Ole Miss Football: 5 biggest questions facing the Rebels in spring 2018

Ole Miss football enters Saturday’s spring game with some question marks, but what are the five biggest facing the Rebels?

Prior to the 2017 season, a bombshell was dropped on Ole Miss football. The Rebels learned that their head coach, Hugh Freeze, would no longer lead the program as he stepped down and left the team in the hands of Matt Luke.

Freeze’s one-time assistant earned the interim role as soon as his predecessor stepped down and eventually got promoted to full-time head coach. He’s back for his second season after weathering a huge storm and leading the Rebels to a 6-6 record.

Luke returns with a different look to his team now that Shea Patterson is gone, but Jordan Ta’amu is back to provide leadership on offense. There are still plenty of questions surrounding the Rebels.

What’re the five biggest questions facing Ole Miss this spring?

5. Can the defense show improvement?

This shouldn’t take too much work seeing as Ole Miss ranked 110th in the nation in terms of points allowed per game and gave up about 460 yards per contest. The Rebels couldn’t seem to stop anyone, let alone slow them down.

With guys like Marquis Haynes, Breeland Speaks, DeMarquis Gates and A.J. Moore departing, the Rebels will have to reload on the defensive side of the ball.

Can young guys like Ryder Anderson, Benito Jones, Jarrion Street, Donta Evans, Myles Hartsfield, D.D. Bowie and Jaylon Jones step up and replace their predecessors, and then some?

Ole Miss has some work to do on this side of the ball.