Southern Miss football coach Jay Hopson likes the improved depth the Golden Eagles has amassed heading into the 2019 season.

Editor’s note: This is part 11 of a 12-part series previewing Western Kentucky’s 2019 opponents. Southern Miss will host WKU at 2:30 p.m. Nov. 23 on ESPN+ in Hattiesburg, Miss. Tuesday will feature Middle Tennessee.

FRISCO, Texas – Jay Hopson’s fourth straight winning season at Southern Miss wasn’t enough to earn a bowl bid in a tight race for postseason spots among Conference USA teams in 2018. The Golden Eagles went 6-5 with three losses coming by a field goal or less, a record finishing last among the seven eligible programs last year.

But even beyond earning bowl credentials, Southern Miss could make a bigger jump considering what returns on a nationally ranked defense and the fact Hopson’s overall numbers in the program are up.

“I really feel like I’ve got a number of NFL kids that deserve an opportunity, NFL athlete-type bodies and players,” Hopson said at the C-USA Kickoff Event. “We’ve got tremendous talent. It’s a different challenge and we have to handle business. Our guys understand that.”

Southern Miss returns 18 total starters – nine on offense, six on defense and three on special teams. That much experience plays into cycling out a number of transfers and junior college players that helped Hopson’s quick success when he took over in 2015. The Golden Eagles played the last two years close to 20 players below the allotted 85-total scholarship limit on a team.

“It’s been a climb,” Hopson said. “I feel like we’ve got more depth and experience back and you always hope that parlays into the season.”

The depth and expectations surrounding Southern Miss earned the Golden Eagles a second-place nod in the preseason standings in the C-USA West Division with four first-place votes. Hopson signed eight transfers to his 2019 class that include Penn State graduate transfer Torrence Brown at linebacker and defensive end Terry Whittington from Alcorn State.

They’ll join a USM defense that ranked third in the FBS last year allowing 278.4 yards per game. That group held three opponents to less than 200 yards of total offense and allowed a FBS-best 161 first downs last year.

Racheem Boothe leads that unit after as the highest-graded linebacker in C-USA last season, according to Pro Football Focus College advanced statistics. Booth had 48 tackles, 10 for loss, and four sacks against C-USA quarterbacks while recovering two fumbles. Safety Ky’el Hemby also returns after ranking second in the country last year with six interceptions in 11 games.

Southern Miss will have a quarterback battle on its hands between redshirt junior Jack Abraham and sophomore Tate Whatley. In his first year playing QB and replacing NFL quarterback Nick Mullens, Abraham led the country with a 73 percent completion rate while throwing for 2,347 yards and 15 touchdowns. Although Whatley made a late push in spring, Abraham is the favorite for the starting job, but Hopson said USM may have performed better when it had both quarterbacks playing.

“There down the stretch we might’ve been at our best when they’re both playing,” Hopson said. We’re going to let them compete. … We have to still continue that journey, but I see a big upside in Jack. We’re looking forward to him having a good year. We also want to be honest as a football coach and create competition. (Whatley) came in as a true freshman and led us to a win. Again, there will be competition and we’ll see how it rolls through August.”

2019 Southern Miss Schedule

8/31 – Alcorn State

9/7 – at Mississippi State

9/14 – at Troy

9/21 – at Alabama

9/28 – UTEP

10/12 – North Texas

10/19 – at Louisiana Tech

10/26 – at Rice

11/9 – UAB

11/16 – at UTSA

11/23 – WKU

11/30 – at FAU{&end}