Mineola’s Austin + Riley Anderson Receive Offer From Southern Miss

Like father, like son. And son.

Mineola's junior offensive tackles and twin brothers Austin and Riley Anderson picked up scholarship offers from Southern Miss on Wednesday and now have the opportunity to resume the family line at their father's alma mater.

Austin Anderson confirmed the news to ETSN.fm.

Leon Anderson played for the Southern Miss Golden Eagles in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The university became Austin Anderson's eighth college football opportunity and Riley Anderson's seventh.

Riley Anderson subsequently picked up an offer from Northwestern later Wednesday to draw even with his brother. Austin Anderson received an offer from the university last week. Both players are tied for second among East Texas' Class of 2016 prospects in terms of scholarship opportunities behind Nacogdoches safety Brandon Jones.

Southern Miss is in a rebuilding period, but it is not far removed from a 12-2 season in 2011 under now-North Carolina head coach Larry Fedora.

The Golden Eagles went winless the very next season in what turned out to be Ellis Johnson's lone year with the program. Todd Monken, entering his third campaign with Southern Miss, broke a 23-game losing skid late in 2012 and posted a 3-9 record last season.

Monken is an offensive-minded coach with experience in both the NCAA and NFL.

After spending two seasons at Notre Dame as a graduate assistant, the coach rose to offensive coordinator at Eastern Michigan before moving on to Louisiana Tech.

Monken spent most of the 2000s under Les Miles at Oklahoma State and subsequently LSU as Miles' passing game coordinator. He jumped to the Jacksonville Jaguars initially as a receivers coach and then served as its quarterbacks coach before returning to Oklahoma State for one prolific season under Mike Gundy as offensive coordinator in 2011.

Southern Miss made the hire after Oklahoma State clinched a spot in the Fiesta Bowl. Oklahoma State only suffered one loss that season, a surprising overtime defeat at Iowa State.

The Golden Eagles already face stiff competition in the recruiting battle for the Andersons.

Both brothers already have major conference offers from Missouri, Northwestern and Texas Tech as well as other invitations from Cincinnati, North Texas, Texas State and Tulsa.

All 16 combined scholarship opportunities for the Andersons have arrived since Feb. 3.

Both players were instrumental in paving the way for a group of exclusively underclassmen runners. They helped a run-dependent Yellowjackets offense amass 4,465 rushing yards and 53 touchdowns in a 16-game season culminating with a Class 3A Division I state championship game appearance.

The twins are expected to visit TCU's junior day on Saturday.