BREAKING: Southern Miss Names Ethan Hampton Starting QB Ahead of Season Opener vs. Alcorn

After a long ongoing battle for the quarterback position, head coach Blake Anderson has decided to name the experienced transfer QB from Northern Illinois and Illinois as his starter.

Ethan Hampton (5) at Southern Miss Fall Camp at The Rock. | Josh House

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Miss head football coach Blake Anderson has named redshirt-senior Ethan Hampton the starting quarterback before the Golden Eagles' home opener against Alcorn State at Renasant Stadium in Hattiesburg on Saturday, multiple sources confirmed to Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI on Friday night after ESPN's college football insider Peter Thamel broke the story.

So far, in his collegiate career, Hampton, a transfer from Northern Illinois and Illinois, has thrown for 2,595 career passing yards, 21 touchdowns, and a 58.2 percent completion rate. In 2024, Hampton was the starting QB when Northern Illinois upset No. 5 Notre Dame in South Bend, 16-14.

Southern Miss QB Ethan Hampton throws a pass at fall camp. | Josh House

Throughout the offseason, Hampton battled against redshirt-senior QB Landry Lyddy and redshirt-sophomore John White. As the competition came to a close, it became evident that Hampton was Anderson's guy. After suffering a bone bruise injury to his throwing hand during the Golden Eagles' Fan Fest scrimmage, Hampton missed nearly two weeks of action, and yet, when he returned, he was still taking first-team reps in practices leading up to this decision.

After seeing how Hampton looked this week, having more "pop" in his throws, that was enough to help Anderson make this decision.

"Ethan's better. He's looking better every day. You saw some pop today, some power," Anderson said after Tuesday's practice. "Today was a really good evaluation day just to see where he was and where things are, and we'll go back and watch the tape. Not ready to make a call."

Ethan Hampton and the other Southern Miss quarterbacks go through drills during Saturday’s fall camp practice. | Josh House

During that practice, Hampton indeed looked more like his old self, zipping passes to his receivers at several points along the field with no restrictions. He even put a touchdown pass of around 40 yards right on the money toward the very end of the practice. Throughout fall camp, Lyddy and White both had their moments, but Hampton just appeared to be the more consistent of the three. His emergence as one of the team's biggest vocal leaders also played a big part in Anderson's decision.

"He's done a really good job of staying active and involved and hasn't missed a beat," Anderson said after a practice last week when Hampton still hadn't made it all the way back to 100 percent. "Clearly one of the loudest voices that guys listen to."

Stay tuned to Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI for more Week 1 football coverage throughout the weekend as the Golden Eagles officially kick off the Blake Anderson head-coaching era in Hattiesburg.