Southern Miss football opens its season on Saturday night against Kentucky, marking the start of head coach Will Hall’s fourth year. The time has come for The Student Printz to mark down our 2024 football season projections. This year, we have a new twist: We surveyed our readers and will include their projections along with ours for the following questions.
1. Which player will lead Southern Miss in passing yards?
Dima Mixon, The Student Printz: Tate Rodemaker will lead Southern Miss in passing yards this season. Hall is poised to name Rodemaker the starting quarterback sometime this week or on Saturday, and he will lead the team in passing yards.
The readers: Our readers overwhelmingly picked Rodemaker to lead the team in passing yards, with 87.3% of the vote. Ethan Crawford finished second with 7.9%, and John White came in third with 3.5%.
2. Who will lead the team in rushing yards this season?
Dima Mixon, The Student Printz: Drake Clark will lead the team in rushing yards as the team’s RB1. However, he will not eclipse the 1,000-yard mark this season because Kenyon Clay and JQ Gray will take enough yards away from him to prevent that.
The readers: Our readers also favored Dreke Clark, who received 57.2% of the vote, while Kenyon Clay came in second with 16.2%. Chandler Pittman finished third with 14%, followed by JQ Gray with 7%.
3. Which player will have the most rushing touchdowns this season?
Dima Mixon, The Student Printz: Dreke Clark will lead the team in rushing, but Kenyon Clay will lead the team in rushing touchdowns. I think they will use him between the tackles more, especially in goal-line situations, and he will score more than Clark will.
The readers: Our readers stuck with Clark to lead the team in rushing touchdowns, although it was closer than the rushing yards vote. Clark led with 45.4%, while Clay received 22.7%. Pittman got 15.7%, and Crawford finished fourth with 9.6%.
4. Which player will have the most receiving yards this season?
Dima Mixon, The Student Printz: This is a hotly contested race, and my pick might surprise some people. I’m going with Larry Simmons to lead the team in receiving yards. I’m driving the bus for him, so I kind of have to pick him here, but it feels like it could be anyone’s race to win.
The readers: The readers picked Ti Mims to lead the team in receiving yards, though it was closer than previous questions. Mims received 41.5% of the vote, with Simmons coming in second at 28.4%. Dannis Jackson was third with 18.3%, and the rest of the votes were spread among five other players.
5. Which player will have the most receiving touchdowns this season?
Dima Mixon, The Student Printz: I’m going with Dannis Jackson here. I think he is poised for a big season, and he was a significant acquisition for the Golden Eagles from the transfer portal this year. I believe he will lead the team in receiving touchdowns.
The readers: Mims won this vote for our readers, increasing his vote share slightly from the previous question to 42.4%. Simmons followed with 22.3%, and Jackson garnered 13.1%.
6. Who will lead the team in sacks?
Dima Mixon, The Student Printz: I think this is a pretty obvious pick, which is why I am going with Jalil Clemons. Clemons had a monster season last year, and he has already shown in practice that he is poised for an even stronger year.
The readers: Our readers also favored Clemons to lead the team in sacks, with 48% of the vote. Jalen Williams was second with 13.1%, and Tre Pinkney came in third with 12.2%. Five other players made up the remainder of the percentages.
7. Who will lead the team in tackles?
Dima Mixon, The Student Printz: This is a hard prediction to make because many variables can affect tackle numbers throughout a season. However, I will go with Dylan Lawrence. The way they’re using him in that high linebacker role, he’s all over the field, so I think he’ll get his fair share of tackles.
The readers: This was the most hotly contested vote in the entire survey, with 17 different players receiving votes. Pinkney finished first with 20.1% of the vote, Kristin Booth was second with 17%, Lawrence was third with 16.6%, and Williams was fourth at 11.4%.
8. Who will lead the team in interceptions?
Dima Mixon, The Student Printz: Southern Miss didn’t force many interceptions last season, so this is another tough area to predict. However, my pick is Will James, who has shown great improvement during fall practice. A case could be made for several other players, but my money is on James.
The readers: Our readers agreed with me, putting James in first with 35.4% of the vote. Jay Jones was second with 17.5%, followed by Michael Caraway Jr. at 16.2% and Lawrence at 15.7%. Five other players finished out the rest.
Additional Reader-Only Questions:
- How many wins will Southern Miss have in the regular season?
Our readers were not all set on one number, but “7” won with 28.1% of the vote. “6” followed with 23.6%, while “5” and “8” both had 14%, and “4” received 9%. Over 50% of our readers are envisioning a winning season for the Golden Eagles.
- Do you approve of Will Hall’s job as head coach of Southern Miss?
- Disapprove: 50.2% (+0.4%)
- Approve: 49.8%
This was the closest vote in the entire survey, with our readers narrowly disapproving of Hall’s performance as head coach over his past three seasons.
- How many wins does Will Hall need to increase your approval rating of him?
We also asked readers how many wins Hall needs this year to increase their approval rating. 46.3% said he needs to win seven or more games, while 28.8% said six or more. Another 15.7% said eight or more wins, and 4.8% said nine or more.
That wraps up this week’s “Mark It Down Monday!” We will publish another survey midseason to see where fans stand then. Look for our game-by-game predictions coming out this week!
