Southern Miss Beach Bash

Of the more than one hundred players on the Southern Miss football roster, 13 of them have ties to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Tonight, a good chunk of those 228 boys made the trip home for USM’s 20^th annual Beach Bash in Biloxi.

Overall, 17 players made an appearance at the Biloxi Civic Center alongside Head Coach Jay Hopson. A lot of those guys were recruited by Hopson as he continues to make the Gulf Coast a priority region.

Among the local products in attendance were Gautier alum Paul Gainer Jr. and former Long Beach Bearcat Trevor Terry who both recall memories of their heated 5A battles.

Coach Hopson said, “Of course, they’re South Mississippi boys. But they’re Southern Miss guys. I’m a Mississippi boy born and raised and you understand the demeanor of a Southern Miss guy. Those guys have it, and they’re right here homegrown on the Gulf Coast.”

Gainer said, “We mess with each other all the time about playing each other back in the day. Trevor used to always say I had 180 yards on ya’ll. And I’ll be like thanks, Trevor. But who won the game?”

Terry said, “Paul over there, we always talk about like old Long Beach and Gautier. Like they always beat us. But no, we always talk about it and stuff just kind of like trying to mess with him about it. But it’s always fun, like us Coast guys kind of stick together at Southern so it’s fun.”

The Golden Eagles report to fall camp a week from today and hit the practice field for the first time August 3^rd.