USM plucks players from Peach State

By By Tony Krausz / assistant sports editor
Feb. 5, 2004
HATTIESBURG The University of Southern Mississippi dug into the state of Georgia to pluck two of its top prospects on Wednesday.
The Golden Eagles, who signed 23 players on national signing day, inked Rivals.com top 30 passer Travis Clark of Lincolnton, Ga., and running back C.J. Barrows from Power Springs, Ga.
Clark threw for 1,685 yards and 17 touchdowns in his senior year at Lincoln County High School and was named the 1A Player of the Year for North Georgia by the Georgia Coaches Association.
Barrows rushed for 1,514 yards for McEachern High School in 2003 with 14 touchdowns, and he caught 14 passes for 134 yards and one touchdown.
Eric Elijah of Donalsville, Ga., and Gerald McRath of Powder Springs also signed with USM from Georgia.
While the Eagles boosted their Georgia roots, they also signed players from a variety of Southern states. Eleven players come from Mississippi, four of which were from the junior-high ranks, three from Alabama, four from Louisiana and one from Florida.
Clark will join a strong platoon of USM quarterbacks, even with the loss of Mickey D'Angelo, who had to stop playing because of concussions.
Dustin Almond, who played well as a starter in the second half of last season, has two more years left, and Damion Carter started two games as a freshman last season. Jeremy Young has also shown promise in his first year.
Barrows joins a running game that showed promise late in the season. USM finished the year rushing for 1,587 yards, with Anthony Harris leading the way with 671 yards.
Harris didn't become the starting running back for the Eagles until midway through the season when he was moved from his starting role of fullback.
Along with adding a running back and quarterback, USM added a kicker with its signing class.
West Jones' Britt Barefoot signed with the Eagles, after finishing his high school career with 158 points with touchdowns, extra points and field goals combined.
Bower said signing Barefoot was not an indication that he was unhappy with the kicking game last season, which struggled at times.
USM may be able to expect even better recruiting classes in the future thanks to the program's new athletic facility.