The Southern Miss Golden Eagles will be turning to a new face to lead the team in 2023. As announced on Tuesday by head coach Will Hall, former Clemson quarterback Billy Wiles will take the reigns for Southern Miss this season.
Billy Wiles Named Starting QB At Southern Miss
Despite bringing back incumbent starting quarterback Zach Wicke, it was clear that the staff at Southern Miss was open to a competition at the position this offseason when they brought in Wiles through the transfer portal.
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The battle ultimately came down to Holman Edwards and Wiles.
After a strong offseason circuit — admittedly a strong fall camp — and the winner of the job was apparent.
“We’re gonna name Billy Wiles the starter,” coach Hall told reporters after Tuesday’s practice. “Two things have been evident to me throughout this fall camp: One, Holman and Billy are both really good players and really good leaders, and we can win with both of ’em.”
“And two, you know, Billy’s been better.”
The latter part of Hall’s statement speaks volumes to the player that Wiles was in high school and, ultimately, what we saw during his time as a walk-on before earning in scholarship at Clemson over the past two seasons.
A standout at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn, Virginia, Wiles’ journey to get to this point as the starting quarterback of an FBS school is the stuff dreams are made of. Wiles already has VHSL legend in his bag, throwing his final high school pass as a walk-off touchdown to win the State Championship, and now he’s the epitome of working hard and earning your spot.
Following high school, Wiles earned three-star status and was featured among the top 60 players across the state of Virginia on each recruiting platform. Despite offers from multiple Group of Five schools, including in-state Old Dominion and Tulane, Wiles decided to walk on at Clemson in 2021.
He appeared in a single game for Clemson as a true freshman — as a walk-on, remember — and threw for 31 yards and a touchdown against UConn in the process. He earned his scholarship as a member of a crowded Clemson quarterback room ahead of the 2022 season despite players like DJ Uiagalelei and Cade Klubnik ahead of him.
When the season was over and the proverbial keys to the position have been handed to Klubnik at Clemson, Wiles hit the transfer portal and generated serious buzz.
For a player to create such buzz with just four career pass attempts speaks volumes to what Wiles was able to produce, who he was able to impress, and clearly what the Clemson staff thought of him.
In the end, Wiles made the trip south to Hattiesburg and continued to battle his way onto the field, his play speaking for itself.
“Holman is a really good football player, like a really good football player,” Hall continued. “Billy’s just been a little bit better, he’s done some things better, so he’s going to be the starter moving forward. We’ll roll with that.”
The competition came down to just over a week ahead of Southern Miss’ first game of the 2023 season. The Golden Eagles will open play against Alcorn State on Saturday, September 2 at 7:00 p.m. ET.
Wiles himself noted that the competition was fierce and shared his sentiment with the decision on Tuesday as well.
“Yeah, it’s exciting,” Wiles told reporters after practice on Tuesday. “We’ve got a little less than two weeks until our first game so I’m just excited to go compete with everybody. It was a really fun competition; happy that we’re here and that we’re ready to go.”
With Alcorn State on their minds and the first of the install already complete at practice, Wiles took the role of leader and starting quarterback to heart while also talking with reporters, just as you’d expect him to.
“Let’s go, let’s compete, let’s win a lot of ball games, and let’s chase the Sun Belt.”
