Four Tigers named to Phil Steele’s All-Conference First Team

Annually, Phil Steele puts together the most in-depth college football preview magazine on the market. Steele, who formerly worked for ESPN, spends most of the offseason talking to coaches around the country about their upcoming teams, gaining intel for his magazine. 

In addition to team breakdowns for all FBS and FCS programs, Steele puts together All-Conference teams for every FBS conference. This season, he placed four Tigers on his preseason All-Conference First Team.

With more than 70 new players on the roster this season, it’s hard to predict what the team will look like as a whole, but it’s clear to see Charles Huff has brought in talent on both sides of the ball. 

There will be position battles on both sides of the ball, but it appears the defense could have a better of an identity early in the season. The defense will bring over a nice core of starters from Southern Miss, and all four players on Steele’s First Team are defensive players.

DL J’Mond Tapp

J’Mond Tapp has received a lot of offseason attention, and most outlets predict him to be a First Team All-Conference player this season. Last week, ESPN named Tapp as one of the “top non-QB playmakers in 2026.”

He was the only Group of Five player on the list.

Tapp spent time at Arizona State and Texas before landing at Southern Miss ahead of the 2525 season. In Huff’s program, the defensive lineman recorded 70 tackles, 7.5 sacks and two pass deflections.

DL Jaden McKinney

Jaden McKinney is a Collierville native and played high school football at Collierville High School. Out of high school, he signed with Austin Peay and spent two years in Clarksville before transferring to Southern Miss last season.

The defensive lineman appeared in 13 games and recorded 27 tackles, two tackles for loss and 0.5 sacks, and he’ll look to make a jump during his senior season.

LB Mike Montgomery

Mike Montgomery is another Southern Miss transfer who has received a lot of attention this offseason. The linebacker will play his senior season at Memphis, and it will be the third program he’s played for in his career.

Montgomery started his career at Portland State, where he was named an FCS Freshman All-American. After recording 149 tackles in two seasons with the Vikings, the linebacker transferred to Hattiesburg and didn’t miss a beat.

With the Golden Eagles, Montgomery recorded 105 tackles, six tackles for loss, three sacks, four pass deflections and two interceptions in 12 games.

DB Ian Foster

Ian Foster will look to lead the secondary in 2026 after being part of a secondary that led college football in interceptions last season. 

Foster signed with Huff out of high school while the head coach was at Marshall, and he followed him to Southern Miss and now to Memphis. During his redshirt sophomore season, he recorded 76 tackles, 3.6 tackles for loss, one sack and three interceptions.