The Southern Miss QB battle likely came down to one stat during fall camp
After a tumultuous offseason at quarterback for Southern Miss, the coaching staff hopes that Jack Abraham will offer stability to begin the new campaign.
The Golden Eagles host Jackson State at 6 p.m. on Saturday in a game that should offer Abraham a chance to ease into his role as the new starter, but he seemed the unlikely man to get the first snap leaving spring practice.
He was outplayed by junior Keon Howard in the spring game and all signs pointed early in fall camp to redshirt senior Kwadra Griggs picking up where he left off as the team’s starter to end the 2017 campaign.
Howard transferred to Tulane in early August and Griggs has been under indefinite suspension since Aug. 11 due to a “student conduct matter.”
USM head coach Jay Hopson gave no indication that Griggs’ situation has changed since it was announced that he was suspended on Aug. 11.
“Where we are right now, Jack (is the starter),” Hopson said in response to a question on Griggs’ status.“We’ll just see how that goes.”
Hopson was careful not to put it all on Abraham’s shoulders in Monday’s first press conference of the season, but offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson didn’t hesitate when asked if he feels like Abraham is his guy.
“Yeah, absolutely,” Dawson said.“Right now, he’s playing at a high level. You never know how games are going to be, but I’m pleased with this growth so far and his grasp of the offense. He’s doing a lot of good things out there.”
A big goal for Dawson this year is see more accuracy in the passing game after Griggs and Howard combined to complete 56 percent of their passes.
He said Monday that he’s encouraged by the progress made in practice with Abraham running the first-string offense.
“That’s been good. I have seen it,” Dawson said. “We track it every day and then we have a cumulative total at the end. I think he was at 71-72 percent with team reps.That’s pretty good.”
Abraham completed 63.5 percent of his passes for 2,949 yards, 23 touchdowns and eight interceptions at Northwest Mississippi Community College a year ago.
Redshirt freshman Marcelo Rodriguez will be the backup quarterback to begin the season and the coaches hope to get multiple quarterbacks on the field Saturday against a Jackson State team that finished 3-8 last season.
Close ties
It will be a case of student vs. mentor Saturday night at Roberts Stadium.
Dawson, who is in his third year as the offensive coordinator at USM, worked under Jackson State offensive coordinator Hal Mumme at Southeastern Louisiana in 2003-04 and at New Mexico State in 2005.
“I know him a little bit. Hal gave me my first job out of college,” Dawson recalled Monday. “I coached one year at Wingate where I played and then I coached four years for him. My first job was driving him around. I don’t know how much coaching I did. It was basically him wanting me to quit every day, but I stuck around.”
Mumme, who has been a head coach at Kentucky, Southeastern Louisiana and New Mexico State, is in his first season on the JSU staff after previously working as the head coach at NAIA Belhaven.
Coast presence
There were six players who hail from Coast high schools on the two-deep depth chart released by USM on Monday.
The starters are sophomore receiver Tim Jones (Biloxi), redshirt sophomore defensive end Jacques Turner (D’Iberville) and sophomore safety Tyler Barnes (D’Iberville).
The second-string players are sophomore offensive tackle Paul Gainer (Gautier), redshirt freshman tight end Ray Ladner (Hancock) and long-snapper Austin Keel (D’Iberville).
Jones can work inside or outside at receiver, but he will get the start at slot for USM on Saturday.
This story was originally published August 27, 2018 at 2:17 PM.