USM Beach Bash set for Friday in Long Beach

New Southern Miss football coach Jay Hopson and plenty of other Golden Eagles will make their annual pilgrimage to the Coast on Friday to talk about the upcoming 2016 campaign.

The St. Thomas Community Center, which is located adjacent to the USM Gulf Park Campus in Long Beach, will serve as the host of this year's Gulf Coast Beach Bash, which is set to start at 6 p.m. Friday. The cost of admission is $15 per person and $7 for children ages 12 and under.

Several USM players and members of Hopson's staff will be in attendance to interact with fans and sign autographs. The USM mascot, Seymour, and cheerleaders will also be on hand.

The Golden Eagles are coming off a 9-5 campaign with Hopson taking over following a successful four-year stint as the head coach at Alcorn State, where he went 32-17 and won the 2014 and 2015 SWAC championships.

The preseason accolades have piled up for USM senior quarterback Nick Mullens and his teammates.

The Golden Eagles were picked by Conference USA media on Thursday as the preseason favorite to win the conference's West Division.

Mullens and junior running back Ito Smith are both on the watch list for the Maxwell Award, which goes to the nation's top player. Mullens is also on the watch list for the Davey O'Brien Award, which is given to the top college quarterback.

With a good chunk of talent returning from last year's team that reached the Heart of Dallas Bowl, the program's first bowl since 2011, expectations are high for the Golden Eagles entering the 2016 campaign.

Hopson will look to lead USM to back-to-back seasons of at least nine wins for the first time since 1980-81 when Bobby Collins was the head coach and Reggie Collier was the quarterback.

Southern Miss opens the 2016 season on Sept. 3 at Kentucky and holds its home opener on Sept. 10 against Savannah State.

This story was originally published July 21, 2016 at 5:54 PM with the headline "USM Beach Bash set for Friday in Long Beach."