Football is back in Hattiesburg. And so begins the Southern Miss QB battle.
Football is back in Hattiesburg and, for the first time in three years, the Golden Eagles are taking the spring field as a winning ball club.
The LendingTree Bowl champs are carrying newfound momentum into a practice period that is filled with its own set of brand new story lines.
New quarterbacks have arrived and build out the deepest room of passers head coach Will Hall has had at his disposal since taking over before the 2021 season.
On the other side of the ball, Dan O’Brien has been elevated from safeties coach to defensive coordinator, replacing Austin Armstrong who left for Alabama before recently taking the open defensive coordinator job at Florida.
A slew of players who missed significant time in 2022 are also working their way back, giving Hall depth that has him excited for the immediate future of USM football.
“I love where our roster is at after three years of building it,” Hall said. “I think we have a chance to be a pretty good football team. We got to continue to improve and continue to get better.”
Quarterback battle begins
This time last year, Hall named Ty Keyes the leader of the pack at quarterback and his only competition was a true freshman in Zach Wilcke.
Fast forward a year and the quarterback room is looking a little different. Gone is Keyes, who transferred to East Mississippi Community College after suffering his second season-ending injury in as many years, and in is a group of arms ranging in experience from high school to Power Five.
Among the group, a trio stand out as early leaders in the race.
“We got three guys that are really competing right now to be the starter,” Hall said. “Obviously, Wilcke is returning and then we got Billy Wiles who transferred in and Holman Edwards who transferred in... We got a lot of talent in that room, most we’ve ever had. A lot of competition for the first time.”
Hall has been vocal about being unable to run the offense he has envisioned at USM due to inexperience at quarterback.
With an older Wilcke, Edwards in from Houston and Wiles from Clemson, the playbook may finally be opening up in the way Hall has been hoping for.
“I feel like this is the first time we’ve had a fighting chance to run the offense we came here to run,” Hall said.
Hall will rotate his quarterbacks with the first and second-team offenses throughout the practice period. At the end of Thursday’s practice, Wiles ran with the first team and Edwards with the second team.
Defensive depth under a new leader
The front seven is returning loaded with experience from one of the nation’s most disruptive defenses. Departures in Santrell Latham and Daylen Gill at linebacker are largely offset by the returns of Swayze Bozeman, Hayes Maples and Josh Carr Jr. from injury.
There’s work to be done in building out a new starting secondary, though, with only Jay Stanley returning at safety.
The pressure is on to find the right pieces among the defensive backs, given the focal point of improvement Hall and O’Brien are hoping to drill home this spring.
“I think for us, limiting explosive plays defensively,” Hall said. “We were good at creating explosives, but we were bad at giving up explosives. Being a little older, a little better at keeping it front of us is going to be better.”
Hall says the way the defense operates on the field will not look different “to the naked eye” from past seasons. Southern Miss remain aggressive in its defensive approach with efforts to shore up the secondary.
O’Brien had been an “integral” part of the defense under Armstrong and doesn’t plan on altering the construct of the unit too much.
“Obviously, (O’Brien) has got to put his own twist to it, but the way we play defense, our program from West Alabama to West Georgia to here, we’ve always played great defense,” Hall said. “We’re going to continue to play great defense and I think we got really good players. We have a chance to be good.”
Among the players battling for open spots in the coming weeks are MJ Daniels from Ole Miss, who has been worked some at corner since arriving, and Dylan Lawrence from Mississippi State.
Health update
Hall provided a health update after practice for the numerous players who went down in 2022.
According to Hall, Bozeman and Carr will not be cleared for spring ball but are on track to return by summer. Maples is expected to be cleared during the spring, but Hall said they won’t rush him back given the experience of the sixth-year linebacker.
Wide receiver Brandon Hayes, who has caught 10 passes over three years, is regarded by Hall as one of the most explosive players on his offense. He went down for the year early last season and is expected to be cleared “at some point” during spring practice.
Early enrollee Matt Nixon, a West Jones wide receiver who missed his entire senior season, is also expected to be cleared during the spring, as well.
This story was originally published February 23, 2023 at 1:37 PM.
