Three things we learned about Southern Miss football at Sun Belt Media Day

Southern Miss football head coach Blake Anderson and players Davis Dalton and Mathis Haygood represented the Golden Eagles at Sun Belt Media Day in New Orleans on July 16.

There is uncertainty around almost every aspect of Southern Miss’ roster. The team added over 70 new scholarship players over the offseason so the unknowns are plentiful for Anderson and his staff.

The team has not fleshed out a depth chart yet, and likely will not until fall camp, but Sun Belt Media Day did reveal a few things about what the team will look like. Here is what we learned.

The Golden Eagles will feature a new starting quarterback for the 10th time since 2012 this season, but who that quarterback is remains to be seen. The three players involved in the position battle are returning senior Landry Lyddy, returning sophomore John White and former Illinois and Northern Illinois senior Ethan Hampton.

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Lyddy played in six games last year for the Golden Eagles, passing for 406 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions and completing 34-of-52 passes. White redshirted last year, appearing in just one game, but played in four games as a true freshman in 2024 and threw for 240 yards and three interceptions. The familiarity that Lyddy and White have with Anderson and the offense is an advantage in both cases.

Hampton is the most experienced of the three passers. The 6-foot-3, 230-pound quarterback only played in four games for Illinois in 2025, but he started 10 for Northern Illinois and helped the team to a 16-14 win over No. 5 Notre Dame in 2024. As the starter for the Huskies, Hampton threw for 1,600 yards, 12 touchdowns and six interceptions.

“I’ve never been a part of a 1-2-3 battle that is this close, this late,” Anderson said. “Statistically speaking, their numbers are almost identical. They’ve had virtually the same amount of throws, the same amount of picks, the same amount of mistakes. It’s staggering how close these guys have operated through the course of the spring.”

Anderson will name a starter at some point during fall camp after he sees the three compete. In a battle so tight, the coaching staff will be looking for something small and specific out of one player that moves the needle.

“All three have made a very clear and very good case to be the guy, and I think it’s a good problem to have,” Anderson said.”

New defensive coordinator Joe Bolden will run a 4-2-5 defense. This is Bolden’s first time serving as a defensive coordinator in his young coaching career. He was the Golden Eagles’ special teams coordinator in 2025 and was on staff at Tulsa, Nevada and Ohio State before that.

A 4-2-5 scheme features four defensive linemen, two linebackers and five defensive backs. When a defense has a fifth defensive back on the field rather than a third linebacker, it emphasizes speed and creativity.

“The standards from the defense are edge, effort and communication,” linebacker Mathis Haygood said. “We are going to fly around and get to the ball as fast as we can. All 11 hats to the ball. That’s what I can promise you.”

Haygood elected to return to Southern Miss because of an expected increased role. He had 44 tackles, one sack and one interception last season.

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The Golden Eagles were picked to finish fifth in the Sun Belt West by coaches in the conference and their win total is 4.5 according to BetMGM. Both designations are likely due to the unprecedented amount of roster turnover.

Coaches and players at Southern Miss see the low expectations as an opportunity to prove people wrong.

“Nothing’s expected of us,” Haygood said. “Whatever we do, we can’t lose.”

Multiple coaches at media day spoke about having a blue collar mentality, and Anderson was one of them. He is focusing on building a hard-working, unselfish culture at Southern Miss and the new roster has caught on to this idea quickly.

“We’re just going to outwork people and outrun them and out-hit them and nobody’s going to see it coming,” Anderson said. “We’re gonna surprise a lot of people. I just think a low-ego, high-energy group of dudes is pretty fun to coach.”

Davis Wilson covers Southern Miss athletics and Hattiesburg news for the Hattiesburg American. Email him at DWilson@hattiesb.gannett.com or find him on X at @Davis_Wilson.