How does Ole Miss football fare given a skilled roster in 2018? They have a few questions to answer before the regular season comes around.
Ole Miss football takes an injury-laden roster into the summer months with high hopes for improvement in the SEC West in mind for 2018. Head coach Matt Luke signed a contract to become the full-time guy at the helm for the Rebels in Oxford. That could help provide a spark, and some stability, to the locker room in 2018.
The Rebels took part in their spring football game, the annual Grove Bowl at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, on April 7. They had their spring game earlier than most other SEC programs, but it was a good look into where the offense is at entering the 2018 campaign.
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However, possibly the most promising part of the Ole Miss roster this year, the receiving corps, had some significant names out of action. DaMarkus Lodge was held out of the spring game completely due to injury, and superstar A.J. Brown was limited to special teams with no contact.
The only one of the three premier wide receivers we got to see for the Rebels on April 7 was D.K. Metcalf. But, he shined alongside the rising senior dual-threat quarterback Jordan Ta’amu. That creates a lot of excitement as to what the Ole Miss offense can do come the upcoming season.
Some fans believe that the spring game is a great way to get a glimpse into where their program is at during the early off-season. However, things will change before fall camp comes around and the Rebels get closer to starting their slate off officially.
Here’s the three biggest questions that the Ole Miss Rebels still have left after spring camp.
After sophomore quarterback Shea Patterson was knocked out for the season last year, against the LSU Tigers, the Rebels were forced to turn to a former JUCO transfer in Ta’amu. He stepped in and notched a few big wins for the program down the stretch.
The one thing that Rebels fans will definitely remember about Ta’amu last season was his leadership in a victory over the hated in-state rival Mississippi State Bulldogs. An injury to star Mississippi State quarterback Nick Fitzgerald did help the Rebels to that Egg Bowl victory, but it was huge for them nonetheless.
Ta’amu has all the weapons at his disposal that he needs to succeed in the passing game. Between Lodge, Brown, and Metcalf, it seems like the Rebels have the makings of the best receiving corps in the SEC. That says a lot considering the talent level of the average SEC program.
Last year, Ta’amu racked up 15 total touchdowns to just four interceptions. All the while, he completed more than 66 percent of his passes. Improving his efficiency with his legs, and keeping the momentum rolling in the air are the two things that Ta’amu can do to place himself among the best in the conference at his position.
2. Does Eric Swinney take command of the backfield?
One of the biggest losses for Ole Miss after the 2017 campaign is 1,000-yard rusher Jordan Wilkins. As a program notoriously known for having troubles with the ground game in the past five years, it was a positive surprise to see Wilkins find so much running room last season.
The second most experienced returning rusher for the Rebels this year is the to-be redshirt junior Eric Swinney. Yet, the most experienced overall is another rising junior rusher in D’Vaughn Pennamon, who also was second in rushing yards in 2017 to only Wilkins.
Since Pennamon spent the spring game on the sideline due to injury, similar to Lodge, Swinney got the first team reps alongside Ta’amu. Swinney also seems like the favorite to win the starting job for the Rebels come fall. Pennamon should still get a good helping of carries too.
The encouraging news for the Ole Miss fan base surrounding the state of the backfield is that both Swinney and Pennamon is that they both averaged more than 4.0 yards per carry in 2017. In fact, Swinney was closer to the 5.0 yards per carry mark last year, racking up nearly 200 rushing yards altogether.
1. How does Ole Miss follow up a 6-6 season?
Most fans around the college football world would say that Ole Miss winning six games in 2017 was a resounding accomplishment that far surpassed expectations. They had an interim head coach in Luke fighting to become tenured, and a roster with a ton of question marks entering the regular season.
Now, Ole Miss has some more stability entering the 2018 campaign, and some very solid pieces returning to campus for the fall. The problem for the Rebels will seemingly always be competing in the ever tough SEC West. Once again, the division could be the best in the nation, with two or three teams ranked in the preseason top 10.
The Rebel do have the look of a team that could finish with a respectable winning record, or better. It’ll be a telling start to the season if they can knock off a fellow Power Five program in the head coach Kliff Kingsbury and the Texas Tech Red Raiders, out of the Big 12.
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Other winnable games for the Rebels come against the Southern Illinois Salukis (FCS), Kent State Golden Flashes, ULM Warhawks, Arkansas Razorbacks, South Carolina Gamecocks, Vanderbilt Commodores, and Mississippi State to cap things off. Given everything falls into place for Ole Miss in the early portion of the regular season slate, they could have an eight win season on their hands.