HATTIESBURG - When the time came for Jay Hopson to put a staff together, the newly-hired Southern Miss football coach had a hunch.
After carefully considering a strong pool of candidates for the running backs coach job, Hopson opted to go against conventional wisdom and put a career defensive assistant, Lytrel Pollard, in charge of the offensive position group. It was a gamble but Hopson was confident.
While the sample size may be small, Hopson got plenty of return on his investment. In the season opener at Kentucky, Pollard’s running backs — Ito Smith and George Payne — racked up 273 yards and a touchdown in the team’s 44-35 victory.