NEW ORLEANS – There’s no question that Southern Miss’ offseason has been one of the most talked-about in college football.
Charles Huff’s hiring from winning a Sun Belt title at Marshall to taking a job with last-place Southern Miss is a dream storyline.
And if Huff can repeat as a champion by turning around one of the worst teams in the country, it will go down as one of the most memorable and historical stories in college football.
However, considering that Huff has revamped the roster and brought in 80 new players, a large portion of whom are from his champion Marshall team, what does a successful season look like for the Golden Eagles?
One could argue that any improvement from 1-11 is a positive, or just making a bowl game could be seen as a massive improvement. Yet considering the circumstances, it is a championship or bust mentality, the fair expectation. Another thought to consider is that because Southern Miss has devoted so much money to this season, a return on its investment should deem high-end winning as a priority.
For Chris Jones, one of just 10 players returning from last year’s Southern Miss squad, that’s the case.
“What’s considered a good season is a championship – simple,” said Jones. “They preach that every day, the championship culture and championship mindset. That’s what they brought from Marshall. They have brought other guys in from everywhere, and they have put that mindset into all of us. There is nothing else that we should be thinking.”
Ironically, quarterback Braylon Braxton, who is a transfer from Marshall and was named the Sun Belt’s Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, holds a different outlook.
“For me, I would say a successful season for the Southern Miss Golden Eagles is just getting better from Game 1 to our last game,” Braxton said. “We are going to play Mississippi State on Aug. 30th, so after that, we want to get better every week. I feel like that when we look up at the end of the season, we will be rolling.”
“That’s a defensive player and an offensive player for you,” said Braxton on Jones’ outlook on the season.
Despite Braxton coming from a championship team and having the hope to win again, he believes there isn’t pressure to repeat.
“It’s something you want to do,” Braxton said. “It’s a goal that you are trying to set for yourself, and it’s something you are trying to achieve. You want to set all of your goals way up there as high as you can throw them. If you fall right below it, then it’s okay with where you are at.”
Much like his quarterback, Huff shares a similar diplomatic perspective on how to gauge success.
“We measure success on if we improve every week,” Southern Miss head coach Charles Huff said. “You can’t necessarily put a win-loss total on it. They will play with discipline. They will play with intensity. They will play with unbelievable focus. If we can continue to improve on those things every week, then yeah, we’ll be successful.
“We can sit here and say what success is, but I want to win every game. If I lose one, then is that not successful? To me, it’s focusing on that are controllable by us. It’s going out every single game and improving. All the way down to each quarter, each snap, and each play…We’ll win more than one, I can promise you that.”
However, both players shared that the key for the upcoming season has been for the team itself to come together this past offseason and build chemistry.
“It’s hard to bring in 70 or 80 new guys and build a connection on and off the field,” Jones said. “We have done a great job with that, especially by Braylon Braxton and the guys that came over from Marshall. I don’t think there’s pressure. We have the guys, and we have the talent. It’s really about creating the team, and that’s what Coach Huff preaches every day.”
Despite the many storylines that stem from last year’s teams of Marshall and Southern Miss, Braxton feels that focusing on the past is now irrelevant.
“Once we made the move to come to Southern Miss, I didn’t really talk about Marshall anymore,” Braxton said. “It was behind me, but Marshall is always going to have a special place in my heart. That’s the first championship I ever won in college. Marshall did nothing but good for me. We are at Southern Miss now, and we are trying to turn a 1-11 team last year into a championship team. You don’t have time to think about the past. You have to look at where you are now and into the future.”
All things considered, on how the outlook of the season should look, Braxton does admit that the idea of making college football history is hard to ignore.
“We definitely have a chance to make history,” Braxton said. “But we are just trying to get better every single day.”
Follow @AndrewAbadie on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook for Southern Miss coverage.
