It’s a new day at Southern Miss. ‘If you don’t like discipline ... go somewhere else.’
Spring football officially kicked off Monday at Southern Miss under new head coach Charles Huff.
It’s the new staff’s first opportunity to see an overhauled roster get field reps coming off a 1-11 season. The spring slate represents the second leg of what Huff sees as a three-phase program in the team-building process.
The primary difference between the first phase — winter conditioning — and the second is largely the transition from weight room to field. During a press conference, Huff said the focus will remain on building the individual rather than meshing and blending a team with over 40 new faces.
The reason? The Golden Eagles are not done flipping the roster and the upcoming second transfer portal window will see more egress and ingress.
“We’re not into building the team, yet,” Huff said. “We’re into building the individual. We’re not into building the team yet because the reality is some of these guys won’t be here. It’s just the reality of it. It’s like in the NFL, there’s free agency. There’s some guys on teams that are going to have to move on and play for other teams.”
Huff spoke at length about evaluating every aspect of the student-athletes in the building from academics, to playbook retention and scheme fit, among other things.
The coming weeks are more about teaching than training and the ones who latch on to Huff’s disciplinarian ways are the ones who will remain.
“When we get to the summer, then we’ll start building the team,” Huff said. “I don’t think you can start building the team when you haven’t taught guys how to be on the team. This is America, it’s a free country. If you don’t like discipline, you have the option to go somewhere else. I’m not going to force you to do things to be on this team that you don’t want to do.”
While the sentiment goes for every player taking the field, there are two position groups that will be watched particularly closely.
Line of Scrimmage
Huff pointed to the skill groups on both sides of the ball as the positions he’s most excited about watching, based on prior knowledge of Marshall transfers, game tape and what has been seen in the conditioning program.
It’s easier to scout wide receivers and defensive backs, plus both rooms are deep in former Thundering Herd players. But the bigger bodies on the line of scrimmage remain a significant unknown to the staff.
A half-dozen offensive lineman graduated or transferred out and seven transferred in, effectively reshaping a position group that was embattled and beleaguered throughout Will Hall’s tenure.
They come with experience: Hayes Creel has logged over 1,200 snaps at the FCS level, Jez Janvier didn’t allow a sack in 284 pass blocking snaps at Eastern Michigan and Cooper Frazier and Christian Anderson both have more than 2,000 FCS snaps under their belts.
But Huff and staff haven’t seen them move in person yet, setting up a critical series of tests in the form of spring practices.
“The bigs take a little bit longer to determine yay or nay on,” Huff said. “Just because they’re a different position group, their bodies are different, their movements are different... That’s the area we want to be able to evaluate this Spring and figure out what type of investment in the bigs we need to make in the Spring portal.”
The staff gets only 15 practices to figure that out, but does benefit from an experienced coach in new offensive coordinator Blake Anderson.
Anderson’s previous two stops were as head coach at Utah State and Arkansas State and was an offensive assistant at USM from 2008-2011. His familiarity with that side of the ball and the CEO aspects of it are assets that will be utilized to evaluate the group at a physical and personal level.
“It’s going to be crazy,” Anderson said. “This is new for everybody. We’re not only trying to learn a new offense and evaluate, but we’re just trying to get to know each other. It’s a huge challenge and we’re going to grind through every piece of tape, every drill, every individual group work, technique work and we’re going to try to find the best 11 in them.
“I don’t expect that to take overnight... We have to find guys that love ball and guys that have the character and the traits that we need them to have because when times get tough, that’s when we’re going to need them.”
Tenured Eagles with a head start
There is a core within the team that is safely on the roster following spring practice should they choose to stay. Former Marshall standouts Braylon Braxton at quarterback and Josh Moten at corner back among them.
But the group isn’t devoid of the roughly 40 players that have been carried over from the 2024 roster. A few of them stood out quickly as athletes they hoped to retain just from the film used in preparation for last season’s game between USM and Marshall.
“(Linebacker) Chris Jones has been a big piece to our winter conditioning,” Huff said. “Obviously (wide receiver) Ti (Mims) just from being on the other side and evaluating his on-field ability. Same thing with Chris Jones. I think (tight end) Kyirin Heath has some potential. We have to see him play the game, but when you look at his size and movement, he has some potential.”
Huff noted things can change for players once the football phase plays out in the spring and expects other tenured players to stand out.
But for Jones, the sophomore also already has the attention of his new defensive coordinator.
“He’s an NFL body type and he’ll have a chance to play at that level,” Jason Semore said of Jones. “Physicality, speed, change of direction, he’s just different when you watch him move around... With that young man, he has all the intangible pieces. From a mental standpoint, he’s wired the right way.”
Jones, as with every linebacker on the roster, will work both the mike and will positions within Semore’s 4-2-5 defense but is expected to play the will position in order to utilize his speed and awareness to better cover the length of the field.
Mims was the first player Huff pointed to in December as one he wanted to retain just from the work his staff at Marshall had to put in to prepare for his punt return prowess.
New special teams coordinator Joe Bolden has seen the film and witnessed the rising senior’s fluidity in conditioning and is excited to work with him.
“Mims is electric with the ball in his hands,” Bolden said. “How do we create better job security? It’s my job to find out how to create explosive plays for him... I’m excited to see him get going this spring.”
The spring practice schedule is set to run into mid-April and will culminate in a Spring Game on April 12. The second transfer portal window is scheduled to open days later on April 16.
