USM welcomes 26 new Eagles

College football fans across Mississippi celebrated the 2010 rendition of national signing day Wednesday, and head coach Larry Fedora welcomed 26 new athletes into the USM football program.

Fedora spoke at the Southern Miss Signing Day Social at Lake Terrace Convention Center in Hattiesburg, which was broadcast live at similar events in Ridgeland and Biloxi.

“Our staff did a great job of building those relationships with those guys and working with those guys through the year,” Fedora said. “This last week has been just a barrage of schools coming back and trying to get (the recruits) to flip their commitments to them and even last night until about 11 o’clock we were still on the phone with kids.”

Southern Miss received letters of intent from several players which Fedora says fill the teams needs, including six offensive linemen.

“It was a huge hole for us,” Fedora said. “We went into it saying that we needed to sign at least five. It would be a pipe dream to get and find five quality guys that we would be able to get in on.”

Three recruits - wide receiver Kelvin Bolden and offensive linemen Lamar Holmes and Jason Weaver - came from junior colleges and signed with Southern Miss during the early signing period. They have been on campus this semester, already part of the team.

Southern Miss also received commitments from four players projected to play defensive back, four wide receivers and two quarterbacks. A complete list of signees is available at studentprintz.com.

One recruit with immediate name recognition is Oak Grove wide receiver Steve McNair, Jr. McNair is the son of late NFL quarterback Steve “Air” McNair, a Mount Olive, Miss. native who played 11 seasons of pro football.

Before his junior season, McNair, Jr. transferred from Mount Olive to Oak Grove where he met and played football with Fedora’s son, Dillon. Oak Grove reached the state championship, but fell in the title game to South Panola.

“(McNair) brought them from behind and won a lot of games,” Fedora said. “He just showed a lot of heart and a lot of desire...he makes our football team that much better just being on our team because of his will to succeed.”

Fedora said he and his staff are looking forward to a little rest and relaxation, and that recruiting at Southern Miss is getting harder instead of easier because they are going after players many experts consider out of their league.

“Everyone knows how we recruit now and they know our philosophy,”

Fedora said. “They know we’re going to go after the best player and they know that they can’t take Southern Miss lightly, so that’s made it harder if anything.”