Southern Miss secondary

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Golden Eagle DBs get passing grades

Southern Miss secondary has improved every week

Thursday, September 30, 2004

By KIM SHUGART

Sports Reporter

The area where the Southern Miss defense was supposed to be the most vulnerable this season was the secondary because it had to replace all four starters, including NFL draft picks Etric Pruitt and Greg Brooks.

But USM's secondary has played well in victories over Nebraska and Tulane. It enters Saturday's 6 p.m. Conference USA game against South Florida in Tampa's Raymond James Stadium ranked seventh in the nation in pass efficiency defense.

"They've done some good things back there thus far, but like the rest of the defense they've got to get better," said USM defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix. "They've made some good plays and there's been some plays that haven't been so good. They've got to keep improving each week."

Southern Miss has given up a total of 295 yards through the air in two games. Nebraska quarterback Joe Dailey completed 22 of 42 passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns, but he was intercepted three times and had five passes batted away by USM's defensive backs.

Two of those deflections came in Nebraska's final possession when it needed a touchdown to overcome Southern Miss' 21-17 lead. Junior strong safety Darrell Bennett batted away a pass intended for wide receiver Terrence Nunn inside the 5-yard line on first down, and sophomore cornerback Caleb Hendrix knocked away a pass nearly in the grasp of tight end Matt Herian on third down in the left corner of the end zone.

The secondary's performance last week against Tulane was just as good. Although the Green Wave scored its first touchdown on a 13-yard pass play, quarterbacks Lester Ricard and Richard Irvin combined to complete just 9 of 21 attempts for 93 yards. Ricard threw two interceptions and free safety Trevis Coley returned the first one 39 yards to set up the Golden Eagles' first touchdown in the 32-14 win.

"We're playing pretty good as a unit," said Coley, who saw a plenty of playing time last year as a sophomore and finished the season with three interceptions and 79 tackles. "We've got some guys with experience and we've got guys ready to step up and prove they can play."

Coley has the most experience among the Southern Miss defensive backs and he's been given the most responsibility by first-year secondary coach Ron McCrone. McCrone replaced Jay Hopson, who now coaches the secondary at Ole Miss.

"Trevis is a player who improves every time he steps on the field," said McCrone. "He's a leader and we need leaders back there. We've got a lot of young players in the secondary. He's got to help bring them along and make sure they're where they need to be."

Through the first two games, the Southern Miss defensive backs have been positioned to make several plays. Cornerback John Eubanks has one of USM's five interceptions and has deflected two passes. Bennett has recovered a fumble in addition to his pass deflection, and Coley has forced fumble and deflected pass to go along with his interception and 17 tackles.

The defensive backs have given up three touchdown passes, but the coverage wasn't bad. An important aspect of their play so far is that they have not been burned by the long pass. Nebraska connected on two 21-yarders. Tulane had a 36-yard completion, but it was a quick 10-yard slant and the cornerback slipped when he came up to make the tackle.

"I think we're doing OK," said Eubanks, a junior who started four games during the 2003 season. "It's a new group, but we've got confidence in each other. We'll get better and better."

[Southern_Miss_Alum]

;D ;D ;D

[bulls96go]

same can be said of our secondary: improving needs work

[smazza]

hopefully we  just run the ball down their throats

[dabull80]

running will be tough with Boley.  We will need to have a good passing day to open the field up.

[MikeG]

What sucks for teams like USF and USM is that when you beat a team like Nebraska (or any other big name school)-- the media considers it a fluke, an aberration, something wrong with the big name team and NOT something the little squad did. What gets talked about after a win like this (as we saw when we beat Pitt) are the excuses as to why powerful Nebraska could lose to such a nobody team. That sucks and it is exactly this attitude that makes it nearly impossible for a team not in the BCS to ever make any noise for a national championship attempt or any of the other major awards. I thought the win of Nebraska was impressive and worthy of respect. USM definitely has my respect going into this game and we will really need to bring it if we want to come out with a victory.

And where the hell is ET anyway?

[Jim Johnson]

Their secondary did very well tonight... PJ helped - two of his interceptions looked like he was playing catch with them (totally missed any intended receivers).  Made the game hard to watch.

[USFPDiddy]

Yes, the secondary and PJ are the two reasons they won.

[smazza]

their secondary played well

[bulls96go]

played well, our's modest, got burned some