LB Mathis Haygood Believes Southern Miss Defense Has Improved 'Majorly' Since Spring

NEW ORLEANS – When a college football team endures as much roster turnover as Southern Miss has, there are naturally going to be some growing pains with players trying to build chemistry in a short timeframe. This is especially true on the defensive side of the ball, where everyone has to be linked together like a chain. If one link in that chain breaks, the whole thing fails. Having an experienced leader on defense can help accelerate that chemistry growth, and redshirt junior linebacker Mathis Haygood is hoping to do just that.

The 6-4, 230-pound Fayetteville, Ga., native transferred to Southern Miss from Marshall with Charles Huff a year and a half ago, but when Huff left to be Memphis' head coach in December of 2025, Haygood was one of the few who stuck around in Hattiesburg, and now, he's become one of the new leaders of the Golden Eagles' defense. Last season, appeared in all 13 games and recorded 44 tackles (17 solo) with four tackles for loss, one sack, and one interception. Haygood registered a season-high 11 tackles in his lone start against South Alabama.

Before Sun Belt Football Media Day wrapped up on Thursday afternoon in New Orleans, we caught up with Haygood to get his thoughts on how much the Southern Miss defense has improved from spring until now, the team accepting an underdog role and playing with a chip on their shoulder, and feeling a responsibility to bring back sustained success to the Southern Miss football program.

Southern Miss Defense Improving By The Day

USM, Mathis Haygood — Southern Miss redshirt-junior linebacker Mathis Haygood speaks with Dalton Trigg and Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI before wrapping up Sun Belt Football Media Day in New Orleans on Thursday afternoon. | Josh House

So, given how rough things looked for the Southern Miss defense on the first day of spring training, how have things progressed since then with fall camp coming up in the next few weeks?

“I’ve seen the defense improve majorly in the winter, spring and now summer,” Haygood tells Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI. “I think this group knows how to fight back and respond. You mentioned it’s hard to build that chemistry off rip in those times during the spring when the offense would come out and give real work, and we either had to choose to respond or choose to do things differently.”

Playing With a Chip on Their Shoulder

Unless you're looking at our Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI preseason expectations and predictions roundtable, most people are betting against the Golden Eagles in 2026. In fact, in the Sun Belt Football Preseason Coaches Poll, Southern Miss was picked to finish fifth out of seven teams in the Sun Belt West Division. Although preseason media rankings don't mean much, when so many people start piling on you at one time, you can't help but take it personally. Haygood and the rest of this Southern Miss squad, especially the defense, will look to channel those feelings of disrespect into extra motivation on the field.

“It adds fuel to the fire for sure,” Haygood said. “You don’t always want to pay attention to preseason expectations, because they really don’t matter, but it definitely has to fuel the fire. It definitely allows the group to get something to put on a bulletin board: ‘This is where they’ve got us,’ and ‘This isn’t true about us.’ Let’s go out there and show them what we can do.”

Bringing Sustained Success Back to Southern Miss Football

Southern Miss faithful have been through the wringer over the last 15 years. Yes, there have been some successful seasons sprinkled in along the way, but for the most part, the days of sustained success for a program with such an extensive, proud history have been a thing of the past. Haygood and the rest of the upperclassmen are hoping to restore that order.

“Of course,” Haygood said when asked about feeling a responsibility to bring sustained success back to the Southern Miss football program. “Southern Miss has a long lineage of culture and a winning program, back in the 90s, winning those big games, and things of that nature. I think that’s what the fans want: winning and bringing a sense of camaraderie back to the town. We aimed for that last year, but we got off track a little bit. So we’re just using that last year as a stepping stone to build upon and, yes, bring back winning to Hattiesburg.”

Although the Golden Eagles may not have top-end talent on the roster, at least on paper, there's something to be said for a group of guys who can come together as one and play with a fiery purpose. There's still a long way to go, but first-year head coach Blake Anderson has done a great job laying the foundation for the culture and expectations going forward, and Haygood figures to be one of the key guys who will uphold those standards on the defensive side of the ball.

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