HATTIESBURG – The Southern Miss Golden Eagles are eight games into the season, with a 5-3 overall record and 3-2 in Conference USA, and they’re still in the exact same position they were once Nick Mullens took his final snap in a Golden Eagles’ uniform.
Southern Miss is still without a known starting quarterback.
It seemed redshirt junior Kwarda Griggs won the job through the first two weeks, but he injured his hand sometime between the final snap of the North Texas game, because he played every offensive snap, and the start of the UTSA contest the following week.
Sophomore Keon Howard has started the last four games, all conference games, too, and he’s posted a 3-2 record as a starter, which counts the season-opener against Kentucky.
With Griggs out with an injury to his left, non-throwing hand, it was Howard’s offense to run. It wasn’t known if Griggs was healthy enough to play until he threw a few practice tosses on the sidelines and strapped on a helmet in last week’s loss to UAB. He played the final four drives in the fourth quarter.
"We're still looking at it,” Southern coach Jay Hopson said of the ongoing quarterback battle. “We watched (Kwadra) and he's got much better mobility now on that left side. He's a guy who can catch it with ease and have no problem. When we put him in there, we wanted to give him that opportunity because it was still a ball game at the time and see how he was doing.
“I wanted to give Kwadra that chance and sometimes you get that spark. We put him in there and just give him that opportunity. I've said it before, we're going to let those guys compete and both of them have played a fair bit of football. I think competition with those two guys is good."
Trialing 20-12, Griggs back at quarterback didn’t lead to any more points for Southern Miss, but it did for UAB. The Blazers got a pick-6 on Griggs’ third drive, effectively ending any chance of a comeback for USM.
Still, though, Hopson has no regrets about the switch-a-roo. He still would have gone with Griggs, and not just because the offense was stagnant. He wanted to get Griggs some live action coming off his injury.
“We wanted to shake things up a bit,” Hopson said. “After he settled down, took a couple of possessions, he had a nice throw there on that last drive. It's part of it. Again, I think both young men, especially Keon, had a lot of positives out there. We just have to keep challenging."
Griggs finished the night with 59 yards, 41 coming on one play, on 5-of-13 passing, and Howard was 14-for-25 with a touchdown and 207 yards, as 84 came on one play.
“After watching film, I didn’t think (Howard) played bad, to be honest with you,” Southern Miss offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said. “He made good decisions, the ball was going in the right place, but I thought we missed some opportunities that would have helped.”
The offense was definitely cold after scoring nine points in the first quarter. Dawson was even a little disappointed when Howard hit senior Ito Smith for an 84-yard touchdown bomb to begin the game.
“We scored on the first play of the game, which is good and bad,” Dawson said. “I can’t tell you how many times in my career where you have a lot of success early, and you can’t do anything for three quarters. It’s crazy how many times that’s happened. When we scored on the first play of the game, there was a small part of me that was like, ‘Ugh, I wish that wouldn’t have happened.’”
But, one thing is for sure. The Southern Miss coaches aren’t questioning Howard’s or Griggs’ attitudes, even when the switch was made.
"He's fine. Keon is a competitor,” Hopson said. “The thing I like about both of them is that they're both team guys. They both pull for each other and that's tough when you're competing. Both of them want to play. Both have a competitive spirit but they're also team guys and pull for each other in there. We have a great situation in that room with those two guys."
Dawson agrees with Hopson’s sentiment.
“I thought for the most part, (Howard’s) attitude and everything throughout the whole course of the game was good,” Dawson. “Even when I switched them, he was great. He supported Kwadra, and that’s what I want and that’s what I preach. It doesn’t matter who’s in the game.”
Southern Miss travels to Knoxville Saturday for a 6 p.m. kickoff with the Tennessee Volunteers (3-5, 0-5 in SEC) on SEC Network.
Tune in to see which quarterback gets the nod.
