Additional Notes

 

Southern Miss offensive-coordinator, Shannon Dawson enters his second season with the Golden Eagles. Dawson was the offensive-coordinator at Kentucky for the 2015 season, but an offense that sputtered out of control later in the season costs him his job. The relationship between Dawson and Stoops was the talk leading up to last seasons matchup, but this year’s focus seems to have shifted away from that, thankfully.

More in All Sports