Ole Miss Football: What is the ceiling for the Rebels in 2018?

With the SEC spotlight shining bright on Oxford, as Ole Miss football looks to stay afloat in the West division in 2018, how will they fare by season’s end?

Ole Miss football was able to exceed expectations in 2017 behind a surprisingly solid performance from two different quarterbacks. Shea Patterson got off to an extremely hot start in 2017, looking like a future Heisman contender at one point. That was until a road matchup with the Cal Golden Bears happened.

After that point, Ole Miss’s offense was not playing at the same level, largely because the production between Patterson and star wide receiver A.J. Brown dipped. Brown still finished out 2017 in an extraordinary fashion, and enters 2018 as one of the nation’s best receivers.

A season ending PCL tear for Patterson, against the LSU Tigers, put the rest of the Rebels’ campaign in major jeopardy. However, dual threat quarterback Jordan Ta’amu made a big splash in his time as the starter.

In just five starts in 2017, Ta’amu totaled 15 touchdowns, and helped the Rebels to a 3-2 mark in SEC play. Most importantly, he led Ole Miss to an Egg Bowl victory over hated in-state rival Mississippi State Bulldogs. The Bulldogs had a huge injury of their own when do-it-all quarterback Nick Fitzgerald went down with a season-ending ankle issue.

With sanctions still hampering the outlook of Ole Miss football in 2018, now permanent head coach Matt Luke is ready to build momentum for the future of the program. At odds on the recruiting trail, Luke still hauled in the No. 31 ranked class in the nation. That included four-star pro-style quarterback, and the fourth best at his position in the nation, Matt Corral.

Here’s a look at the overall ceiling for the Ole Miss Rebels in 2018, including the outlook on both sides of the ball.