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Southern Miss Golden Eagles (2000: 8-4) The following team preview is provided by Blue Ribbon. For the nation's most comprehensive look at this and all Division I-A teams, be sure to order the 2001 Blue Ribbon College Football Yearbook, on sale now at 1-800-775-2518.
Coach and programWhen you’re talking Conference USA football, you’ve got to start with Southern Mississippi, which in the league’s five-year history has won two league titles outright (1997, ‘99) and shared another (‘96). The Golden Eagles finished second in 1998 with a 5-1 record.Southern Miss has posted four straight seasons with seven or more victories and has gone to four consecutive bowls, winning three of them. Last season the run of top-two finishes ended when it finished fourth with a 4-3 record. As injuries took their toll, the Golden Eagles lost three of their last four games. Jeff Bower, in his 11th season as the Golden Eagles’ coach, said he’s never had a team so beset by injuries. “It all happened primarily on one side of the football, on offense,” Bower said. “It was just one of those things. If you’re in it long enough, it’s going to happen to you sooner or later." Ranked No. 22 at the start of the season, Southern Miss opened with a near upset of then-No. 12 Tennessee, losing 19-16 in Knoxville. Kelly’s two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter pulled the Golden Eagles to within three with 55 seconds left, but they ran out of time. After the loss, the Golden Eagles knocked off then-No. 13 Alabama, starting a six-game winning streak. In their regular season finale, a Golden Eagle rally fell short in a 14-9 loss to East Carolina. Quarterback Jeff Kelly scored on a 12-yard run with 3:35 left and the defense held, giving Kelly and Co. a chance for the winning drive. They gained two first downs before Kelly’s last pass fell incomplete as time ran out. Southern Miss then regrouped for the GMAC Mobile Alabama Bowl against No. 13 TCU. After falling behind, 21-14, the Golden Eagles scored two touchdowns in the last 7:24 and won, 28-21. With the way the regular season ended, the bowl victory was just what the Golden Eagles needed. “That was real big because our attitude -- after you lose three out of the last four, as you can imagine after starting out 6-1 -- our attitude wasn’t real good at the time,” Bower said.
OffenseBy the start of fall practice, Kelly (6-2, 210), a senior, should be back at full speed after suffering a broken thumb on his throwing hand during the Gold-Black game in the spring.During the 2000 regular season, Kelly completed 198-of-341 passes (58.1 percent) for 2,381 yards and 15 touchdowns. He was intercepted 10 times. It was his second straight 2,000-yard passing season. On the school’s single-season record list, his 2000 season was second-best for completions and third-best for passing yardage, attempts, touchdown passes and total offense (2,415). After two strong seasons, senior running back Derrick Nix (6-2, 232) battled through the 2000 season fighting injury and illness and now will miss all of 2001 with kidney problems. That means the load falls on senior Dawayne Woods (5-7, 187) who was the team’s leading rusher last year, gaining 631 yards on 146 carries for a 4.3-yard average. In his one-back, multiple offense, Bower can never have enough good receivers. Although several of his top receivers return, Bower says developing depth is a must for 2001. LeRoy Handy (6-1, 196), a junior, and the senior Dannye Fowler (5-10, 180) return as the starting wideouts and Kenneth Johnson (5-10, 165), a sophomore, should move into the starting spot at flanker. All three have all-conference potential. Junior Torrin Tucker (6-6, 316) returns as the starter at strong side guard, while senior Jeremy Bridges (6-4, 300) will be the weak side tackle. They will anchor the offensive line.
Defense and special teamsOne of the biggest concerns for Bower heading into the 2001 season is the defensive line.The biggest gap to be filled was left by defensive end Cedric Scott, who earned C-USA’s Co-Defensive Player of the Year. He was the first of four Golden Eagles chosen in the NFL draft, going in the fourth round to the New York Giants. Southern Miss will look to a couple of junior college transfers to fill two spots. Junior Carlos Crusoe (6-3, 277) and senior Rayshun Jones (6-2, 275) were both redshirted last season after outstanding seasons in junior college. Jones should start at nose tackle and Crusoe at defensive tackle. Three-year letterman Roy Magee leads the linebackers. Magee (6-2, 214), a senior, will start at weak side linebacker. Last season, Magee was seventh on the team in tackles with 63 in 10 games. He had 14 tackles for loss, five sacks and two fumble recoveries. Like the defensive line, the secondary is also going through a rebuilding phase. Gone is rover back Leo Barnes, the team’s second-leading tackler with 104. Barnes was a first-team All-C-USA player last season. Senior Chad Williams (5-10, 201), who started at free safety last season and earned second-team All-C-USA honors, moved to rover back in the spring. Williams led the team in tackles last season with 114, including 78 unassisted tackles, 11 tackles for loss and eight sacks. Brent Hanna (6-1, 217) returns for his senior season after working hard on consistency during the offseason. Last season, Hanna was 12-of-18 on field-goal attempts and made all 32 of his PAT kicks. He was 3-of-4 on attempts from 40-49 yards, and his long field goal was 49 yards.
Bottom lineSouthern Miss must replace a number of top-notch defensive players, particularly on the front line and in the secondary. Still, the Golden Eagles never enter a season without plans of contending for the C-USA title.Nine starters return to an offense that ranked fourth in C-USA in scoring last season. It will be run by Kelly, an experienced quarterback with plenty of smarts. “If we play hard and do it with a good attitude, I think we’ll have a chance to have another pretty good year,” Bower said. |
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