Southern Miss holds 21st annual Beach Bash

Fresh off last week’s Conference USA Media Days, Southern Miss Head Football Coach Jay Hopson and 18 players made their way down to the Coast tonight for one final trip prior to fall camp.

USM kick starting the 2019 season with its 21st annual Beach Bash at the Civic Center in Biloxi. With the Golden Eagles now less than a week away from their first official practice of the year, all the attention turns toward a fresh start.

In 2018, USM narrowly missed out on a fourth straight bowl game, despite posting an overall record of 6-5.

Three of those losses came by a combined seven points, leaving a pair of D’Iberville products confident in a better tomorrow in the midst of a happy homecoming. Defensive lineman Jacques Turner said, “I mean I’ve always been getting support from the Coast since I was a kid, man. It’s always love when I come back here so I just love coming here, and I try to put it on my back, man. Cause they’ve always supported me throughout my whole life.”

Defensive back Tyler Barnes said, “In order to get better days you’ve got to go through like the rain and stuff like that so last year taught us a lot of lessons, and also like that we could compete with anybody at any stage. Like we’ve always been underdogs and we just like having something to prove, so that’s the biggest thing. We’re just ready to prove ourselves this year.”

Other Coast products in attendance include Gautier’s Paul Gainer Jr. and Trevor Terry out of Long Beach.

Southern Miss opens up fall camp on Thursday with the regular season opener against Alcorn State slated for August 31st from MM Roberts Stadium.