The quarterback issues that the Golden Eagles have faced this year are no secret. A year ago, two different QBs made meaningful contributions for Southern Miss: Kwadra Griggs and Keon Howard. Both of whom were expected to return for the 2018 campaign.

Howard chose instead to transfer to down the road to Tulane and Griggs started out the year indefinitely suspended. Griggs's suspension was rescinded back in September, but he permanently left the program two weeks ago, this time of his own will.

The job then fell into the lap of Jack Abraham, a former Tech Bulldog. The transfer QB played sufficiently in his seven games under center, earning the highest completion percentage in college football. However, Abraham still left much to be desired as USM was only able to tally three wins during his tenure. And that's including a victory over FCS Jackson State.

In the seventh game of the season, a 20-17 loss to Charlotte, Abraham suffered a head injury while scrambling on a 4th Down play late in the game and has not yet returned to the field.

With the first three options unavailable, Southern Miss was now at Plan D: Tate Whatley. The true freshman has been serviceable in the two games as a starter, obtaining a 114.8 Passing Efficiency Rating on the year. And at this point in the week, the starting role looks to be Whatley's again this Saturday against the Bulldogs.

But one of the toughest jobs for an offense unit is building the rapport between the QB and WRs. The best receivers can plugged into any offense and find ways to attain success, but relationship between pass thrower and pass catcher is often an undervalued part of the game. So it's almost staggering what USM's receivers have been able to accomplish with the revolving door at QB.

This is especially true if you consider the youth of the group. Zero of the Golden Eagles' top five wideouts are seniors, and the top three are all freshmen or sophomores. So not only are these receivers learning to adapt to new QBs, some are still learning the full playbook.

Quez Watkins is the Eagles' most common target, regardless of who throws to him, and that has led to some solid numbers for Watkins. The sophomore ranks 6th in C-USA in receiving yards and 9th nationally in receiving touchdowns.

But Watkins isn't the only option on pass plays. Tim Jones, Southern Miss's second leading receiver and this week's secret weapon, has been making plays for the Golden Eagles ever since his debut for the team last year in Joe Aillet Stadium.

Jones was a three star receiver for Biloxi (MS) High, where he tallied over 3,500 receiving yards in his prep career. This led to some interest from Ole Miss and Mississippi State, but in the end, USM was the only program in the state to make an offer. Jones chose to stay close to home over other offers from UTSA, Memphis, and ULL.

That decision has paid off so far for Jones, as he has found his home in his boom-or-bust role. In other words, there are some games where Jones is kept quiet, but others where he can bring in several receptions and average over 15 yards a catch. Jones is the type of player that often seems to find a way to make the big play.

The last two weeks, Jones has been keep pretty much in check, with only three catches last week at UAB, and two the week before against Marshall. So maybe Tech will be able to extend Jones's dry spell to a third term. Or maybe we'll see something like this:

Nathan is also a contributor to gtpdd.dog, a lighthearted Louisiana Tech blog. Be sure to follow @gotechplsdntdie on Twitter.