USM football is about to step on the national stage. It wasn’t an easy path to get here.
As the COVID-19 pandemic reached a July peak in Mississippi and across much of the Sun Belt, it appeared that the chances of the 2020 college football season taking place this fall were fading by the day.
At 8 p.m. on Thursday in Hattiesburg, Southern Miss and South Alabama will start the college football season in earnest as the first two FBS programs to face off this season on CBS Sports Network.
While there has been some buzz surrounding this USA-USM game since it was first scheduled in 2010, no one could have predicted that it would be played under a national spotlight and such odd circumstances with four other conferences deciding to sit out the fall — the Big Ten, Pac-12, Mountain Wast and the Mid-American.
With the schools’ two campuses separated by just shy of 90 miles, this contest was supposed to draw one of USM’s biggest crowds with the two teams meeting for the first time since South Alabama established its program in 2009.
Instead, attendance will be limited to 25 percent of the 36,000-seat M.M. Roberts Stadium due to COVID-19 guidelines set by Gov. Tate Reeves. The crowd for the nationally-televised game will mostly be made up of USM season ticket holders, upwards of 1,000 USM students and a few hundred South Alabama fans.
Even though the crowd may be much smaller than the 25,000 or so that USM typically draws to a game, the moment isn’t lost on the players
“It’s a great opportunity for us. Everybody sees it that way,” USM redshirt senior quarterback Jack Abraham said. “It’s a big game to open the season and a really good opportunity to show what we’re working on.”
Southern Miss football battled through COVID-19
While USM head coach Jay Hopson feels like his team is in a good spot health-wise, preparations for the season opener didn’t come without challenges due to the pandemic.
The coronavirus hit the offensive line unit hard early in fall camp. At least two players on the line, sophomore right guard Coker Wright and senior left guard Bryce Foxworth, missed time while battling the virus. Both players shed over 10 pounds while they were sick.
Wright, a Brookhaven native, has gotten his weight back up to 285 pounds.
“I actually spent four weeks in quarantine and missed the first three days of fall camp before being thrown back into the fire,” Wright said. “It’s definitely hit home for us. I know Brookhaven had several cases. I’ve had cases in my own family. I know a bunch of friends back home who have been dealing with it.”
Wright said that as time as passed, more USM football players have had friends and family have their own experiences with the coronavirus.
Conference USA requires that each team test players for COVID-19 three times a week, making it easy for any program to identify outbreaks as the season goes along.
The idea of getting a long swab up your sinus cavity three times a week isn’t an appealing one for the players.
“It is what it is. It’s what we’ve gotta do,” USM redshirt senior QB Jack Abraham. “It’s not the best feeling in the world, but we get to play.”
While USM has dodged a major outbreak on the team in recent weeks, it has lost seven players who have decided to opt out of the 2020 campaign and transfer due to the uncertainty of the new season.
The latest to do so was former starting safety Shannon Showers, a junior who entered the transfer portal, according to a report by 247sports.com.
Also opting out and transferring are defensive end Jacques Turner, linebacker Racheem Boothe, receiver/return man Jaylond Adams, running back Steven Anderson, defensive lineman Garrett Crawford and defensive lineman Junior Carswell.
Showers, Turner, Boothe and Adams were all starters, but Hopson feels confident that those gaps can be filled largely thanks to a 2020 signing class loaded with 13 junior college products.
The USM, South Alabama match-up
Even with the seven departures in the last month, both the players and the coaching staff are confident that this year’s USM squad is capable of competing in Conference USA.
Abraham gives USM the most experienced quarterback in the conference and new coordinator Matt Kubik showed at Louisiana-Monroe that he can build a ground game that will give his QB the support he needs. If USM can consistently run the ball, it will allow Abraham more time to throw and cut down on his inconsistent outings.
The defense isn’t laden with familiar faces other than senior safety Ky’el Hemby and senior cornerback Rachuan Mitchell, but coordinator Tony Pecoraro is confident he has the players necessary to give the Golden Eagles’ again one of the conference’s better defensive units.
With the season opener drawing closer, Pecoraro’s lineup has solidified and a defensive line hurt by Turner’s departure has come into focus.
“It’s been a rotational deal with those guys with injuries and with COVID,” Pecoraro said. “(Last week) was the first time in two weeks that we had the guys we deem our starters all working together at the same time. We spent time in camp building depth with those guys. (Defensive tackle) Tahj Sykes has done an awesome job leading those guys and (junior college transfer defensive end) Dominic Quewon has done a really good job (taking over at Turner’s spot).”
South Alabama has struggled on offense under third-year head coach Steve Campbell, ranking among the 10 worst scoring offenses in the nation a year ago at 18.4 points a game.
Redshirt sophomore Desmond Trotter showed some promise at quarterback late last season for the Jaguars, but the Jaguars area replacing a 1,000-yard rusher in Tra Minter.
“They’re a physical team and they’re going to try to run it down our throats,” Hemby said. “They’ll try to put pressure on the edge and make big plays. The big thing we’ve got to do is have good eyes and be physical. As far as the passing game, they’ll try to lure to sleep with stretch plays. They’re going to take a shot. We’ve just got to stay above their receivers. I think on Sept. 3 with South Alabama, it’s going to be a physical, four-quarter game.”
The fact that football will be played Thursday night already counts in the win column for both programs and college football as a whole.
This story was originally published September 2, 2020 at 9:23 AM.
