SEC Extra Points with Barrett Sallee: Robert Nkemdiche Could Stay on Offense
If Ole Miss wants to get back on track this weekend against Texas A&M, having one of its best players available would certainly help.
Defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche suffered a concussion last week in the loss to Memphis while playing running back on a 4th-and-1 play near the goal line in the first half. The 6'4", 296-pound junior's status for this week was uncertain all week, according to head coach Hugh Freeze.
"He's going through his concussion protocol," Freeze said. "Ours began on Monday and usually, if things go well, they usually wind up on either Thursday or Friday."
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Ole Miss found out on Thursday night that Nkemdiche has cleared his concussion protocol and will be available to play on Saturday, according to Richard Cross of Head To Head Radio in Mississippi.
Will he play offense, though?
"The package is in," Freeze said on Wednesday. "It's just a matter of whether we use it or not. We will wait to see if he's cleared before we make that decision. It was definitely a freak deal, and a concussion can happen on any play, of course. We'll do what's best for him and the team."
The problem for Freeze and for Ole Miss is that what's best for the team is playing Nkemdiche on offense in specific situations.
The Rebels rank eighth in the SEC in rushing offense (167.14 YPG), are averaging just 2.92 yards per rush in conference games and managed just 40 rushing yards on 24 attempts last week against Memphis. It sounds crazy to put your best defensive player on offense and put him at a greater risk for injury, but there's really no other option.
Jalen Walton is more of an edge threat. Jordan Wilkins, Eugene Brazley and Akeem Judd are all talented, but clearly need help from an offensive line that's been less than stellar. Nkemdiche is big and fast enough to mask some of the Rebels' offensive line deficiencies, and he has to stay on offense in those key situations if the Ole Miss offense is going to give off the impression of balance.
Blame It On The Rain
The forecast for Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Saturday is calling for a 90 percent chance of rain when the Razorbacks host Auburn at 11 a.m. ET, according to Weather.com.
Advantage: Arkansas?
"One of the things we try to tell our kids is to control the 'control-ables,'" head coach Bret Bielema said. "We try to embrace whatever the situation is. We have played well in rain going back to last year against LSU and Ole Miss, both (games) had a little bit of that. This year, the Tennessee game was supposed to be a monsoon on game day and it did rain a little bit."
Bielema is right.
Arkansas' massive offensive line—which averages 327.8 pounds—combined with the ability of stud running back Alex Collins to be both a bruiser and a home run hitter has Arkansas set up for success against the visiting Tigers.
"He is a challenge," Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn said in quotes emailed by Auburn. "He can hit it downhill hard, he can make it bounce, he has speed and they do a good job with the way they get him the ball, like the little flip play they do to get him to the outside and other things. He’s a very good back and he’s getting used to getting the football with more carries. He’s impressive."
Will Muschamp's defense is giving up a whopping 197.67 yards per game and 5.07 yards per play on the ground—next-to-last in the SEC in both categories.
Buckle up, Tigers. Because Bielema is going old school this week.
Another Brick In The Wall
Tennessee opened things up by necessity in its last outing against Georgia after getting into a 21-point hole, but make no mistake, the identity of the 2015 Vols is decidedly run-first.
They rank second in the SEC with 222 yards per game on the ground, have a bruiser in Jalen Hurd, a dynamic dual-threat quarterback in Joshua Dobbs and a home run hitter in Alvin Kamara.
If Tennessee is going to have a chance against Alabama this week, though, the Vols are going to have to produce their best effort of the year.
The Crimson Tide are giving up just 70.86 yards per game and 2.44 yards per play on the ground. Head coach Butch Jones knows just how stout Nick Saban's group is.
"The word that comes to mind is 'impressive,'" Jones said. "Impressive in all facets. They lead our conference in rush defense and total defense, and do a great job in pass efficiency defense. They are very, very deep and a very complete defensive football team. They challenge you in preparation, because it's hard to simulate for us in our scout teams, but also they have players with different skill sets which makes it hard to prepare for."
The front seven led by tackle A'Shawn Robinson, end Jonathan Allen and linebacker Reggie Ragland will have to play disciplined football against the Vols because the rushing attack is diverse and dangerous. If the Vols hit a big play or two early, it could transform this game into a shootout and get Alabama out of its comfort zone.
Let It Rip
Be honest, when you glance at the schedule, Western Kentucky at LSU doesn't exactly jump off the page, does it?
It should.
The Hilltoppers boast the third-best passing attack in the nation at 407.1 yards per game, are third in the nation with 25 touchdown passes and have the second-best team passing efficiency in the nation at 188.70. Quarterback Brandon Doughty has thrown for 2,709 yards, 24 touchdowns and only tossed two picks this year.
"The key piece to that is to watch film," LSU head coach Les Miles said. "The ball jumps out of his hand. You see that he's extremely accurate. There's five guys who have touched the ball 24 times. There's one (Taywan Taylor) who has 40-plus catches. We recognize that he's a very talented quarterback, and I don't think there's going to be any issues educating our guys when they watch the game film."
On the flip side, LSU's secondary has been surprisingly porous. The Tigers have given up 205 yards per game through the air, 11 passing plays of 30 or more yards (12th in the SEC) and have not lived up to the "DBU" billing.
On paper, this game doesn't do much in terms of interest.
But it could serve as the final piece of the puzzle to solidify the LSU defense prior to the stretch run in November.
What's My Name Again?
Florida head coach Jim McElwain announced this week that kicker Jorge Powell is out for the season with a knee injury suffered on a kickoff last week. With Austin Hardin also dealing with a leg injury, the first-year head coach held open kicker tryouts this week in Gainesville that drew 216 hopeful Gators, with 77 actually kicking in Thursday's tryout.
"As long as he can flip it up there through the uprights, I'm good with it," he said.
That's not new for McElwain.
"We were successful with it at Colorado State, and ended up getting a heck of a kicker out of it," he said. "He was 'Kicker.' That's what I called him. That was 'Kicker.' He did a great job for us and won some big ball games and he was awesome."
"Kicker" really was Jared Roberts, who connected on 42 of 54 field goals over all three of McElwain's seasons in Fort Collins.
According to Nick de la Torre of GatorCountry.com the winner of the Florida walk-on kicking competition and the quest to become "Kicker 2.0" for McElwain is a local product from Gainesville High School.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Statistics are courtesy of cfbstats.com.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and national college football video analyst for Bleacher Report, as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on SiriusXM 83. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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