Reports: Vicksburg native Jay Hopson is joining the South Alabama football team
Published 12:48 p.m. Tuesday 31 January 2023
- Vicksburg native Jay Hopson, a member of the Mississippi state football team, stands on the sidelines during the ReliaQuest Bowl January 2nd. Hopson was hired as South Alabama’s cornerbacks coach. (Walter Frazier/For the Vicksburg Post)
South Alabama is replacing one Vicksburger native with another on its football coaching staff.
According to multiple media reports, Jay Hopson has been hired as South Alabama’s cornerbacks coach. South Alabama hasn’t announced the hiring yet, but Hopson has posted a photo on Twitter He thanked the state of Mississippi for his time there. Hopson’s name was also removed from a list of Mississippi State assistant coaches on the school’s football website.
Hopson spent the last two years at Mississippi State as the director of high school relations. He was hired in March 2021 after two stints as head coach at Alcorn State from 2012-2015 and Southern Miss from 2016-20.
“There was a lot of fun!! Thank you to the State of Mississippi, The Football Family and StarkVegas!!” Hopson wrote on Twitter.
In South Alabama, Hopson will replace Dwike Wilson, who joined the Southern Miss staff earlier this month.
Hopson and Wilson are both from Vicksburg and played college football at Ole Miss. Hopson graduated from Warren Central and Wilson from Vicksburg High School.
Hopson’s career record as a head coach is 60-40. He led Alcorn to two Southwestern Athletic Conference championships and Southern Miss to three bowl finishes in his four full seasons there.
Hopson has also spent time as an assistant coach at nine other schools during his 30-year coaching career, which began in 1992. Current South Alabama head coach Kane Wommack played at Southern Miss in 2007 when Hopson was the defensive coordinator.
About Ernest Bowker
Ernest Bowker is Sports Editor for the Vicksburg Post. He has been a member of the Vicksburg Post sports team since 1998, making him one of the longest-serving reporters in the newspaper’s 139-year history. A native of New Jersey, he graduated from LSU. During his career, he has won more than 50 awards from the Mississippi Press Association and Associated Press for his coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.
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