Baldwin County High School alum Tiaquelin Mims returned close to home over the weekend as a member of the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles football team in their postseason bowl game against the Rice Owls at Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile.

Mims provided a touchdown reception from running back Frank Gore Jr., who set the NCAA record for 329 rushing yards in a bowl game, to help Southern Miss earn a 38-24 victory in the Lending Tree Bowl Saturday night.

As a true freshman, Mims played in 9 games for the Golden Eagles and racked up 379 receiving yards on 24 receptions with 3 touchdowns where his longest catch was 52 yards.

He also returned 11 kickoffs for 256 return yards for an average of 23.3 yards per kickoff and returned 5 punts for 54 yards for an average of 10.8 yards per punt.

Southern Miss finished 7-6 overall for its first winning season since 2019 and had seven players land on Sun Belt All-Conference teams.

As a senior at Baldwin County High, Mims threw and ran for more 1,000 yards each. He recorded 1,428 passing yards with 16 touchdowns to go along with 1,402 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns to help the Tigers earn their first postseason berth since 2007 and their first playoff win since 2003.

Mims was an ASWA All-State selection his final two seasons as an athlete and was also named to the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Classic as a senior where Baldwin County had its first representative in the game since 2012.