Offensive pieces coming together as Southern Miss nears halfway point of spring practice
Southern Miss is nearing the midway point in its spring practice schedule and making significant progress with its bolstered roster.
Head coach Will Hall expressed excitement about his team’s progression after a full-pads practice on Saturday.
“All in all, I’m really pleased with where our culture is at,” Hall said. “I’m pleased with our growth. We’re nowhere near a finished product, but we’re 40 percent of the way in.”
The defense had another strong day, showcasing the depth and talent the unit had entering spring. The biggest play of the final scrimmage came from corner Natrone Brooks, who intercepted a Ty Keyes pass and returned it for a would’ve-been pick-six.
The quarterbacks still showed promise on the day, though, despite being shorthanded.
Quarterback growth
Quarterbacks Trey Lowe and walk-on Jake Lange missed Saturday’s practice to attend a funeral. The majority of the scrimmage reps went to Ty Keyes with the first team and true freshman Zack Wilcke with the twos. The last possession went to walk-on junior college transfer Dustin Allison.
Keyes and Wilcke have plenty of development ahead of them, but Hall has been pleased with what he has seen from both.
“Man, we’re talented at quarterback,” Hall said. “We’re young but man, we’re talented. Ty has really had a great spring ball. Zach shows unbelievable talent and ability. He can really run, he’s got great arm strength and accuracy. It’s a long way from high school football to running an NFL offense. You can see the last two days he’s starting to grasp it.
“He’s 40 percent of the way done, I can’t wait to see where he is when we double this on practice 12. When you look at Ty and him, what you see is talent, an innate ability to win, that ‘it’ factor, the ability to run and throw. Then high, high character. They make people around them better. We’re in good shape for a long time at that spot.”
The two have benefited from a wide receiver room in much healthier shape than last fall. Junior college transfer Latreal “Frog” Jones has taken over as the second outside receiver opposite Jason Brownlee and the pieces have fallen together in between them.
“We’re really good (at wide receiver),” Hall said. “We had everybody back, we add (Jones) to that room. We’re a year older, more experienced. Jason Brownlee has probably been the best player on the football team. Through six practices he’s really taken a step forward in his competitive nature.
“We’ve got players there. We got more coming this summer. We’re at Southern Miss, right? We should have great wideouts. If we don’t then the coaching staff ain’t very good.”
Zay Franks has been out recently with a concussion but also drew praise from Hall for his growth before the injury.
Offensive line coming together
The woes of the front five in 2021 were well-documented. The inability to protect the pocket and create running lanes only exasperated the issues at quarterback.
As of now, Hall feels much better about the overall health of the offensive line and where the group is at in terms of depth.
“Right now if we played a game, the five that we started out there today would start, but we’ve got about eight or nine guys that we think are good enough to win with in this league,” Hall said. “Last year we may have had three. So there’s competition there.”
The five USM used up front Saturday were 360-pound Tykeem Doss at left tackle, Gerquan Scott at left guard, Briason Mays at center, John Bolding at right guard and Paul Gainer at right tackle.
“The good is, like I said, we’re about at eight to nine kids that we know can play,” Hall said. “They’re good kids, and they’re getting better and better.”
Minor suspensions
Two players missed practice on Saturday as they served minor, short suspensions.
Star running back Frank Gore Jr. and Memphis transfer linebacker Jalil Clemons were both held out due to “disciplinary measures.”
Gore has been the team’s leading rusher each of the past two seasons and was replaced Saturday by Mississippi State transfer Janari Dean as the first back on the field.
He and his father were recently featured in an Oikos Yogurt ad.
Both Gore and Clemons will return to program activities on Monday and be back to practice on Tuesday.
