Ole Miss Football Preview: Are You Ready?

For Ole Miss' fans this means more to them than just the start of another Hotty Toddy chant.  For once in a good while now, Ole Miss' fans actually have something to look forward to.   There are many things that bring hope to what for the last couple of years has been the hopeless. 

New coaching staff 

Ole Miss now has a proven coach in Houston Nutt.  Nutt, who has an all-time coaching career record of 111-70, has been an example of consistency.  He only suffered two losing seasons while at Arkansas, and went 9-3 in his first year.  Needless to say, Ole Miss' fans are looking for similar results. 

Along with a proven head coach, Ole Miss also now has an excellent staff.  One guy now on the Ole Miss' coaching staff that Ole Miss' fans may remember is player turned Offensive Coordinator Kent Austin. 

Austin played starting quarterback for Ole Miss, and he ranks second all-time in most passing yards in a career.  After college, Austin was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals, but never got a shot as starter, so he headed to the CFL where he was able to win the Grey Cup and MVP.

Kent is now known as one of the top ten quarterbacks in CFL history. After his playing days were over, he turned to coaching and was able to yet again win the Grey Cup as head coach of the team he won the cup on as a player.

Nutt also brought along several assistants from his former staff at Arkansas: Ron Dickerson-Wide Receivers, Kim Dameron-Safeties, Mike Markuson-Offensive Line, Tracy Rocker- Defensive Line, James Shibest-Special Teams/Tight Ends, and Chris Vaughn-Cornerbacks.

Other guys that Nutt brought in were Tyrone Nix-Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers and Derrick Nix-Running Backs.

Tyrone has a lot of previous experience as D coordinator before. He has done the same job at Southern Miss and South Carolina with both those schools being rated up there as one of the top defensive units in the nation every year.

Nutt obviously is happy with his defensive coordinator pick as he was quoted saying, “Tyrone Nix is one of the up-and-coming, bright defensive coordinators in America”.

Returning experience

Ole Miss only had sixteen seniors last season and not many of those were playmakers for the team. This year Ole Miss will return most of the players at the key positions.

The only major players that they lost were: Jeremy Garrett, Brandon Jenkins, Bruce Hall, BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Robert Lane, Robert Hough, and Corey Actis.

Ole Miss should have one of the most experienced offensive and defensive lines in the SEC.  The offensive line will be anchored by Michael Oher. Oher, who decided to forgo the NFL draft this year and return for his senior year, is expected to be a top ten pick in next year’s draft. 

Other than Oher, Ole Miss returns: Reid Neely, Maurice Miller, Bradley Sowell, Rishaw Johnson, John Jerry, Alex Washington, Darryl Harris, Mark Jean Louis, and Daverin Geralds.

On the defensive line, Ole Miss returns Ted Laurent, Peria Jerry, Lawon Scott, LaMark Armour, Marcus Tillman, Greg Hardy, Kentrell Lockett, and LaDerrick Vaughn.

Wide Receiver is probably the best asset the team has coming back on offense.  Some of the top players coming back are Mike Wallace, Shay Hodge, Dexter McCluster, and Lionel Breaux.

The Rebels return a possible NFL prospect at Fullback in Jason Cook.

At the Tight End position, Ole Miss is lacking depth after losing two seniors in Robert Lane and Robert Hough.

The only SEC caliber player that is coming back this year at running back is Cordera Eason. Cordera is the projected starter after spring practice but as you will see later in the article he will have some competition coming in the fall.

Ole Miss has some experience coming back at linebacker. Coming back with some experience this season are: Jonathan Cornel, Lamar Brumfield, Ashlee Palmer, and Tony Fein. Allen Walker was one of those players who had some decent experience from last season, but he was suspended from the team after being arrested for a DUI. 

Cornerback is a position that can make or break this season for the Rebels. They have Dustin Mouzon and Cassius Vaughn coming back. One player that could play a major part next year at this position is Marshay Green. Marshay is a wide receiver turned corner who, per the coaches, could end up being the best corner on the team.

Quarterback is probably the thinnest position as far as experienced players are concerned.  Ole Miss does not have a single quarterback returning this fall that has had previous playing time with the team.

The only player that is returning for the Rebels that was on the team last season is Billy Tapp. Tapp, who was only seen as a walk-on last season, will serve as second string QB this season.    

Finally, Ole Miss returns most of their talent on special teams.  Ole Miss will return Josh Shene as field goal/extra point kicker. Josh, who had a break out year his freshmen year as kicker for Ole Miss, went through a little bit of a sophomore slump this past year.

Shene finished the year 11 of 17 in field goals made, and 24-25 extra point conversions. His slump could have been contributed from a nagging injury that plagued him most of last season. The injury is said to have been acquired while he was practicing kickoffs with the team.

Speaking of the kickoff team, Ole Miss has a lot of questions left unanswered at that position. No SEC team was hurt harder than Ole Miss by the moving back of the starting point of kickoffs from the 35 to the 30 yard line.

Ole Miss has tabbed Justin Sparks as the guy who will handle the duties out of spring ball, but Ole Miss has a walk-on kicker coming that may be able to handle the position.  Justin Sparks will also be handling the punting duties for Ole Miss. Justin averaged around 40 yards per attempt last season.

Incoming players

Ole Miss has a lot of talent coming in this fall after a great recruiting year by coach Nutt that fielded the number 38 recruiting class in the nation per scout.com.  That number is all the more impressive with the fact that Houston Nutt came in on the fly without most of his staff in place. 

One player that will be able to take the field for the Rebels this fall that many fans are raving about is Jevan Snead. Jevan is a transfer quarterback who originally signed to play ball at the University of Texas.

Jevan has a very strong arm and has been tabbed as the starting QB this fall. In the spring game, Jevan completed 20-26 passes for 269 yards and thew two touchdowns and one interception.

Another player that will, barring any last minute chaos by the NCAA or SEC, be on the field this year is big defensive lineman Jerrell Powe. Powe, who has a lot of sentimental value to a lot of Ole Miss fans, has been trying to qualify to get into school and play college football for three years now. 

Powe has a learning disability that went unchecked for most of his life, but has shown great resolve and now can see the light at the end of the tunnel. This past year the NCAA allowed Powe to attend school on scholarship and said that if Powe were to meet the standards of a normal player during that year, he would be eligible to play next season.

Well word out of Oxford is he has done just that, and after a review by the SEC, he will be on the field next year.  He may not be a rocket scientist, but he knows football.  He was allowed to be at spring practice, though he wasn’t able to participate physically.  He appeared to actually be teaching the currently players a few things. 

Jeremy McGee is another new player that will be on the field for the Rebels next season. McGee is a transfer out of UCLA, and he will be playing cornerback and possibly returning kicks for the Ole Miss this fall. 

Now on to some of the high school and junior college signees that may be able to make an impact this fall. 

One that is getting a lot of hype is Enrique Davis. Davis was a five-star running back prospect who comes out of Hargrave Military Academy. He has a Darren McFadden type build, and looks to compete for the starting spot in the fall.

Enrique isn’t the only good RB prospect that the Rebels signed. Others that we could see on the field this fall are Brandon Bolden and Devin Thomas.

I think Houston Nutt said it best about our current situation this fall at running back. When asked about the situation he simply replied “We’ve got some ruuuuning backs!”

Ole Miss also tried to shore up the center position with the acquisition of Brandon Green. Brandon is a 6'2", 315 lbs. junior college transfer out of Southaven, MS.

Ole Miss also tried to fill in spots at tight end by signing E.J. Epperson and Gerald Harris. Gerald is the projected starter and is a mammoth TE. He came on campus this spring at 6'5" and weighed 245 pounds!  

A very key guy that the Rebels signed that must get qualified to play is linebacker Patrick Trahan. Trahan was a five star prospect who would really help the thin Ole Miss linebacker corp.

Ole Miss got great talents at DE with Emmanuel Stephens and Gerald Rivers. Stephens hails from Houston, Texas and is going to be a threat for opposing offenses in the fall. It’s said that former Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione said Emmanuel was one of fastest defensive ends he has ever seen. 

Emmanuel arrived early this spring, and he is projected as being a starter for the team in the fall. 

Houston Nutt attempted to add depth to the quarterback spot by signing Chris Wilkes and Nathan Stanley.  Both are quality QBs that may see action in the fall if something were to happen to Snead. 

Other notable signees from this past year's class are: offensive linemen Kermit Tyler, Joshua Tatum, and Aaron Hawkings, defensive backs Jared Mitchell, Julian Whitehead, Brandon Sanders, Derrick Herman, and Demareo Marr, and wide receivers Andrew Harris and Oxford native Horatio Williams.

Schedule

Ole Miss doesn’t have an easy rope to climb this year. If they are going to have a good season they are going to have to win some big road games. Ole Miss has seven home games: Memphis, Samford, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Auburn, UL Monroe, and the Egg Bowl vs. Miss. State. They also have five tough road games versus: Wake Forest, Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, and LSU.

It’s official

The Ole Miss and LSU student body have come together to decide on an official name for the rivalry. The final picks which were to be voted on by both student bodies were: The Magnolia Bowl, The Magnolia Classic, The Duel Under The Oaks, The Southern Showdown, and The Southern-Shootout.

Predictions

If Ole Miss can stay healthy, they should be able to make some noise next year, but if they don’t, it could be the setup for another long year for Ole Miss' fans.

The SEC West looks like a tossup all the way around with every team having obvious weaknesses.  I predict Ole Miss will be headed to a bowl next year with an 8-4 record and have big wins over Wake Forest, South Carolina, Auburn, Arkansas and Mississippi State.

So with all this being said, I just have one question for you Rebel fans. ARE YOU READY?