Ole Miss Football: Rebels must fight for relevancy in SEC West in 2018

Previewing the offense

Ole Miss should figure that the receiving corps is the route to defeating most teams it’ll face this fall. The headlining wide receiver is rising junior superstar A.J. Brown. As possibly the best receiver in the nation at this point, Brown is looked at as a guaranteed first-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. Beyond Brown, there’s still a host of talent at wide receiver.

A few of those other names are D.K. Metcalf and DaMarkus Lodge. It’ll be tough for any secondary to handle the Ole Miss receivers, possibly outside of the Crimson Tide. This is the type of position group that can win the Rebels two or three games this fall just from their production alone.

The Ole Miss offensive line promises to be among the better groups in the SEC. Nothing but juniors and seniors return to start along the line. The featured lineman for the Rebels is rising junior offensive tackle Greg Little. Much like Brown, Little is projected to be nearly a lock for a first-round pick in the upcoming NFL Draft.

The big question marks lie with the consistent production from Ta’amu and the ground game altogether. While Ta’amu had a nice finish to the 2017 season, he still has a limited body of work to go off of. Most find his outlook for 2018 to be bright, though. He’ll likely be supported in the backfield mainly by rising junior running back Eric Swinney. We’ll see how the Ole Miss offense copes with losing a 1,000-yard rusher from last season in Jordan Wilkins.