When Dylan Bradley arrived at Southern Mississippi, he had signed on with a football program that went 0-12 the previous season.
Three years later, Bradley has been a key cog in getting the Golden Eagles back on the map. Last season, the Noxubee County High School product started 13 games at defensive end and helped the team to the Conference USA championship game and the Heart of Dallas Bowl.
Bradley led Southern Miss with six-and-a-half sacks. His 47 tackles led the defensive linemen. He had 12 1/2 tackles for loss and led the team with six quarterback hurries.
A loss to Western Kentucky in the C-USA championship game and a loss to Washington in the bowl game ended Southern Miss’ season at 9-5 (7-1 in C-USA).
Bradley, a 6-foot-1, 265-pound senior, already has left his stamp in Hattiesburg. He has realistic NFL dreams, but he wants to make the most of his last shot to close his collegiate tenure with a bowl win. That journey will begin at 6:30 p.m. Saturday (ESPNU) when Southern Miss plays at Kentucky and has a chance to earn a statement win under first-year coach Jay Hopson
“My big goal is to win the conference championship this year, win a bowl game, and go out on top,” Bradley said, “and leave this organization with my mark on it.”
Bradley is listed as starting nose tackle on the depth chart entering the opener. His versatility has made him a cornerstone of the defensive front.
“You’ve got to follow before you can lead. You’ve got to learn, watch older guys,” Bradley said. “That torch has been passed to me. I know being a leader, a lot of people are looking at me to make sure I lead by example. When someone needs someone to talk to, I talk to them.”
Bradley has played a key role in the Golden Eagles’ resurgence with redshirt junior defensive back Trae Collins, a former standout at New Hope High whom Bradley played against at Noxubee County High. Collins also will start Saturday in Lexington, Kentucky.
“Me and Dylan are really close,” Collins said. “We talk about life, football up and down the road. He’s a leader.”
Bradley made an immediate impact in Hattiesburg. He was no stranger to that type of production. The Dispatch’s Defensive Player of the Year as a senior, Bradley led Noxubee County to a 16-0 season and the Class 4A state title at defensive end. He was a three-star recruit and top 10 in Mississippi. He was the state’s Class 4A Defensive Player of the Year.
It clicked even more as a sophomore. Despite missing time with an injury, Bradley played eight games with four starts and had 29 tackles (five for loss) and three sacks. He even fielded a kickoff and returned it 11 yards in the season opener against Mississippi State.
Saturday is a chance to make a statement against a team from the big, bad Southeastern Conference.
“Why not just go out there and give (people) something they’re not expecting?” Bradley said. “That’s the main focus, to go out there and win. But, honestly, we treat every game big. No team bigger than the next.”
Southern Miss was 4-20 and had won only two of its 16 Conference USA games in Bradley’s first two seasons. There were blowouts at Nebraska, Boise State, and Alabama. But last season there was an 18-point loss to Mississippi State and a six-point loss at Nebraska. This season, Southern Miss will play at LSU in a game that will serve as another measuring sticks that will help determine how far the program has come.
ESPN’s football power index has the Golden Eagles favored in all but two games this season, Saturday and on Oct. 15 in Baton Rouge. The FPI gives them a nearly 20-percent chance to win C-USA, second-highest in the conference behind Western Kentucky.
“There’s been adversity (in his tenure at the school), and once adversity strikes, you’ve just got to trust the process you put yourself in,” Bradley said. “First year, we only won one game. That right there showed nothing was going to be given to you. My second year here, we won only three, still a bad season, a lot of things we could have changed but didn’t.
“Last year, we had a mind-set, a strict focus, one game at a time. You’ve got to fight until you’ve got no more fight left in you. And once you continue to fight, good things happen.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.