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SI Scouting Reports 1. Nebraska 2. Florida State 3. Alabama 4. Michigan 5. Wisconsin 6. Kansas State 7. Georgia 8. Clemson 9. Texas 10. Miami 11. Florida 12. Virginia Tech 13. Washington 14. Tennessee 15. TCU 16. Purdue 17. Mississippi 18. USC 19. Penn State 20. Southern Miss 21. Illinois 22. Ohio State 23. Oklahoma 24. Colorado State 25. Colorado ----------------- The Master List: 1-115 Lower Division Rankings

20. Southern Miss

With a newfangled offense, the Golden Eagles will try to fly faster and farther

By Jamal Greene

The Book An opposing team's coach sizes up the Golden Eagles "Jeff Kelly throws a wobbly, sidearmed pass, but he completes it. I had a lot more respect for him after we played them. I thought we'd give him a bad game. He gave us a bad game.... Nix is so deceptive -- and he has tremendous heart.... [Defensive tackle] Daleroy Stewart may be a surprise, a 300-pounder who's really fast and powerful.... [Rover] Leo Barnes is nasty, tough on the run. He's a little undersized, but he can really bring it."

Junior Derrick Nix is your father's running back. Until now he has restricted all his ducking and weaving to hunting and spinner bait; as a runner, he's as north-south as the prime meridian. The Baby Bull introduced Conference USA to his power running style two years ago, when as a true freshman he rushed for 1,180 yards. His 1,054 yards last season made him the Golden Eagles' first back-to-back 1,000-yard rusher since Ben Garry in 1977, and he's hankering to bulldoze a few more defenders and repeat the feat this season.

A bull in nickname and in style, Nix is looking to add a few new moves to his running repertoire.  Greg Campbell/AP

This off-season, however, Nix has been working with first-year running backs coach Shelton Gandy on improving his lateral quickness and allowing blocks to develop before he plows into the line. "I need to learn to avoid contact sometimes," Nix says. Why change? The same question was asked of Southern Miss coach Jeff Bower after he axed his entire offensive coaching staff following a season in which the Golden Eagles went 6-0 in conference and 9-3 overall, losing only at Nebraska, Alabama and Texas A&M. Bower points to an imbalance between a defense that ranked eighth nationally and an offense that was increasingly predictable and unproductive with its run-two-downs-and-throw-on-third-down pattern.

Enter Nevada coordinator Chris Klenakis, whose offenses in Reno finished among the top five nationally each of the past four seasons. Klenakis will have the Eagles using a high-energy, quick-passing attack, with more play-action sets and quarterback movement. Unlike the last two seasons, several passing plays will feature Nix as the first option, challenging him to become, like his team, a more complex offensive machine.

Issue date: August 14, 2000

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