Southern Miss hires new defensive line coach. He may add 2 D-line transfers
Southern Miss has a new defensive line coach, and it appears he’ll have transfers from Missouri and Memphis to add to the Golden Eagles’ line rotation.
Richmond defensive line coach Brandon Lacy has been hired to be part of new USM coach Will Hall’s staff, the Sun Herald has confirmed through a source with direct knowledge of the hiring.
Lacy, who spent one year on the Richmond staff, worked 10 seasons at Southeastern Louisiana prior to making the move to Virginia. He worked as assistant head coach, defensive run game coordinator, recruiting coordinator and defensive line coach during his time with the Lions.
Prior to his time at Southeastern Louisiana, he was the defensive line coach and co-defensive coordinator at Angelo State in Texas.
Lacy also has coaching stops at Appalachian State, Ferrum College, Tennessee-Martin and Rice.
As a player, he had two-year stints at both Tennessee-Martin and Kansas.
Everitt Cunningham, Montra Edwards commit to USM football
With the early signing period beginning Wednesday, it appears that Hall and Lacy have landed a pair of additions to the defensive line in Memphis defensive end/outside linebacker Everitt Cunningham and Missouri defensive tackle Montra Edwards.
The two players announced this week on Twitter that they plan to transfer to USM.
Both players are Mississippi natives, with Edwards playing his high school ball at Holmes County Central and Cunningham a product of West Point.
The 6-foot-3, 290-pound Edwards did not play for Missouri as a freshman and announced plans to transfer in October, leaving him with four years of eligibility.
Cunningham, who played two seasons at East Mississippi Community College, registered one tackle in four games during his senior season at Memphis before deciding to transfer in November.
The 6-foot-3, 241-pound Cunningham had 16 tackles and three sacks during his junior year at Memphis. He has one year of eligibility left.
USM football coaching staff coming together
Hall, who worked previously as the offensive coordinator at Tulane, announced four additions, including Lacy, to his defensive staff on Tuesday afternoon. He currently has 10 staff members in place with safeties coach possibly being the only role left to fill.
▪ Austin Armstrong, defensive coordinator/inside linebackers — Armstrong served this season as the inside linebackers coach at Louisiana-Lafayette after working one year as a defensive quality control coach at Georgia. He was an assistant defensive line coach at West Georgia in 2016 before serving two years as a graduate assistant at Louisiana-Lafayette.
▪ Chad Williams, cornerbacks — A former USM star defensive back, Williams joins Hall’s staff after serving the last two seasons as the defensive coordinator at Central Arkansas. Williams worked with Hall at West Georgia and has other stops at Middle Tennessee, Valdosta State, West Alabama and Savannah State.
▪ Mark Criner, outside linebackers — The 53-year-old Criner and Hall worked together when he was a defensive analyst at Tulane in 2019. He has served as a defensive coordinator at Portland State (1993-2000) Cincinnati (2002-03), Middle Tennessee (2004-05) and Idaho (2007-12). His other coaching stops include Utah State, Minnesota, Eastern Michigan, Lamar, Rhode Island and LSU. He also has professional experience with the Las Vegas Outlaws (XFL), Atlanta Legends (AAF) and Seattle Dragons (XFL).
▪ Reed Stringer, assistant head coach/general manager — He is the lone holdover from Jay Hopson’s staff so far. He served primarily as a tight ends coach under Hopson. Stringer and Hall worked together on the 2017 staff at Louisiana-Lafayette.
▪ Cayden Cochran, tight ends — The former Emporia State offensive coordinator worked on Hall’s staff at West Georgia.
▪ Jordy Joseph, running backs — The former Tulane quarterback was an offensive analyst who worked with Hall on the Green Wave staff the last three seasons.
▪ Cody Kennedy, offensive line coach/run game coordinator — Kennedy was the Tulane offensive line coach for two seasons and worked with Hall at West Georgia.
▪ Desmond Lindsey, receivers coach/passing game coordinator — A former member of Hall’s staff at West Georgia, Lindsey returns to USM after coaching stops at Memphis and Arkansas State. Lindsey worked as a tight ends and receivers coach at USM for two seasons under Hopson.
▪ Tad Blaylock, director of operations — Blaylock, who holds a masters in sport management from USM, is an Amory native who worked with Hall at West Georgia. Blaylock previously served as the director of operations at Incarnate Word.
This story was originally published December 15, 2020 at 1:30 PM.
