Southern Miss Pull Off Huge Upset

Larry Fedora has not been the head coach in Hattiesburg for very long and the small Mississippi community has already felt his impact. Fedora was a part of some very explosive offenses at Oklahoma State, especially at the wide receiver spot. Adarius Bowman is likely to be a high draft pick, Rashuan or D'Juan or Donovan or one of those Woods was a first round pick (it was Rashaun). He was also the Woods that caught seven touchdown passes in one game against SMU in 2003. Tight end Brandon Pettigrew is also a pretty solid player.

Fedora has certainly set himself up to continue his success at that position. Ocean Springs, MS native DeAndre Brown announced Friday evening that he has shunned offers from nearly every southern power to go to Conference USA and the Southern Miss Golden Eagles.

Brown is ranked No. 15 in the Athlon Consensus 100. This makes him the No. 3 ranked wideout in the nation, sitting behind only Summerville's A.J. Green and Foley's Julio Jones.

The first thing you notice about Mr. Brown is his size. He is probably the tallest wide receiver in the 2008 class — unless you count Jonathan Baldwin as a wideout. His tall frame comes with a massively long wingspan that he uses very effectively to go up and snag passes. He will be a dynamic red zone threat as he will create mismatches all over the secondary.

Although his speed is adequate, it takes him a while to reach his full capacity. He also will need a lot of work on his route running. He has yet to learn how to manipulate defensive coverage schemes in order to get open and has a tendency to misread certain alignments. Adjustments at the line of scrimmage, recognition and route-running technique are all things that can be learned and developed with sound coaching. His physical gifts cannot be taught.

There may be no bigger single impact recruit in the nation. Brown brings SEC talent to a middle tier conference. Jeff Bower had done a really nice job of keeping Southern Miss competitive for over a decade. If Fedora is able to recruit like this every year, USM fans can expect to compete for C-USA titles if not push for that elusive, but recently attainable "non-BCS" BCS bid.

You add Brown to the two stars already at the skill positions on that offense (Damien Fletcher and Shawn Nelson), and Fedora has the makings of a very potent offense.

Now, if they can just find a quarterback to throw the ball to them.

Photos by Athlon Sports