It appears that Southern Miss will have a couple of former “Power Five” conference players littering its roster this fall.
In a tweet posted to his Twitter account Tuesday afternoon, as pointed out by the Sun Herald‘s Patrick Magee, running back Vernard Roberts revealed that he will resume his FBS playing career at Southern Miss. Additionally, quarterback Tyler Matthews sent out a tweet roughly 24 hours after Roberts’ indicating he too would be transferring to the Golden Eagles.
Below are the tweets from the respective players, even as we first note that the school has yet to confirm the additions of either players:
After a long process, I'm OFFICIALLY committing to play college 🏈 at the University of Southern Miss Golden Eagles!
— KingRoberts❗️ (@V_Roberts9) May 20, 2014
Can't wait to get going!
— Tyler Matthews (@TylerS_Matthews) May 21, 2014
Southern Miss Football.#SMTTT #GoldenEagles
Roberts, a three-star member of West Virginia’s 2011 recruiting class, began his true freshman season as the Mountaineers’ starting running back; by the end of that season he was off the the team as an academic casualty. Because he’s been away from this level of football for two seasons -- he played at the JUCO level -- Roberts would be eligible to play immediately for USM in 2014.
Incidentally, the back’s brother, Vance Roberts, is also considering a move to the Eagles. The defensive back was booted from WVU at the same time as his brother for the same reason.
In the middle of last month, Matthews took to Twitter to announce that he was transferring from TCU.
Matthews rarely saw the field in 2013 as a redshirt freshman and did not attempt a pass, with “search for more playing time” the obvious but unstated reason for his departure from the Horned Frogs. Prior to redshirting as a true freshman in 2012, Matthews was a four-star member of that year’s class and was the No. 6 pro-style quarterback in the country. He was the No. 1 prospect at any position in the state of Kansas that year.