Southern Miss Prepares for Season Opener

The University of Southern Mississippi football team will open their season Saturday night at the University of Kentucky. USM looks to build on a strong 2015 performance, but must find an identity under new head coach Jay Hopson.
News 25’s Hank Davis visited Hattiesburg today as the Golden Eagles prepared to face the Wildcats.
Predictions for the Southern Miss Golden Eagles have been all over the board in the preseason. Some say USM will go 5-7 and some are expecting the Golden Eagles to claim the Conference USA title.
We’ll get our first look at what this team can do on Saturday when they take on the Kentucky Wildcats in their season opener and their first game under head coach Jay Hopson. “I think we’re kind of business as usual,” said Hopson, “Each game is the game. At the end of the day, we kind of do our routine the way we do it each and every week. We don’t do it different from one week to the next.”
Fifth year senior defensive lineman Jerry McCorvey is no stranger to facing SEC opponents. “They really have a good team. They can run good. They got a good quarterback coming back. They got a great running back coming back. We just want to go down there and show everybody that we’ve been working hard.”
Defensive lineman DeMarrio Smith will also be in the mix this weekend as USM tries to contain Kentucky’s multi-running back rushing attack. “I feel real confident in the system,” said Williams, “I feel we’re gonna do a lot of big things this year. We got a good group and Coach Hopson is a great coach that can go against anybody.”
The Golden Eagles made a trip to the C-USA Championship under Todd Monken. Hopefully Coach Hopson and veteran quarterback Nick Mullens find a way to maintain momentum this weekend in Lexington. “You gotta take care of the little things. It’s always a game of playing assignment football. It’s always a big thing and that’s what we’ll have to do,” said Hopson.