HATTIESBURG (AP) — Quarterback Martevious Young has put Southern Miss in striking distance of winning a Conference USA championship.
The junior has won three of four C-USA starts, taking over for the injured Austin Davis two months ago. Davis was lost for the season with a foot injury.
Southern Miss (6-4, 4-2) has a 3-1 record in C-USA play and could be playing for the East Division championship and a spot in the C-USA Championship Game with a home win on Saturday against Tulsa (4-6, 2-4).
The Golden Eagles, 5-0 at home this season, are an early 5-point favorite against Tulsa.
Southern Miss coach Larry Fedora downplayed whether Young has met his expectations but offered praise.
“That’s hard to do because my expectations are pretty high,” Fedora said. “I’ll just say that I’ve been very pleased. I think (quarterback coach) Blake Anderson has done a great job with him and (offensive coordinator) Darrell Wyatt has done a great job.
“Those guys are making sure we are doing the things that Martevious can be successful at and he is doing an exceptional job of taking care of the football.”
Young’s work habits made the transition from back up to starter easier, which caught his teammates’ eyes.
“I don’t think there is any doubt (team saw how hard he worked),” Fedora said. “I said when the injury happened, obviously everybody hated it for Austin Davis, but I didn’t think our guys blinked. I think they all had confidence in Martevious from day one. He has that kind of respect on the team and he’s proven it.”
Young has thrown for 1,052 yards with eight touchdowns and one interception, completing 62.6 percent on his passes.
“He’s practiced the same way,” Fedora said. “The reason he is having success now is because of the work he did as a backup. He treated it the same way. Don’t disregard how difficult that is when you’re a backup to prepare yourself to be a starter. That’s very difficult.
“You’d think that every backup quarterback in the country does it that way. Well, I don’t believe that. I think you have to be pretty special to prepare yourself knowing there is a good chance you aren’t going to step on that football field. I think right now we’re finding out that he really did it. That’s why he’s as prepared.”
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