Southern Miss Golden Eagles Season Preview

Larry Fedora enters his fourth season and is 22-17 with three bowl appearances already. He once was the former offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State (’05-‘07) and Florida (‘04).

Jeff Bower coached for 17 years (’90-‘07), and it was not like the Golden Eagles struggled to reach bowl games as the team has now gone to eight straight. SM went to 10 bowls in the Bower era which just shows that this program has been among the best in C-USA.

This year’s squad has seven back on both sides of the ball. Offensively, they will be led by quarterback Austin Davis who is coming off a 20 TD, six INT season. Entering his senior campaign, he expects to throw for more than the 3,103 yards he did in his junior season.  

The leader of this team certainly should be Davis, but the most talented player may very well be their starting running back Kendrick Hardy (6’0", 217 So), who ran for 903 yards along with seven TDs last season.

He had a sensational 6.5 YPC and the depth behind him is tremendous. Desmond Johnson (5’11", 195 Junior) is a very capable backup that would be starting for most of the teams in C-USA because of deceptive speed in which he can take it to the house on any given carry.

The loss of DeAndre Brown at WR suffered that gruesome leg injury suffered two seasons ago, and it certainly cost him some of the speed he once possessed. His production from the past few seasons will be tough to overcome.

Last year, there were a few WR’s who stepped in as co-No. 1 targets. Kelvin Bolden is one of the premier guys in C-USA because of his amazing 15.9 YPC which helped him lead the team in TDs (six). 

The offensive line returns three starters, and it should be among the tops in conference and perhaps the nation because two of the three returnees are 310 pounds or more.

Left guard Joe Duhon is the one starter returnee under 300, but he is the best of the entire bunch because of his quick, light feet.

The rushing offense ranked 20th a season ago averaging 200 yards per game. This is one of the elite rushing attacks in C-USA with all the history they have had including Damion Fletcher who ran for 1,000 yards every single season from ‘06-’09.

Danny Hrapman returns and is the best kicker in the nation coming into the season (Lou Groza favorite). 

The secondary may be the only weak link on this squad with just two starters returning from a campaign that allowed a total of 243 yards per game which ranked 99th in the nation.

The strength of the defense is easily the front seven with a pair of senior stud LB’s in Korey Williams (6’2", 243) and Ronnie Thornton (6’3", 229). The duo racked up over 150 tackles a season ago and they should once again feast in C-USA. The front four returns three starters, and the two pass-rushers should only improve. 

Cordarro Law and Jamie Collins (Bandit) were solid last year and could be exceptional this season as they have the size, strength, speed and tenacity to compete with everybody on their schedule. 

Speaking of that schedule, it is among the five easiest in America! SM should be favored in every C-USA game and they should be favored in every non-conference game as well!

The only toss-up games that could be difficult will be against the Virginia Cavaliers and the Navy Midshipmen (both road tilts).

Predicted Finish: 10-4, 7-1

Predicted Bowl: Beef O’Brady’s Bowl 

Predicted order of finish in C-USA: First in East, Second in C-USA