HATTIESBURG — Southern Miss head coach Will Hall has picked his starting quarterback.

The third-year coach announced Tuesday that redshirt sophomore Billy Wiles will be behind center for the Golden Eagles’ opener against Alcorn State on Sept. 2.

Wiles, a transfer from Clemson, will be Southern Miss’ fourth different starter in as many seasons. He beat out redshirt junior Holman Edwards for the job.

Wiles joined Clemson as a walk-on in 2021 before being placed on scholarship for 2022. He played in one game in 2021, against Connecticut, and went 2-for-4 for 31 yards and a touchdown. He did not appear in a game in 2022.

“Two things have been evident to me throughout this fall camp,” Hall said. “One, Holman and Billy both are really good players and good leaders, and we can win with both of them; two, Billy’s been just a little bit better (in practice).”

With preseason camp behind them, as well as the start of the fall semester classes, the Golden Eagles are changing their focus to Alcorn State.

“(We) started introducing Alcorn today,” Hall said. “They’re obviously a proud program and over the last several years they’ve won a lot of conference championships. It’s going to be a tremendous challenge. We expect The Rock to be packed and it should be a fun first game. We’ve got to be ready for that and all that entails and we’ve transitioned over to kind of doing that.”