Of Southern Miss’ national third-ranked defense from a season ago, roster turnover hit their linebacking corps the hardest. Sherrod Ruff, Jeremy Sangster, Paxton Schrimsher and Darian Yancey, who all four were regulars at the top of the depth chart, are gone.
Despite the losses, fourth-year head coach Jay Hopson says expectations are high for their current group as they ready for the 2019 season in spring camp.
“We’re talented at that position,” he said. “I think we’ve got five or six guys that are really athletic.”
Hayes Maples, a former Oak Grove standout, fits into that category, according to Hopson. Maples saw action in only four games as a true freshman last season. For the most part, he sat back and learned from the team’s veterans, which allowed him to redshirt and save a year of eligibility.
“They knew the defense better than anybody, so it was really just good to learn from them and pick up some things,” Maples said. “Coming from high school to here, I feel like I’ve improved tenfold.”
When Maples did play, it was on special teams as a gunner on kickoffs.
“It was just running down the field and hitting somebody,” he said. “I liked that for sure.”
At 6-foot-2, 235 pounds, Maples was just the man for the job.
Believe it or not, he was already 6-foot-2, 170 at the start of his freshman season at Oak Grove five years ago. Though he was bigger than most, if not all, kids his age, he called himself “super skinny”. That year he started to hit the weight room hard.
“I just remember one of our old coaches at Oak Grove was like, ‘Man, you gotta gain some weight if you wanna play next year’. So that really changed my mindset to get into it and get bigger.”
Today, he bench presses 350 pounds and is regularly described by friends on Instagram as both an “animal” and a “grown man”. In this respect Maples jumps off the page, but that’s not the only thing about him that impresses Hopson. In addition to being physically powerful, Maples is also versatile. He can play inside or outside linebacker and doesn’t prefer one spot over the other.
“That’s always a big advantage,” Hopson said. “That’s gonna give him the ability to get on the field quickly.”
For Maples, that’s of course the goal this upcoming season.
“I’m just trying to find the field any way I can to play defense,” he said. “I feel like I’m working towards it, but I just gotta keep getting better and improving.
“We still got spring and fall camp, but I’m super excited.”
