Southern Miss Team Report

INSIDE SLANT

Southern Miss head coach Larry Fedora isn’t satisfied by a second consecutive trip to the New Orleans Bowl and a second straight 7-6 record in his first two seasons on campus.

“We’re going to go back and work hard,” he told the Hattiesburg American. “These guys are going to take a lot of pride in the fact that we didn’t get it done. We’re going to find out what kind of players we really have. We’re going to continue to tweak the scheme to make sure it fits the players we have. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

A roller-coaster season for the Golden Eagles (7-6) ended with a roller-coaster 42-32 loss to Middle Tennessee State in the Big Easy on Dec. 20. Southern Miss, which started out 3-0 in 2009 before losing three straight, jumped out to a 14-0 lead before the Blue Raiders got rolling. The loss dropped the Golden Eagles to 9-11 all-time in bowl games, 7-5 since joining C-USA.

Overall, it was still a successful season, especially considering they lost starting quarterback Austin Davis in early October.

The Golden Eagles averaged 32.9 points (with 50 offensive touchdowns), 181.4 rushing yards and 235.0 passing yards per game on offense. They finished third in C-USA in total defense and scoring defense and ranked second against the run. The biggest weakness was the kicking game, where Justin Estes and Daniel Hrapmann combined to miss 10 extra points.

Things got so bad, in fact, that Southern Miss attempted two-point conversions exclusively in the bowl game.

“We’d worked on it all the time we had off,” Fedora said. “We decided we were going to run it, line up and hope to catch them in a situation where they didn’t know what we were doing. But they were ready for it.”

NOTES, QUOTES

Game Of The Year:   Southern Miss 37, Virginia 34—The victory against the Cavaliers on Sept. 19 extended the Golden Eagles’ winning streak to eight, the fifth-longest in school history and longest since 1958-59. Southern Miss rallied with 13 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, with touchdown runs by Damion Fletcher (10 yards) and Tory Harrison (57).

Players Of The Year:  

QB Martevious Young—The junior kept the offense rolling after the season-ending injury to starter Austin Davis on Oct. 1, leading the Golden Eagles to a school-record 428 points (previous record was 402 in 1952). He finished with 16 touchdown passes and just three interceptions.

RB Tory Harrison—The senior never got as many headlines as Damion Fletcher, but was just as integral to the Southern Miss attack. He rushed for 647 yards, averaged 6.2 yards per carry and led the team with 10 rushing touchdowns in 2009, boosting his career total to 24.

LB Korey Williams—His sack in the third quarter of the New Orleans Bowl gave him 7.5 for the season, tying Cordarro Law for the team lead. The sophomore led the Golden Eagles with 121 tackles (11 tackles for loss) and earned second-team all-conference honors.

Fast Forward:   The Golden Eagles lose seven starters on offense, including four linemen and all-time leading rusher Damion Fletcher. The defense returns every starter except CB Andre Watson and ballhawk FS Eddie Hicks. Returning players include two second-team all-conference selections and seven honorable mentions. With a healthy QB Austin Davis, Southern Miss should compete for a C-USA title in 2010 and earn its 13th bowl invitation in 14 seasons.

Recruiting Trail:   Southern Miss inked three JUCO players, including offensive linemen Lamar Holmes (6-6, 340) and Jason Weaver (6-5, 320) and WR Kelvin Bolden. Holmes earned a four-star rating by Rivals.com at Itawamba (Miss.) Community College. Weaver played at 9-2 Western Arizona College this fall. Bolden had 38 grabs for 779 yards and 10 TDs at Mississippi Gulf Coast CC in 2009. Of the 18 high school commitments, 10 received three-star ratings from Scouts, Inc., including LB Brandon Smith of Carver (Ga.) High and WR Steve McNair Jr., son of the late NFL quarterback.

Quote To Note:   “It’s definitely a bad taste in your mouth. We didn’t do what we wanted to do. We didn’t finish how we wanted to finish and send our seniors off with a win. We have to use this as motivation in the offseason. We’ll work hard and focus on all the things we didn’t do tonight.”—Southern Miss head coach Larry Fedora.

STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL

Players To Watch In 2010:  

RB Tracey Lampley—The speedy true freshman finished in the Top 10 nationally in both punt returns (14.5-yard average) and kickoff returns (27.6). He returned a punt and a kickoff for TDs and also scored touchdowns rushing and receiving.

WR DeAndre Brown—The 6-6 sophomore returned from a broken leg to lead Southern Miss with 47 receptions for 785 yards and nine touchdowns, giving him 20 TD receptions in just two seasons. He posted two 100-yard games in 2009 and scored twice in the New Orleans Bowl.

DE Cordarro Law—Thrust into the starting lineup to replace the injured Roshaad Byrd, Law wound up leading the defense in tackles for loss (14.5) and forced fumbles (four) and sharing the lead in sacks (7.5).

Pro Prospects:  

RB Damion Fletcher—He became just the ninth player in FBS history to rush for 1,000 yards in four seasons and finished his career with 5,302 yards, eighth-most on the all-time rushing list. He moved past Herschel Walker (5,259) and LaDainian Tomlinson (5,263) with a 78-yard effort in the New Orleans Bowl. His 1,009 career carries are a C-USA record.

OL Ryan Hebert—The 6-5, 310-pound senior started at right guard for an offense that scored the most points in school history in 2009 and generated 5,413 yards, eclipsing the 5,000-yard mark for the third consecutive season. Southern Miss allowed just 16 sacks in 13 games.

FS Eddie Hicks—With five interceptions in 2009, he finished the season as the active C-USA leader with 13 career picks (tied for sixth in Golden Eagles history). He set the school record with an 87-yard interception return for a touchdown against East Carolina in 2006.

Roster Report:  

• QB Austin Davis missed the last seven games of his sophomore year after tearing ligaments in his left foot. He has thrown touchdown passes in 17 of his 18 career starts and already ranks fifth in Southern Miss history with 33, well within reach of the record of 52 shared by Brett Favre (1987-90) and Lee Roberts (1995-98).

• DE Roshaad Byrd also missed the final seven games of his junior campaign after suffering a dislocated left ankle during practice in mid-October.