HATTIESBURG — Southern Miss football practice will be open to the public Saturday for its annual spring game.
The day will be a peek behind the curtain of what the Golden Eagles have been working on this spring as they attempt to recover after last season’s 3-9 campaign.
The M.M. Roberts Stadium gates open at 9:30 a.m., with the event beginning at 10 a.m.
Southern Miss coach Will Hall said he hopes the coaches and fans learn more about the competitiveness of the team on Saturday.
“We just want to see competitive nature,” Hall said. “Who’s going to spill it … who can tackle, who can break a tackle, who can block, who can get off blocks. Just the simple essence of football is what we’re looking for.”
Southern Miss hired new offensive and defensive coordinators, as well as a couple new position coaches. It signed the top recruiting class in the Sun Belt Conference — seven of those freshmen are enrolled — and added 10 players via the transfer portal.
While the spring game won’t be a traditional scrimmage, there will still be periods of 11-on-11, plus special teams work and specialized situations such as the two-minute drill and red zone work.
“All in all, we’d like to get 100 snaps and about 50 with each group, which is about three quarters of football,” Hall said.
Quarterbacks will also be live, meaning they can be tackled. Many teams have moved away from that in recent years.
Southern Miss will hold two more practices next week to close out spring football.
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There will be no TV broadcast or live stream of Southern Miss football’s spring game. There will not be radio coverage either.
No tickets are necessary to attend Southern Miss football’s spring game.
Sam Sklar is the Southern Miss beat reporter for the Hattiesburg American. Email him at ssklar@hattiesb.gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.