Last season, the Ole Miss Rebels entered football territory that they had never stepped upon before in the school’s 178-year history. The 2021 edition of the Rebels won 10 regular season games for the first time ever and did so on the legs of a very experienced veteran roster led by quarterback Matt Corral and defensive end Sam Williams.
The latest incarnation of head coach Lane Kiffin’s Rebels will look a lot different on both sides of the ball as well as his coaching staff. When there is success in football for one team, there are other not-so-successful schools looking to duplicate their success by raiding the cupboards of the winning team and Ole Miss is the latest victim in this vicious cycle. Gone are offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby, who left to run the same position at Oklahoma, and co-defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin, who is now the DC at Texas A&M.
The roster is greatly depleted on the offensive side with the early departure of Corral to the Carolina Panthers and running backs Jerrion Ealy and Snoop Conner to the NFL as well. The running game is completely wiped out with the previous three gone and the transfer of Henry Parrish Jr. and the wide receiver position took a beating too. Dontario Drummond and Braylon Sanders are both gone and combined for over 1500 yards receiving and 12 touchdowns, which will be difficult to replace. Overall, seven starters on offense have moved on from Oxford and Kiffin spent the offseason rebuilding his roster through the transfer portal.
USC transfer Jaxson Dart looks to pick up where Corral left off last season after showing glimpses of his talents in limited action for the Trojans. Dart is joined by his USC teammate Michael Trigg, the number 2 TE in the transfer portal, as well as wide receiver transfers Jordan Watkins (Louisville) and Jalen Knox (Missouri).
With the four top running backs gone from last year’s team, Kiffin once again turned to the transfer portal to help stop the bleeding. In doing so, he found former 5-star recruit running back Zach Evans. Evans is coming in from TCU, where he rushed for 684 yards and 5 touchdowns in only six games before suffering a season-ending injury. The Ole Miss offense starts and stops with the running game and it won’t change in 2022 despite the loss of production from last year’s. It should not be a surprise to see Evans rush for 1,000 yards on a team looking to finish as one of the top two running teams in the SEC for a third consecutive year.
The offensive line is the one aspect of the Rebels offense that hasn’t kept the head coach up at night. The O-Line is mainly intact from last year with the addition of Western Kentucky tackle Mason Brooks taking control of one side while junior Jeremy James fills the tackle spot on the other side.
Ole Miss averaged 33.7 points per game last season and with all of the power lost from that team, it is believed that the Rebels will be hard pressed to match that output. Kiffin will look to rely on his running game early on in the season as his new quarterback settles in and builds chemistry with the receivers in the rebuilt passing game.
The defense is no different than the offense for Ole Miss this season as both relied heavily on the transfer portal to fill some huge holes. Kiffin and co-defensive coordinators Maurice Crum and Chris Partridge looked to the portal to fill the gaping holes in the middle of the defense. Gone are Williams, Chance Campbell, and Mark Robinson and the coaching staff hit a home run by bringing in three-time All-MAC linebacker Troy Brown from Central Michigan. The addition of Brown and others make the Rebels defensive line the deepest it has ever been under Kiffin.
The secondary is where the Rebels are the deepest with 12 players returning from last season, led by nickel back Otis Reese. The Rebels secondary was vastly improved last year in comparison to 2020 where they could not stop anyone. The safety position is loaded with the additions of Isheem Young from Iowa State and Ladarius Tennison from Auburn easing the loss of Jake Springer.
Despite all of its losses from last season, the 2022 edition of the Ole Miss Rebels matches up evenly with last year’s team and if things go their way, they could match last year’s success. The schedule is very promising for the Rebels and the early part of the season should allow Kiffin plenty of opportunities to fix any problems the team my have. Ole Miss should march into their week five matchup with Kentucky at 4-0. The game with the Wildcats will be the first real competition the team will see in the first part of the season. The second half of the season is completely different with the final four games consisting of Texas A&M, Alabama, Arkansas, and in-state rival Mississippi State. It will be extremely difficult for the Rebels to repeat a 10-win regular season for the first time in school history, but if they can pull off a win in one or two of their toughest matchups, then Ole Miss could be looking at a return to the Sugar Bowl.
MORE 2022 SEC SEASON PREVIEWS
- Arkansas Razorbacks
- Auburn Tigers
- Florida Gators
- LSU Tigers
- Missouri Tigers
- South Carolina Gamecocks
- Vanderbilt Commodores
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Steven McCash is the Lead Music Writer and Utility Man for SoBros Network. Steven is the host of the ‘Drinking With…’ podcast, and the pioneer of New Music Friday, highlighting each week’s new releases in the world of music in addition to the occasional live show review. He also pitches in as a Nashville lifestyle writer and football analyst (hence the ‘Utility Man’ title). Follow on Twitter: @MC_Cash75
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