Football Preview

Football Preview • August 2015 – 3

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No time like the present for area teams to finish

If you’re a fan of any football team we cover here in the Oxford area, you had a bad taste in

your mouth at the end of last season.

The primary reason is obvi-ous. Teams take the field for one reason — to win and win big. Sure, there were some big wins, which led to some division titles along the way, but Ole Miss nor any of the area’s three high school teams ended up as the last team standing in their respective levels of play.

And some came oh so close.

For the first time in the modern era, Ole Miss tasted real national title contention a season ago. The Rebels, using the momentum of a historic upset of then-No. 1 Alabama, sprinted out to a

7-0 start and vaulted as high as No. 4 in the inaugural College Football Playoff rank-ings. That would’ve put the Rebels in the four-team play-off if the season ended in late October.

But it didn’t.The Rebels fell victim to

LSU on the bayou at night to fall from the ranks of the unbeaten, lost star wideout Laquon Treadwell and a game of top-4 teams in gut-wrench-ing fashion to Auburn on the first Saturday in November, and it all went downhill from there. Injuries piled up for a team that couldn’t afford them, and Ole Miss’ late-sea-son swoon ended with a thud in a blowout loss to TCU in the Peach Bowl.

The end wasn’t much better in the prep ranks for Oxford High.

The Chargers’ offensive firepower and defen-sive stability blazed a sec-ond straight path to the MHSAA Class 5A state cham-pionship game, where Oxford met Laurel with every intention of righting the wrong of blowing a double-digit lead in the final minutes against Picayune that kept the Chargers from bring-ing home the Gold Ball a year earlier.

Oxford is still waiting to hoist the hardware after dropping a back-and-forth game with the Tornadoes last December at Mississippi

State’s Davis Wade Stadium.And don’t forget about

Lafayette and Water Valley. The Commodores won

their first division title since 2011 last fall only to be ousted in the second round of the Class 4A playoffs by Cleveland in a low-scoring affair. Only a loss to 3A power Charleston kept the Division 2-3A title away from Water Valley, which quickly exited the playoffs with a first-round loss to Kemper County.

But Lafayette always has a stout defense under head coach Eric Robertson, and the Commodores should have one of the best offensive lines around this season anchored by tackles Eli Johnson and Jordan Jamison.

See PRESENT on Page 9

Davis Potter

Sports Editor

4 – Football Preview • August 2015

Inside Slant6 Classifications

A look at Mississippi’s new prep regional alignments

7 SchedulesPrimetime matchup highlights prep area slates

Immediate contributors highlight Rebs’ newcomers52 Ole Miss recruiting

45 Ole Miss schedule and rosterA look at who the Rebels play and who’s set to suit up

48 Northwest Mississippi CC previewRangers more experienced in Wright’s second year

22 Water Valley High previewThe Blue Devils experienced some turnover at wide receiver, but

Mark Gooch is back and ready to emerge as the go-to target

Horton, Varner give Blue Devils fresh faces at QB (Page 26)

54 Recruiting lookaheadCould Ole Miss’ 2016 haul match 2013’s success?

18 Lafayette High previewRashuan Rockette has shown flashes of his potential, but the speed-

ster is determined to become a leading consistent force in his final season

Ard ready to make most of his turn at QB (Page 25)

Oxford High previewA growth spurt caused Will Swindoll to change positions, and the

senior has quickly morphed into one of Oxford’s top offensive linemen

Hill yearns to bring title to city in final go-around (Page 15)

10

The headliners of the Rebels’ 2013 recruiting class have lived up to the

Ole Miss preview

hype, but they want to help deliver a championship before heading off to the NFL

Starting QB vows to be ready — whoever that may be (Page 37)

Q&A with Chad Kelly (Page 38)

Q&A with Dave Wommack (Page 39)

Engram works to become high riser at TE (Page 42)

35

JUCO transfers Shepard, Bridges ready to fill holes at CB (Page 47)

58 Tailgating TipsWhat to know in preparation for gamedays at Ole Miss


Region 1Biggersville CoffeevilleColdwaterFalknerHamiltonSmithvilleThrasherVardamanWest Lowndes

Region 2Broad StreetJ.F. KennedyRay BrooksShawSimmons

Region 3DurantEthelFrench CampLeake CountyMcAdamsMontgomery Co.Nanih WaiyaNoxapaterSebastopol

Region 4Bogue ChittoDexterLumbertonMount OliveResurrectionSacred HeartSalemStringer

2015

MH

SAA

Foot

ball

Regi

ons

Region 1Alcorn CentralBelmontBenton Co.BoonevilleKossuthNew Site

Region 5Choctaw CentralChoctaw CountyForestKemper Co.PhiladelphiaSE Lauderdale

Region 2CharlestonHolly SpringsIndependenceM.S. PalmerNorth PanolaWater Valley

Region 6Crystal SpringsMageeMcLaurinMortonRaleighSt. Andrew’s

Region 3Amanda ElzyEast SideHumphreys Co.RulevilleVelma JacksonYazoo Co.

Region 7Franklin Co.HazlehurstJefferson Co.Port GibsonWessonWilkinson County

Region 4AberdeenHatleyMoorevilleMSMSNettletonNorth PontotocSouth Pontotoc

Region 8CollinsPerry CentralSeminarySt. PatrickTylertownWest Marion

Region 1AmoryCorinthItawamba AHSPontotocShannonTishomingo Co.

Region 5MendenhallNE JonesNE LauderdaleNewton Co.QuitmanWest Lauderdale

Region 2ByhaliaLafayetteNew AlbanyRipleyRosa FortSenatobia

Region 6FlorenceLawrence Co.McCombNorth PikeRichlandSouth Pike

Region 3ClevelandGentryGreenwoodRaymondYazoo City

Region 7ColumbiaForrest Co. AHSGreen Co.PoplarvillePurvisSumrall

Region 4CaledoniaHoustonKosciuskoLeake CentralLouisvilleNoxubee Co.

Region 8BayEast CentralMoss PointPass ChristianSt. StanislausVancleave

CLASS 1A

Region 1BaldwynEast UnionH.W. Byers MantachiePotts CampWalnut

Region 5Bay SpringsClarkdaleEnterprise-ClarkeHeidelbergNewtonUnion

Region 2Coahoma AHSCoahoma Co.J.Z. GeorgeStrayhornWest Tallahatchie

Region 6LakePelahatchiePisgahPuckettScott CentralSt. Joseph-Madison

Region 3Leflore Co.LelandO’BannonRiversideSouth DeltaWest Bolivar

Region 7Amite Co.BassfieldEnterprise-LincolnLoyd StarPrentissWest Lincoln

Region 4Bruce Calhoun CityEast WebsterEuporaOkolonaWinona

Region 8East MarionMizeNorth ForrestRichton Taylorsville

CLASS 2A

CLASS 3A

CLASS 4A

Region 1Center HillClarksdaleLake CormorantLewisburgNew HopeOxfordSaltilloWest Point

Region 2CantonGermantownGrenadaHolmes CentralLanierNeshoba CentralRidgelandVicksburg

Region 3BrookhavenLaurelNatchezProvineSouth JonesWayne Co.West JonesWingfield

Region 4GautierHattiesburgLong BeachPascagoulaPearl River CentralPicayuneStoneWest Harrison

CLASS 5A

Region 1ColumbusDeSoto CentralHernandoHorn LakeOlive BranchSouthavenSouth PanolaTupelo

Region 2CallawayClintonGreenvilleMadison CentralMurrahNW RankinStarkvilleWarren Central

Region 3BrandonForest HillJim HillMeridianOak GrovePearlPetalTerry

Region 4BiloxiD’IbervilleGeorge Co.GulfportHancockHarrison CentralOcean SpringsSt. Martin

CLASS 6A

CLASS 3A

CLASS 4A

CLASS 5A

CLASS 6A


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I N T H E S P O T L I G H T

BRUCE NEWMAN

Oxford quarterback Jack Abraham (left) is sacked by Starkville’s Maleke Bell during last year’s meeting in Oxford on Aug. 29, 2014. The Chargers will try to avenge the lopsid-ed loss this year in front of a national television audience.

Primetime matchup highlights prep area slatesESPNU picks up Little Egg Bowl

By Jake Thompson

Assistant Sports Editor

Another high school sea-son begins Friday, and with that comes one of the most important aspects of a team’s success. Yes, the players, coaches and performance on the field matters, but the games that are played between late August and early November play as much a part of the teams success as anything else. Getting a favor-able schedule at the right time of the year makes all the difference in the world.

For Oxford, Lafayette and Water Valley, unfortunately

there is not an easy stretch of games, only opportunities here and there to take advan-tage of and better their post-season chances.

OxfordThe Chargers went 10-1

last year during the regular season on their way to their second straight MHSAA Class 5A state champion-ship appearance. Their one blemish came from 6A pow-erhouse Starkville when the Yellowjackets defeated Oxford, 52-29, at Bobby Holcomb Field last August.

This year, the Little Egg Bowl moves down to Starkville on Aug. 28 where the Chargers will try to exact revenge.

See SLATES on Page 8


Continued from Page 7

The game will have a little more signifi-cance as ESPNU selected the matchup to air on national television. Due to being on television, the game will start an hour later at 8 p.m.

“It’s going to be an exciting ball game,” Oxford coach Johnny Hill said. “It’s going to be a good ball game even if we were to play it in a pasture somewhere. Throwing ESPN on top of it, maybe that will give both teams a little more incen-tive, but whether it’s on there or not, it’s going to be a ball game. It’s just kind of icing on the cake, I guess you could say.”

The Yellowjackets jumped on Oxford early last season, hitting the Chargers in the mouth before they could even get going. This game was going to be on the schedule regardless if ESPN came calling or not. There was also going to be a motivation factor for revenge. With the bright lights on, Hill wonders how that will play out.

“What kind of mindset is Starkville going to have? What kind of mindset is Oxford going to have?” Hill said. “I don’t think talent is going to win the game. I think the mindset is going to win the game… Are our kids going to play with a chip on their shoulder and (ticked) off and do whatever they’ve got to do to beat that guy and make no excuses? If both teams don’t have the right mindset, you’re going to lose. It’s all about the mental edge of the game.”

The rest of the Chargers’ schedule is not something to be forgotten about due to the attention the Starkville matchup has garnered. Oxford once again has the home-away rotation and never play more than one home and road game at a time. Their first opponent is Southaven on Friday night. After Starkville, the Chargers round out their non-region schedule with Madison Central and the Crosstown Classic against Lafayette.

Oxford has a bye week before begin-ning region play against West Point on Sept. 25.

“Our football schedule is tough,” Hill said. “It was created that way to get our guys better early and get ready for district play. First of all, it’s hard to find games at times. When we were 5-6, a lot of people wanted to play us. When you’re 13-1, 13-2 and got a lot of guys coming back,

they have a tendency to find somebody else to play. It was really difficult finding a schedule this year.”

LafayetteThe schedule starts off a little differ-

ently for the Commodores this season. No longer is Tupelo their season opener as has been the case the past few years. Head coach Eric Robertson had to find a replacement and found it in the form of Horn Lake. Lafayette will travel to Horn Lake on Friday night to start its season before playing a string of three straight home games, including hosting the Crosstown Classic against Oxford on Sept. 11.

After playing Horn Lake, the Commodores’ first home game of the season is against an out-of-state oppo-nent. Clayton High School, out of St. Louis, will come to William L. Buford Stadium on Aug. 28. It will be the first meeting between the two schools.

“We had North Panola (on Aug. 28), and they just up and canceled on us,” Robertson said. “So we were scrambling trying to find somebody. That was hard to do to find somebody for Week 2 in the state of Mississippi. That’s a hard game to find so we had to go out of state. … (Clayton) is a little bit bigger school than us, so it should be a good game.”

After Oxford, the Commodores finish up their non-region portion of the sched-ule with two away games at Louisville and Charleston on Sept. 18 and 25, respectively.

The region stayed the same for Lafayette in terms of opponents, but that did not make them any easier. Ripley, Tunica-Rosa Fort, New Albany, Sentatobia and

Byhalia will be in Lafayette’s way of fight-ing for a region championship.

New Albany will be a challenge for everyone with new head coach — and former Oxford assistant coach — Jake Hill taking over in his first year at the helm for the Bulldogs.

“Tunica-Rosa Fort is a talented team. Speed everywhere on the field, and they’re a scary team,” Robertson said. “Then Ripley always plays us extremely hard. Each year, they seem to put a really good football team on the field and those are our first two region games.”

Lafayette will end the regular season against Byhalia at home on Oct. 29, which is an uncommon Thursday night matchup.

Water ValleyIt’s more of the same for the Water

Valley Blue Devils as they have a near carbon copy schedule from a season ago. The only trades Water Valley made were New Albany for Eupora in the season opener and Bruce for Pontotoc.

After what is dubbed the Classic Game against Eupora Friday night to open the season, Water Valley will then host Coffeeville on Aug. 28 in what is known as the Railroad Rivalry.

The rest of the non-region schedule includes games against Calhoun City, Pontotoc, Senatobia and Winona. Four of those five games will be played in the friendly confines of Blue Devil Stadium.

The other side of that coin means the bulk of the Blue Devils’ region schedule will be played on the road as three of the five games will be out of town.

As is the case for every season with Water Valley, the biggest game on the schedule is once again the matchup ver-sus Charleston on Oct. 2. That is usually the game that decides the region cham-pion even though it is played a month before the regular season even ends.

“The schedule fell pretty good for us,” Water Valley coach Brad Embry said. “Sometimes things do and some-times they don’t. Hopefully they can take advantage of that. It’s a good mix of home and away.”

—[email protected]

Slates: ‘Dores go into Missouri to fill out non-region“We had North Panola (on

Aug. 28), and they just up and canceled on us. So we were scrambling trying to find

somebody for Week 2 in the state of Mississippi. That’s a hard game to find, so we had

to go out of state.”

— Lafayette coach eric robertsonon scheduling Clayton, Missouri, in non-region


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Present: Teams have talent to make up for last year’s sour endingsContinued from Page 4

Running backs Tyrell Price and Tay Tay Owens will benefit from that in Lafayette’s run-first spread attack, and if new quarterback Will Ard can make enough throws to keep defenses honest, Lafayette will be better. Ditto for Water Valley.

Oxford has to replace pieces on the back end of its defense, but head coach Johnny Hill still has all his toys to play with on offense for one final shot at that elusive state title. The Chargers’ collection of talent, which includes quarter-back Jack Abraham (Tulane com-mit), wide receiver D.K. Metcalf (Ole Miss commit), tight end Zach Cousar (multiple FBS offers) and defensive end Korbin Harmon (multiple FBS offers), has made Oxford a sexy preseason top-25 team nationally, but all the players

mentioned will be gone after this season — and so will Hill.

Ole Miss has to find a quarter-back while the offensive line needs to stay healthy, but the Rebels have everything else to go from pre-tender to serious contender in the SEC West. The headliners of that 2013 signing class — Treadwell, Robert Nkemdiche, Laremy Tunsil and Tony Conner — are considered among if not the best player in the league at their respective positions, and players that talented don’t stay in school long. This is likely the last season in red and blue for them — tight end Evan Engram could bolt, too — as they could be part of a historic NFL draft class for Ole Miss next year.

There’s not a better time than now for all these teams to finish what they’ve started.


BRUCE NEWMAN

Oxford wide receiver D.K. Metcalf and the rest of the Chargers have come up just short of a state championship two straight years, some-thing they want to correct with a talent-rich senior class leading the way.


By Davis Potter

Sports Editor

Not many — if any — job in sports is more selfless than that of an offensive lineman.

Quarterbacks throw touchdowns, wide receivers catch them and running backs run for them, all made possible by a protective front five that quietly

goes about its business keeping its signal caller clean in the pocket and opening up lanes for tailbacks to navigate on their way down the field.

Will Swindoll doesn’t mind the lack of attention he and his fellow Oxford blocking mates get. In fact, it’s better that way in his opinion.

“Unless (quarterback) Jack (Abraham) gets sacked seven times,” Swindoll said, “noth-ing gets said about us.”

But Swindoll is starting to make a name for himself.Swindoll is set to begin his second season as the Chargers’ starting right tackle, a feat

that was nearly unthinkable at the beginning of his prep career. Swindoll has never been small, but he spent his eighth-grade season as a bruising 5-foot-9 running back.

“Which was kind of a weird thing,” Swindoll admitted, “because I was probably the biggest running back in the state in the eighth grade.”

But Swindoll hit a major growth spurt the summer before his freshman year, climbing to 6-2. The change in stature wasn’t completely unexpected — Swindoll said doctors told him from an early age he’d be “around 6-3, 6-4” — but the increase in height and weight meant he’d have to move away from the skill positions.

Swindoll, who’s entering his senior season at 6-3 and 275 pounds, knew where he was headed.

“I got way too big for all that,” he said. “I’d have to end up playing offensive line.”Swindoll made the move to his new position his freshman season, and the learning

curve was steep. He soaked up as much coaching as he could from offensive line coach Jason Russell and progressed enough by his sophomore season to get some varsity action in mop-up duty.

“It’s definitely something you’ve got to get used to,” Swindoll said. “All the other guys (on the offensive line) had head starts on me basically about technique, I guess you could say. I was just kind of raw.”

See OXFORD on Page 12

2015 ScheduleDate OpponentAug. 21 SouthavenAug. 28 at Starkville (8 p.m.)Sept. 4 Madison CentralSept. 11 at LafayetteSept. 25 West Point*Oct. 2 at Saltillo*Oct. 9 Lewisburg*^Oct. 16 at New Hope* Oct. 23 Clarksdale*Oct. 30 at Center Hill*Nov. 6 Lake Cormorant** - Region 1-5A game^ - homecoming game

Quick HitsNickname: ChargersField: Bobby Holcomb FieldRegion: 1-5A2014 Record: 13-2Head coach: Johnny Hill (20th)Assistant coaches: Stan Hill, Steve Herring, Chris Cutcliffe, Bobby Sanders, Jason Russell, Terrence Metcalf, Logan Dodson, Matt McCrory, Greg Kennedy

Winning Ways

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FAST LEARNERSwindoll transitions into one

of Chargers’ best up front

# Name Pos. Grade1 Hiram Wadlington TE 102 Jack Abraham QB 123 CJ Terrell DB 104 Dontarius Thompson LB 115 Korbin Harmon DL 126 Andre Pegues LB 107 Jack Turner LB 128 Drew Bianco RB 109 Dee Fair TE/LB 1210 Quentin Wilfawn LB 1011 Ben Bianco QB 1112 Ferron Houston DB 1213 Zac Jenkins LB 1214 D.K. Metcalf WR 1216 Zach Cousar TE 1217 Kyree White WR 1218 Connell Yost K 1219 James McKey QB 1020 D.Q. Thomas DB 1121 Tias Hilliard RB/DB 1222 Devin Rockette RB/DB 1123 Josh McManus DB 1224 Preston Perkins WR 1025 Kenzie Phillips RB 1226 Jaquanzi Johnson DB 1027 DeChristian Cummings DB 10 28 Chris Walton WR 1229 Trevin Wadlington DB 1230 Alex Franco DB 1031 Jordan Carothers DB 1132 Damarion Parham DB 1033 Howard Phillips LB 1234 Marcel Pegues DL 1235 Kalin Brown RB 1136 Josh Patton RB 1237 Liam Cooper K 1238 Key McGuirt DB 1240 Gregory Milliner DB 1042 Giles Lamar LS 1143 Martin Guzman RB 1244 Malik Mathis RB 1146 Jamar James LB 1047 X’Zavier Thomas SS 1249 Gray Jenkins K 1050 Keynin McEwan DL 1151 Kolbe Leary OL 1152 Jay Frierson OL 1053 Trayshun Jefferies LB 1054 Adrian Davidson OL 1055 Tyler Miller OL 1256 Tay Pegues OL 1257 Ashton Stewart OL 1158 Reed Cooper OL 1159 Stone Threlkeld OL 1260 Isaiah Jones DL 1161 David Evans OL 1062 Jose Gutierrez OL 1064 Kobin Ross OL 1065 Brandon Hill DL 1266 JT Owens DL 1067 Will Hollingsworth OL 1068 Colton Skidmore OL 1170 Brian Vaughn OL 1171 Nick Sisk DL 1172 Will Harvey OL 1274 Will Swindoll OL 1275 Tag Gatlin OL 1276 Quen Bolden OL 12 77 Carlos Moreno DL 1077 Daniel Kelly OL 1178 Jacquez Neilson OL 1279 Hunter Leopard OL 1280 Barry Flowers WR 1081 Jaquavious Lloyd TE 1182 Jake Stone WR 1083 Jake Riffe WR 1084 Joe Trott WR 1085 Ken Presley WR 1286 Kentrel Lester WR 1287 Joe O’Keefe TE 1088 Jaquan Webb WR 1089 Jimmy Greaser WR 1290 Jerry Quiller DL 1191 Kent Hickinbottom DL 1192 Luther Hayes DL 1193 Jerron Poindexter DL 1094 Peyton Schiller DL 1097 Isaiah Slate DL 1099 Xavian Herod DL 10

2015 Roster


PHOTO BY BRUCE NEWMAN


Oxford: Tennis helps Swindoll’s footwork on football fieldContinued from Page 10

But Swindoll did have one physical trait working for him.

The son of former Mississippi State tennis player and Lafayette High tennis coach Debbie Swindoll, who’s in the MSU Sports Hall of Fame, the younger Swindoll possesses the kind of natural athleticism and footwork rarely seen in people his size. He’s used it to win five state championships as a member of the Chargers’ tennis team, and he’ll join the varsity basketball team in the winter.

“Watching him last year in the state championship (match), he was doing pirhouettes out there at the net,” Oxford coach Johnny Hill said. “They had quick hands and were returning everything. Finally they got it up, and he smashed it. He has very good feet, and I think good tennis players have to have pretty good feet to do what they do. It’s one of those things where tennis has really helped him with his football skills.

“You don’t see a guy his size win five state championships in tennis playing

right tackle for you. That’s very unusual.”Swindoll added enough technique to

break into the starting lineup last season, and he’s been there ever since. Swindoll said he likes his new home up front, but just three years removed from being a big-bodied ball carrier, there are still plenty of aspects of his game he has to fine-tune to ultimately become the line-man he wants to be.

“You’ve got to have violent hands at offensive line,” Swindoll said. “You can’t be passive. Some plays, for some reason it just won’t be the same, and those are the plays you get beat. You’ve always got to be violent at offensive line with hand

placement definitely.”The goal, Swindoll said, is to improve

his game enough to be on a roster at an FBS school in 2016. Some schools are already reaching out.

Swindoll doesn’t yet have any schol-arship offers, but Vanderbilt, Troy, Memphis, Middle Tennessee State and Louisiana Tech are keeping tabs on him. He said Troy and Memphis have shown the most interest.

Now Swindoll wants to show them that he’s worthy of some offers.

“Have a good senior year,” said Swindoll, who noted football is the sport he wants to keep playing in college. “Have good film, and get stronger. Just keep doing what I’m doing and hopefully improve on what I’m doing.”

Swindoll said he gets the most satis-faction watching any of the Chargers’ running backs rip off a long run that ends in the end zone or close to it, but he admitted his pass blocking still needs some refinement. He has a full season to try to put it all together, and if he does, his coach believes he’ll have everything

“You don’t see a guy with his size win five state championships in tennis

playing right tackle for you. That’s very unusual.”

— OxOrd cOach JOhnny hillon Will Swindoll’s athleticism


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he needs to suit up at the next level.

“His size, his smartness, and he’s got a mean streak in him,” Hill said. “When he wants to, he can play. That’s the thing. He’s got to play every play with that chip on his shoulder. If he’ll do that, I think he’ll have a good shot to go somewhere.”

OffenseSwindoll is part of a deep

and experienced Charger offense that returns every starter from last year’s run to the MHSAA Class 5A state championship game.

Left tackle Stone Threlkeld is back to anchor the other side of the line opposite Swindoll. Junior center Colton Skidmore is the most experienced player up front entering his third year as a starter, and Hill has plenty of options at his disposal to rotate in at guard.

Tag Gatlin is back at right

guard while Hunter Leopard returns on the left side, but Quen Bolden, Will Harvey, Reed Cooper, Ashton Stewart and Daniel Kelly will provide depth and could gets some snaps in the Chargers’ hur-ry-up, no-huddle attack.

“We’re going to be rotating some folks in and out to keep them fresh,” Hill said.

The group will be blocking for one of the best collections of skill talent around.

Senior quarterback Jack Abraham enters his third and final season at the controls at Oxford’s spread offense hav-ing already thrown for 7,000 yards and 72 touchdowns in his first two seasons at the helm. The Tulane commit completed 60.2 percent of his passes last season for 3,353 yards and 34 touchdowns against just eight picks and continued his hot play into the summer, helping lead the Chargers win four of the five 7-on-7 passing tournaments in

which they played.“We’re hoping for bigger

and better things his senior year,” Hill said.

Abraham, who will again be backed up by junior Ben Bianco, won’t have any short-age of options to target when he drops back to pass.

Oxford possesses arguably the deepest group of pass catchers in the state led by Ole Miss commit D.K. Metcalf. A constant threat from any-where on the field, the 6-foot-3, 205-pound Metcalf, who hauled in 81 passes for 1,256 yards and 19 touchdowns last season, has a habit of making the tough catches look easy and using his bigger body and athleticism to high-point the ball even with one or two defenders draped all over him.

Fellow senior Kyree White was Oxford’s second-leading receiver a season ago in yards (824) and touchdown recep-tions (8), but he and senior running back Kenzie Phillips

are suspended from team activities as they await their legal fate following an offsea-son arrest on auto burglary charges. Jaquan Webb and Jimmy Greaser are the favor-ites to take over that No. 2 spot for now with sophomore Hiram Wadlington emerging as a viable option in the slot.

“He’s somebody that we’re going to have to get on the field,” Hill said of Wadlington. “Where, I don’t know, but he’s going to have to be on the field somewhere. He catches the ball in a crowd well, runs well, runs in the open field well.”

Preston Perkins, Ken Presley and Chris Walton will also be a part of the rota-tion out wide. Senior Zach Cousar gives Abraham a 6-4 target at tight end, and new-comer Joe O’Keefe will spell Cousar from time to time.

See CHARGERS on Page 14



“We’re deep enough where we can just about put in four new receivers and not be bad,” Hill said.

The Chargers have a trio of ball carriers Hill will look at to fill in for Phillips in sopho-more Ben Bianco, Josh Patton and Wadlington, who’s got the versatility to play different positions. All three bring some-thing different to the position, Hill said, but Bianco will have a chance to be the Chargers’ every-down back.

“(Bianco) just makes plays,” Hill said. “He sees the field and can make that cut and make them miss. We feel like we’ve got some pretty good depth there at running back.”

DefenseThe Chargers bring back a

wealth of experience along the defensive line, but things get much more green after that.

Senior pass-rush specialist Korbin Harmon, who’s got multiple scholarship offers from FBS schools, is back at one end and will be flanked by fellow senior Marcel Pegues on the other. Nick Sisk returns to anchor the line at noseguard, and Jacquez Neilson and Kent Hickinbottom provide seasoned reinforcements on the interior who are athletic enough to give Oxford flexibility in the looks they throw at opposing offenses up front.

“We can jump into a four-man front fairly easy,” Hill said. “And we’ve got some good backups in there. We feel like our defensive line is one of our stronger points coming into this year.”

Things aren’t as settled at the second and third levels.

Senior Dee Fair is the only returning starter in a lineback-ing corps that was home to Oxford’s top three tacklers a season ago in Thomas Allen,

Harland Stewart and Mike McGhee, a four-year starter in the middle.

“(Fair) will be our go-to guy in there,” Hill said.

Fellow senior Jack Turner has waited his turn and will take over for McGhee in the middle. Sophomores Jamar James and Quentin Wilfawn as well as junior D.T. Thompson, who’s spent most of the summer at outside linebacker, are also in line to get plenty of reps at the position.

Hill said his staff has done what it can in junior varsity games and over the summer to get its younger linebackers ready for varsity snaps.

“Our coaches do a really good job of rotating people in and getting them prepared,” he said. “You’ve got to prepare so that when Mike or Thomas went down, you better have some-body ready to go. You can’t call timeout and say, ‘We’re going home. We lost our middle line-

backer.’ Our coaches do a really good job of getting kids ready to go and step up and know the calls and where to play.”

The Chargers also have to retool the secondary after los-ing cornerbacks K.T. McCollin and D.K. Hutchins and safety J.R. Anderson to graduation. Sophomore C.J. Terrell and junior Devin Rockette are the top two options at corner after putting together a strong sum-mer while senior Tias Hilliard is the frontrunner to take over at rover alongside strong safety D.Q. Thomas after spending most of last season on the offen-sive side of the ball.

“We’ve been repping (Terrell and Rockette) in the spring and of course in the 7-on-7s,” Hill said. “That’s the biggest thing we’re doing is trying to teach our corners how to play cor-ner.”

Jordan Carothers, Ferron Houston and Jaquanzi Johnson are among the other options

for the Chargers on the back end. Oxford could also use Ben and Drew Bianco on the defen-sive side of the ball at different positions.

“If you turn the lights on, they’re going to come to play,” Hill said, referring to the Bianco brothers. “Both of them tackle well, both of them play the ball well, and both of them run well. They’re too good of athletes to stand over there beside me. They need to find a place to play.”

Special teamsSeniors Liam Cooper and

Connell Yoste are back to han-dle the placekicking duties after splitting them a season ago. Cooper will also serve as the Chargers’ main punter after averaging 33.6 yards on his 42 punts last season.

“We’ll kind of rotate them in and do different things with them,” Hill said.

Ben Bianco and Gray Jenkins, who kicked for the freshman team a season ago, could also help in the punting game.

Junior Giles Lamar, the brother of former Oxford snap-per Chadwick Lamar, is back to handle the long-snapping duties.

“He’s got a chance to be really, really good,” Hill said of Lamar.

Hill said he’s looking at “10 or 11” players to return kicks and punts, including Metcalf, Wadlington, Hilliard, Terrell, Rockette, Johnson, Webb, Patton and Barry Flowers.

“All these guys can run,” Hill said. “We’ll kind of see how that puzzle fits and take the first four games to kind of decide who’s going to be main ones back there.

“We’ve got several guys that we feel like could be dangerous running kicks back. That slot is kind of wide open.”


Chargers: OHS looking for answers in backfield, on defense

BRUCE NEWMAN

Rising sophomore Drew Bianco is one of the options for Oxford at running back in the absence of Kenzie Phillips.


Swan SongBy Davis Potter

Sports Editor

At this point, Johnny Hill has lost count.

The upcoming season will be the last for Oxford’s head football coach, an announcement he made back in January. Hill, a 40-year veteran in the coaching profession, will retire at the end of the fall semester, and ever since making that decision public, he’s fielded the same question over and over again.

Coach, what are you going to do with-out football?

The inquiry doesn’t bother Hill. He’s come to expect it any time he crosses paths with someone he hasn’t seen in a while asking for the first time or even friends who keep pressing hoping Hill will come up with an answer.

But he doesn’t have one.Hill has a good idea what he’ll do in

the short term — fishing, hunting, spend-ing more time with his wife, Laura, and their grandchildren — but hasn’t come close to mapping out his long-term plans for retirement because that’s still five months away, which means it’s in the future.

With one last chance to capture that elusive state championship, nothing is going to steer Hill’s thoughts from the present.

“I don’t even think about the very end of December when my whole concern is from now until the end of the season, whenever that is, my job is to make this football team the best that it can be and mentally try to get them ready to play those big ballgames,” Hill said.

The biggest of them all has left a sour taste in the collective mouth of Hill and his team the past two seasons, something Hill desperately wants to replace with a sweet taste of victory once this year’s MHSAA state championship games are completed in the Chargers’ backyard at Ole Miss’ Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

And not just for himself.

See HILL on Page 16

Oxford’s Hill yearns to bring title to city in final go-around

BRUCE NEWMAN

After leading Oxford to all three of its previous state championship game appearances, head coach Johnny Hill doesn’t want to end his coaching career without winning a Gold Ball for the school and the community. “I honestly feel that they deserve a state championship football team,” Hill said. “It’s time.”


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“It would be very satisfying to win a state championship for this town, for this school and for those kids,” Hill said. “That’s more added incentive for me than anything.”

Oxford is loaded with skill players on a roster most teams around the state envy. Tulane commit Jack Abraham, who enters his third and final sea-son as the starting quarter-back having already thrown for 7,000 yards, has a deep and talented receiving corps at his disposal led by 6-foot-3 Ole Miss commit D.K. Metcalf and 6-4 tight end Zach Cousar, who’s weighing multi-ple offers from FBS schools.

Running back Kenzie Phillips, who owns the school’s all-time single-season rushing record (1,737 yards), is

still around as are all five start-ing offensive linemen from a season ago, and pass-rushing specialist Korbin Harmon, who holds offers from Duke, Middle Tennessee State and others, leads a stout defensive line for the Chargers.

But all that top-line talent hasn’t been good enough in the last two Class 5A title games as Oxford coughed up a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter in a 42-35 loss to Picayune in 2013 before falling to Laurel, 29-26, last December.

Hill also guided Oxford to its first-ever trip to the state championship game in 2003, the first of three title game losses for him. The only state championship team Hill has been a part of came in 1988 when he was an assistant at Warren Central.

Hill reminisced about that Warren Central squad. The whole of that team was by far greater than the sum of its parts, Hill recalled, a sticking point he hopes his current team can add to its talent to make it that much more diffi-cult to contain.

“That’s the first time they had ever won a state champi-onship, and the kids we had were not near as talented the other three years I was there,” Hill said. “They just played so hard, and they played togeth-er. They laid it on the line every play, every day. You can win a state championship and not be real talented. But you’ve got to come ready to play. You’ve got to want it more than the other guy, and that’s something that I hope our seniors develop and devel-op within themselves.”

That’s really why Hill wants to be No. 1. Not to end his four decades of coaching with a personal cherry on top, but to help a group of players, a school and a community that have helped the program become what it is today start getting the recognition they deserve.

“I honestly feel that they deserve a state championship football team. It’s time,” Hill said. “We’ve been there the past two years and didn’t get it done, and hopefully we’re going to be able to get back there.

“We’re just going to con-tinue to work hard and try to finish the drill and finish the job.”


Hill: Veteran coach’s final team out to ‘finish the job’ 16 – Football Preview • August 2015

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2015 ScheduleDate OpponentAug. 21 at Horn LakeAug. 28 Clayton St. LouisSept. 4 GrenadaSept. 11 OxfordSept. 18 at LouisvilleSept. 25 at CharlestonOct. 2 Ripley*Oct. 9 at Rosa Fort*Oct. 16 New Albany* Oct. 23 at Senatobia*Oct. 29 Byhalia** - Region 2-4A game^ - homecoming game

Quick HitsNickname: CommodoresField: William L. Buford StadiumRegion: 2-4A2014 Record: 8-5Head coach: Eric Robertson (4th)Assistant coaches: Dusty Finley, Stan Robertson, Jimmy Murphrey, Cody Stubblefield, Luke Kiihnl, Wayne Davis, Jay Jones, Shane Ard, Nacoma James

Winning Ways

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SPEED TO BURN

By Jake Thompson


The 2014 season was not one that Rashuan Rockette is particularly proud of in his personal opinion. The rising senior was a two-way player for Lafayette and was an important piece on offense and defense.

Rockette backed up star running back Tyrell Price and also played some at the wideout position. He racked up 180 total yards on offense (142 rushing, 38 passing). On the defensive side of the ball, Rockette was a key cog in the secondary, picking up 22 tackles and one sack in 10 games played.

He was not satisfied.“My junior year, it was all right, but it

wasn’t what I expected,” Rockette said. “So I’m planning to go out there and make something big this year. Being a starter on defense at safety, I wasn’t really focused. So this year, I plan to focus more and be better.”

Head coach Eric Robertson expects his senior to become a leader in the locker room and on the field. Rockette knows what his role is and plans to fulfill it to the fullest.

“My role on the team is to be the explosion on the team,” Rockette said. “So when we’re down, I’m the one to pick us up or to make a big play to get everybody excited and back into the game.”

Explosion is Rockette’s attribute of choice when he describes himself. That explo-sion is useful on both sides of the ball, but he likes to save those big-time plays for when he is on the offensive side of the ball.

While he did not contribute much as a receiver last year, Rockette wants his reps and his role to increase, which will in turn help the team as he will be able to use the one ability he is most proud of more often.

See LAFAYETTE on Page 20

Versatile Rockette ready to provide ‘explosion’ for Lafayette

2015 Roster# Name Pos. Grade1 Zeke Liggins OLB 122 Dillon Woods OLB/WR 113 Tay Tay Owens RB 114 Tyler Williams DB/WR 115 Vincent Lewis DE 126 Allen Mathis DB/WR 127 Quin Jones LB 128 Tyrell Price RB 129 Juwan Kinds DB/WR 1210 Kobe Sims RB/DB 1011 Rashuan Rockette DB/WR 1212 Will Ard QB 1113 Marlon Shaw DB 1014 Justin Blake OLB 1015 Malik Vaughn DB 1217 Jamarcus Quarles RB 1018 Ross Ingram QB 1121 William Woodall LB 1022 Xavier Martin DB 1123 Brandon Curry OLB 1024 Josh Hamilton WR 1225 Cameron Adams DB 1127 Ladarius Brown DB 1030 Bradley Winters DB 1231 Grayson Mays LB 1132 Jacob Rudd DB 1033 Quin Twilley OLB 1134 Kyler Campbell LB 1136 Amani Johnson DE 1137 Bryce Hertl K/P 1140 Nick Onsby TE 1041 Hunter Chance DE 1142 Tay Reed LB 1143 Doug Tanner DL 1144 Corey Williams DE 1145 Vassar Marion NT 1246 Keontre Toles LB 1247 Luke Gossett TE/LS 1150 Darius Sanders NT 1251 Joseph Mangrum DE 1052 Kade Campbel DE 1053 Jarod Tolbert NT 1254 Keonte Booker G/LB 1155 Matt Toles OL/DL 1156 Drew Tapp OL 1157 Bradley Thomas OL 1258 Dallas Boggs LB 1060 Daniel Walton OL 1061 Marcus Daniels NT 1063 Rashad Sharp NT 1067 Jalen Buford C 1170 Jordan Jamison OT 1271 Keegan Starks OT 1073 Cody Brewer OT 1274 Tyler Allan OL 1075 Eli Johnson OL 1278 Josh Alba OL 1180 Zack Pritchard WR 1182 Makal Wade WR 1284 Robbie Langley K/P 1085 Terry Welch WR 1086 Olten Kent WR 1087 Eddie Tyson WR 1088 Taylor Tutor WR 10

“He’s a guy that gives us a chance to score any time

the ball is in his hands. He’s caught exceptionally well

this summer.”

— Lhs coach eric roBerTsonon Rashuan Rockette’s skill set


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Lafayette: ‘Dores sport plenty of experience in the trenchesContinued from Page 18

“Speed and catching the ball,” Rockette said when asked what his best skills are as a receiver. “I like beating my opponent so that’s a lot of fun.”

Robertson echoes those sentiments and is ready for Rockette to step up his game on offense.

“He’s a guy that gives us a chance to score any time the ball is in his hands,” Robertson said. “He’s caught exceptionally well this sum-mer.”

Do not let the confidence fool you into thinking the senior is not aware of his weaknesses and his plans to make them strengths this sea-son.

“Getting stronger so I can be ready for anything that

comes during the season,” Rockette said. “So I wont be the weakest link on the team. … Whatever helps them helps me. Being a safety at (5-foot-10), I got to get a little bit bigger. I heard the running backs got bigger, so I got to get bigger.”

Rockette does not have any scholarship offers head-ing into the 2015 season but plans on letting his perfor-mance speak for itself and let the offers roll in as they may.

“I’m looking forward to see-ing some offers this season,” Rockette said. “I’m going to be working hard to get some. They’ll come, but right now I’m just working on playing with my team and making it to state.”

Along with Rockette, a wealth of experience is return-ing on both sides of the ball,

and the opportunity to play for a state championship in their own backyard gives the Commodores plenty of moti-vation heading into the sea-son.

OffenseLafayette is returning three

starters on the offensive line, anchored by Ole Miss com-mit Eli Johnson and fellow senior Jordan Jamison, which gives the Commodores some much-needed experience up front for junior starting quarterback Will Ard. Ard is replacing Devon Thomas as the signal caller for the Commodores after transfer-ring in from Pontotoc last summer, playing minimally in the early part of the 2014 season.

“They’re big,” Ard said of his front five. “You’ve got

Double-J (Jamison) and Eli, of course. There are a couple new guys, and the new guys have really impressed me from the spring that I played in. They look good.”

While there is experience up front protecting Ard, the offensive line will also be blocking for a talented group of running backs led by Price, a senior. He’s joined by fellow senior Jordan Harmon and junior Tay Tay Owens.

Price was injured during the early part of last season, but Owens helped pick up the slack, rushing for more than 700 yards and racking up four touchdowns on the ground. Even though he missed three games, Price still became the Commodores’ leading rusher with more than 900 yards and 13 rushing touchdowns.

Price worked hard over the


offseason and put in a lot time in the weight room during the summer, which has made the standout running back even bigger for his senior campaign. His size may potentially increase his role even more when it comes to situational downs and short-yardage plays.

“What’s unique about him is he’s a good zone back,” Robertson said. “With his size and strength, he’s also a good power back. So he’s a guy that you don’t have to take out in short yardage. He’s got great hands, so he’s a guy that you like to throw to in third-down situations. We think he’s one of the better backs we’ve had over the years.”

Four returning players at the wide receiver position will join Rockette. Senior Juwan Kinds is the anchor of that group along with Josh Hamilton, who spent time between wideout and free safety last season.

Kinds produced the most receiving yards of the returning players with 81. Fellow senior Quin Jones also had 81 yards and will see time as a receiver in addition to being one of Lafayette’s top tacklers at linebacker and safety.

See ‘DORES on Page 24

BRUCE NEWMAN

Lafayette coach Eric Robertson likes the potential of his receivers, even if the group is a bit green.


TIME TO SHINEGooch ready to become leader

for Blue Devils’ offense

2015 ScheduleDate OpponentAug. 21 EuporaAug. 28 CoffeevilleSept. 4 at Calhoun CitySept. 11 Pontotoc^Sept. 18 SenatobiaSept. 25 at WinonaOct. 2 at Charleston*Oct. 9 Independence*Oct. 16 North Panola* Oct. 23 at Holly Springs*Oct. 30 at Marks Palmer** - Region 2-3A game^ - homecoming game

Quick HitsNickname: Blue DevilsField: Bobby Clark FieldRegion: 2-3A2014 Record: 7-5Head coach: Brad Embry (8th)Assistant coaches: Jeff Roberts, Clint Faust, Bryant Mix, Jeb Lee

By Jake Thompson


Last season, the Water Valley football team had L.J. Hawkins and Derrick Gooch roaming the field waiting to make a catch and big play every Friday night. This season, the Blue Devils are without their top producers at the wideout position, but Water Valley fans

should not be worried.Rising senior Mark Gooch is ready to pick up

where Hawkins and his cousin left off. “I know we’re going to have a big throwing

game. I think we’re good,” Gooch said. “I believe we can do what we did last year. We’ve just got to get some more guys and build them up.”

Last season, Gooch was not as productive offensively as he will need to be this year pri-marily due to not being as heavily relied upon with the other targets Water Valley had at their disposal. In the 2014 campaign, he caught 15 passes for 231 yards, good enough for third-best behind Hawkins and Derrick, and scored three touchdowns.

The production was low also because Gooch is a two-way player for Water Valley, not uncom-mon at the high school level for many schools. Besides adjusting to becoming a bigger player on offense, he is also having to acclimate himself to a new spot on the defensive side of the ball. Head coach Brad Embry is moving his senior from cor-nerback to safety this fall, a spot he is much more comfortable playing. He used his time during 7-on7 competitions this summer to help adjust.

“To me, I’ll play wherever coach wants me to play,” Gooch said. “When a guy breaks loose from a corner I know I can go get him.”

Being one of the more seasoned players in the receiving corps, Gooch feels the leadership role is something that will not be a difficult burden for him to bear.

See BLUE DEVILS on Page 30

Winning Ways

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2015 Roster# Name Pos. Grade3 Anthony Smith WR/DB 124 D’Onterrius Hervey RB/DB 105 Jalin Morgan WR/DB 116 Trenderrious Brock RB/LB 97 Kirkland Horton QB/DB 128 Hartley Camp WR/DB 119 Quez Towns WR/DB 1110 Ty Varner QB/DB 1011 Javarius Benson RB/LB 912 Quaterrious Tolbert WR/DB 913 Nate Murphy QB/DB 914 Keegan Faustin TE/DE 1215 Taghee James RB/LB 1117 Kenterrious Rucker RB/DB 918 Jacob Welch WR/DB 919 Maleek Joy WR/DB 921 Jamie Owens WR/DB 1022 Julian Williams WR/DB 1124 Devontre Bailey TE/LB 925 Daniel Fleming WR/LB 1226 Mark Gooch WR/DB 1228 Jayvon Morgan WR/DB 10 31 Ceddrick White WR/DB 932 Emanuel Judson TE/LB 1033 Brian White WR/DB 1235 Kijonathan Woodard WR/DB 1140 Edgar Guzman K/LB 1142 Joseph Washington WR/DB 1044 Grant Blake TE/LB 1245 Deferrion Justice RB/DB 949 Jeremiah Ray TE/DL 1050 Jacob Swinkowski OL/DL 1252 Zack Ivey OL/DL 953 Paris Adams OL/DL 954 Rob Mitchell OL/DL 1155 Andrew Tarver OL/DL 956 Jake Rotenberry OL/DL 1158 Kody Gilley OL/DL 1259 Will Brock OL/DL 961 J.P. Dennis OL/DL 12 62 Nate Griffin OL/DL 1063 John Thomas Stanford OL/DL 1264 Clardis Galloway OL/DL 1065 Jalin Murphy OL/DL 967 Dakota Clements OL/DL 970 Landon Turner OL/DL 971 Sam Dunn OL/DL 1172 Jeremy Jenkins OL/DL 10 73 Austin McCluskey OL/DL 1274 Jarius Gooch OL/DL 1277 Marley Cook OL/DL 979 Tony Person OL/DL 1185 Payden Surrette TE/DE 1190 Marcus Burt OL/DL 1099 Isaiah White OL/DL 9

“We got a lot of leaders in there, but I just try

and keep (the receivers) to a high (standard).

When I first got up here, I was watching L.J., how he moved around and

stuff, so I just caught on to what he was doing.”

— WVhs WR maRk Goochon evolving into a leader for offense


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“We feel good about those guys,” Roberston said. “Juwan Kinds had a good summer. He’s a big target out there. He just needs to be consistent with catching the football. Dillon Woods caught a lot of balls for us last year that can play the slot or the wideout. I think he’ll be an important part of our passing game.”

DefenseThe linebacker position is

a major area of concern for the Commodores after losing a lot of production with the departure of Eli and John Murphree. With the gradu-ation of Darren Toles, the Commodores are having to fill a position that is losing a lot of experience.

“Between them two, that

is 190-something tackles that we’ve got to replace,” Robertson said. “We lost a defensive end, and we lost some defensive lineman due to injuries that won’t be back until later in the season. Not a lot of holes to fill but some pretty big spots. … I think we’ll have a good grasp on it after a week or two.”

Another area that the Lafayette defense is looking to shore up is the play of its sec-ondary. Many times over the last season, the Commodores’ defensive backfield got burned on big passes and plays, includ-ing one during their playoff game against Cleveland that aided in ending the season.

With the return of Rockette along with Jones, the second-ary is getting a lot of experi-ence back as well as players who are a year older and wiser.

“We had a lot of seniors leave that defense, but we’ve got a lot of (rising) seniors coming back,” Jones said. “There’s a lot of experience coming back. We’ve got a real good corner in Tyler Williams. The back end of that defense is going to help, and they’re going to be real experienced.”

Special teamsFootball is a three-phase

game made up of offense, defense and special teams. Lafayette is having to fill a huge gap in the latter category with the graduation of Ryan Holland in May. Holland served as the Commodores’ main field goal and extra point kicker as well as kick-offs. Holland accounted for 54 of the Commodores’ 222 points last season. He made 27 of 28 extra points and converted nine of 12 field goal

attempts. Not only did Lafayette lose

its kicker but also the man who snapped him the ball. Center and long snapper Austin Arrington graduated as well, leaving two key posi-tions to fill in the special teams.

Junior Bryce Hertl and sophomore Robbie Langley will replace Holland with the kicking duties while Lafayette baseball player and rising junior Luke Gossett is taking over as the snapper.

“Those are definitely areas of concern,” Robertson said of his special teams. “We feel good about our kickers coming back. We’ve got qual-ity people right there, it’s just that game experience you lose is a concern for you.”


‘Dores: Lafayette expects back end of defense to be better 24 – Football Preview • August 2015

After mostly watching following transfer, junior takes over reins of offense

By Jake Thompson


Will Ard transferred to Lafayette High School last summer from Pontotoc. His arrival was one that gave the future of the Commodores’ football team some stability at the quarterback position.

After a year of learning under former quarterback Devon Thomas, the rising junior is ready to take the reigns heading into the 2015 campaign.

Sitting for the majority of the season was not viewed as a negative by Ard but as a positive. It gave him a chance to return to 100 percent after being banged up at Pontotoc his freshman year.

“It got me back healthy again because my ninth-grade year, I started and I got beat up pretty good at Pontotoc,” Ard said. “I think the year off helped me get healthy again. I had a concussion, and I just got beat up every game. I got hit pretty hard.”

The year off was not only beneficial health-wise, but it allowed Ard to not have to jump completely into a new system, instead learning the Commodores’ system under Thomas and head coach Eric Robertson’s guide.

“It was pretty different,” Ard said of the system he had at Pontotoc. “It was more throwing the ball and drop-ping back. Here it’s a little dif-ferent because I’ve got Tyrell Price and a big offensive line. It’s a lot faster than I was

used to. I mean, I’ve got bet-ter players around me, which helps. It’s not easier, but it’s a lot more fun playing around those guys.”

With that experienced

offensive line as well as a sea-soned stable of running backs, including Price, it will only make Ard’s first full season as the starting quarterback that much easier. He played in six

games last season but in a lim-ited capacity, throwing eight passes and completing one for 49 yards and a touchdown.

See ARD on Page 27

LHS’s Ard ready to make most of his turn at QB

BRUCE NEWMAN

Lafayette rising junior Will Ard hopes a year of learning — and the pieces he has around him — will help in his first season as the Commodores’ starting quarterback.


JAKE THOMPSON

Senior Kirkland Horton (left) and sophomore Ty Varner are battling it out to be Water Valley’s quarterback this fall, but with each player bringing different skill sets to the position, both will take snaps under center.

S H A R I N G T H E L O A D

Varner, Horton give Blue Devils fresh faces at QBBoth likely to get snaps for WVHS this fall

By Jake Thompson


For several years, E.J. Bounds occupied the quarterback position at Water Valley. Each year, head coach Brad Embry knew who his signal caller would be and game planned around him.

That dynamic has changed the past two seasons with the departure of Bounds.

Last year, it was Jonathan Kent who took over the post–Bounds era. It was also his first full-time stay at quarterback in nearly three years as he played mostly on the defensive side of the ball.

Kent was a senior though, which meant

Embry and his staff had to go back to the drawing board once again to find a quar-terback for the 2015 campaign. It will be the Blue Devils’ third starting quarterback in as many years.

The drawing board produced two can-didates who are vying for the job and may end up sharing it once all is said and done.

Senior Kirkland Horton and sopho-more Ty Varner have spent the summer and all of preseason camp jockeying for position, and much like Ole Miss’ QB competition, it has been close.

“We’re not settled at all,” Embry said right before fall camp started. “(Horton and Varner) are learning and are very ath-letic. ... We’ve got two quarterbacks who I’m very confident in being in the game. I know Ty is young, but he does some

things very well. He’s just young.”Embry also has freshman Nate Murphy

in his quarterback stable but is not plan-ning on using him his first year if he can help it.

Being a sophomore and having never taken a snap of varsity football at the quarterback position — he was the backup punter to Brandon Bounds last year — does not bother Varner a bit. Neither does the prospect of him sharing playing time with Horton. Varner also used the time last year to study and learn the playbook from front to back.

“I didn’t throw any last year. I was just behind Kirkland and Jonathan,” Varner said. “We might do a two-quarterback system.

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“It’s going to be huge,” Robertson said. “(Offensive lineman) Eli (Johnson) is com-ing into the year having started since his ninth-grade year. He’s as knowledgeable about offensive schemes as anybody out there. I definitely think that Will, having that confidence that his line is going to know what to do, definitely carries over.”

Ard is replacing Thomas, who was the starting quarterback for the past couple seasons. The two were also teammates on the baseball team. Having to play a full-time sport in the spring hindered Ard’s progress on football field as he was not able to participate much, if any, during spring drills.

“That was kind of hard because I missed the whole spring,” Ard said. “I didn’t get really any reps. It hurt me a little bit not being able to get used to the guys. I practiced a couple times and was feeling good, then we have playoff games with baseball.”

To make up for that lost time, Ard competed in all the 7-on-7 competitions Lafayette entered as well as the weekly drills the players held on their own every Monday over the course of the summer.

“I thought we did good,” Ard said of the 7-on-7s. “We’d execute what we’d do. We’re not out there trying to win 7-on-7 games. That’s not our goal, but it definite-

ly helps. It helps receiving and timing.”When it comes to the difference in

styles between Thomas and Ard from a coaching standpoint, Robertson sees some but not as many as one would think when bringing in a new quarterback.

“I think one of Will’s strengths is his arm strength. I think he throws the ball really well,” Robertson said. “Will has become more consistent. He comes a little bit better at reading the defenses. I think there are some similarities, but each kid is different.”

With the arm strength, Ard does not like to limit himself to the pocket-passer label. With how much offenses have evolved at every level over time, Ard wants his team to know that if the need to become a scrambling quarterback arises that they can count on him to do it.

“I like to throw it around and I like to run. I like to do it all,” Ard said. “Whatever they want me to do I’m going to do my best to do it.”


Ard: Year of watching helped QB mentally, physically“It was pretty different (at

Pontotoc). It was more throwing the ball and dropping back. Here it’s a little different

because I’ve got Tyrell Price and a big offensive line. It’s a lot faster than I was used to.

I mean, I’ve got better players around me, which helps.”

— QB Will Ardon transferring to Lafayette from Pontotoc


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Blue Devils: WVHS breaking in new faces in backfieldContinued from Page 22

He also watched Hawkins and studied him to help make himself a better player.

“We got a lot of leaders in there but I just try and keep (the receivers) to a high (standard),” Gooch said. “When I first got up here, I was watching L.J., how he moved around and stuff, so I just caught on to what he was doing.”

“Mark leads by example,” Embry said. “He’s a hard worker and practices well, and it shows on Fridays.”

There is not a concern on Gooch’s part when asked if fatigue plays a factor midway through a season for a player who is asked to be on the field the majority of a game week in and week out.

“Most of the time when I’m out on the field, I’m in the zone,” Gooch said.

With the quarterback sit-uation unresolved and the potential that Gooch could be seeing passes from both Ty Varner and Kirkland Horton throughout the season, he is confident with whoever is out there sending him the foot-ball.

“There is no difference between them,” Gooch said. “I can play with any quarter-back.”

OffenseAfter finishing 7-5 and 4-1

in Division 2-3A and being ousted from the MHSAA Class 3A playoffs by Kemper County in the first round last season, Gooch and the Blue Devils are preparing for the 2015 season in hopes to bet-ter that performance from a season ago.

This season also marks the first time Water Valley will not have Brandon or E.J. Bounds on its roster in the past five years.

E.J. graduated two seasons ago and was a valuable threat during his time as the Blue Devils’ quarterback while Brandon graduated last year and takes with him a lot of

production from the running game.

“We’ve gotten to a point that we’re a program now and I’m excited about the guys coming in to take those guys’

place,” Embry said. “Each and every year, somebody rises to the top and takes the initiative and works.”

Water Valley’s football team will have its third starting

BRUCE NEWMAN

Water Valley coach Brad Embry will have a different look to his offensive backfield as the Blue Devils are breaking in their third starting quarterback in the last three years as well as a new running back.


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quarterback in as many years this season, but who that will be remains to be seen.

Last year, Jonathan Kent replaced E.J. Now this sea-son, Embry and his staff once again have the task to replace Kent, who graduated in May.

Horton, a senior, and Varner, a rising sophomore, are the two candidates head-ing into camp who will com-pete against each other to see who walks onto the field with the offense come Friday night against Eupora.

Whoever the quarterback is, he will have a plethora of targets to throw the ball to along with Gooch. The Blue Devils did lose key produc-tion, but they are returning a group of wideouts that Embry is ready to see what they will do.

Senior Jalin Morgan along with juniors Anthony Smith, Hartley Camp and Quez Towns and sophomore Jayvon Morgan will look to bolster

and support Gooch.“I’m really, really excited

about the group of receivers that we have,” Embry said. “Jayvon is only a sophomore, but he’s a big, fast kid that can run. We’ve got some more kids that have really worked that didn’t hardly catch a ball for us last year. Daniel Fleming, Quez and Jalin. Those three kids have really worked hard, and I’m excited about their potential. We don’t have L.J., but as a receiving corps, we’re better. Our depth is there.”

When it comes to the running game and who will step up to replace the 1,083 yards Brandon racked up last season, Embry will utilize a platoon of kids in the Blue Devil backfield. Junior Taghee James will be what Embry considers the A back. Fellow junior Julian Williams, who injured himself during the spring, will see action at the running back slot as well.

“Taghee played a little bit

behind Brandon last year and every down at linebacker as a sophomore. So he’s been on the field a lot,” Embry said. “He’s really worked hard and done well in the weight room. He’s going to play a lot of running back and linebacker for us.”

James is a big-bodied back that is also agile enough to fit any situational scheme Embry and offensive coordinator Clint Faust can come up with.

“I’m a four-down back,” James said with confidence.

DefenseThe first area Embry had

to address on the defensive side was the loss of end Dee McNeal, who was the sack machine for Water Valley last year with 11. The next closest player was rising senior line-backer Grant Blake with four.

“Dee is going to be a tough guy to replace,” Embry said. “He was a good player for us. When you lose those kind of

kids, it makes a difference, but by the end of the year with injuries and so forth, we got really, really thin up front. That was our Achilles heel by the end of the season. We got in trouble trying to stand up with power running teams. We’ve really addressed that this year in the weight room and got some people healthy.”

Water Valley will get some help on the defensive line with the return of junior Rob Mitchell. Mitchell tore his ACL last year and missed the second half of the season and the meat of the Blue Devils’ schedule.

“Getting Rob back, who was playing as well as anyone on defense as a sophomore last year, hopefully he gets back to his form on the field,” Embry said. “He’s in shape and there’s still a recovery time mentally and physically. I think he’ll be fine. He’s a tough kid.”

See WVHS on Page 33


Faces: Varner wants to grab starting job, hold onto itContinued from Page 26

It doesn’t matter to me. I just want to go out there and help us win. … That’s all I did last year was learn the plays. That’s all I could do, and it helped me a lot this year to get ready.”

Varner took full advantage of the summer, competing in 7-on-7s trying to get used to his receivers as well as seeing the plays for the first time on the field instead of on a piece of paper in a binder.

“I’ve been doing 7-on-7s all summer. Just me and Kirkland,” Varner said. “That’s how we’ve been get-ting better. Just seeing routes and getting better for the sea-son.”

With Varner potentially being named that third quar-terback in three years, it has added some pressure on the sophomore as he wants to help add stability to that posi-tion for the next few years.

“I do think about it a lot,” Varner said. “There’s noth-ing I can do about it. I just do what I can do now and maybe that will help me in the future.”

One thing that may be use-ful in determining who could wind up the victor in the race is the factor of experience. While he does not have a lot of it, Horton did spend some time at quarterback during live action for Water Valley last season.

Horton attempted three passes and completed all of them for 62 yards. He did more damage on the ground as he is also a dual-threat, rushing for 322 yards on 44 carries. He scored five rushing touchdowns.

“I feel like I need to figure out what defenses are run-ning,” Horton said. “Last year, I was more of a run quarterback. No matter what

the defense was in, I was going to run. I feel like if I can call out the coverages and all that, I can do a lot more.”

On the other side of that coin, though, is the fact that Horton is a dominant player on the Water Valley defense. Recording a team-high 127 tackles last season, it does not appear Embry is going to keep his standout player off the field when the other team has the football.

“He’s our leader (on defense),” Embry said. “He’s a defensive player mentali-ty-wise. We don’t think we’ll have to keep him out there the entire game. If you have one quarterback whose far and away better than every-

body else, that’s a good thing. Right now, I have two guys and the positives are that if one guys goes down, we have another.”

Varner, unlike Horton, is strictly a quarterback this sea-son, which could give him the upper hand in the com-petition as all he has to worry

about is the offensive play-book.

The environment of a com-petition has not gotten in the way of the two quarterbacks working hard to get better. They have used the opportu-nity to make the rest of the team better in the process.

Varner and Horton look at it as they are in this together and not looking to knock one guy out of a spot over the other.

“I feel like we have each other’s back,” Horton said. “It is a race, but as far as helping each other out, I think we work better together and talk to each other.”


BRUCE NEWMAN

Horton brings more of a running element to the position for Water Valley, but the senior hopes a better understanding of defenses will help him stay in the pocket and use his arm more this season.

“I do think about it a lot. There’s nothing I can do about it. I just do what I can do now and maybe that will

help me in the future.”

— WVHS QB Ty Varneron desire to be three-year starter


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WVHS: Devils bring in professional help for new kickersContinued from Page 31

The injury bug, especially on defense, is something Water Valley wants to avoid this season as the Blue Devils became a M.A.S.H. unit toward the end of the year.

“We had way too many (ACL tears) last year,” Embry said. “All at one position, too. Two (defensive) linemen go down with an ACL, that’s a tough one. We should’ve had more depth and somebody should’ve been ready to step in, and we weren’t. But everybody is thin on the d-line. There’s not one coach that says he has enough d-linemen probably.”

Seniors Jacob Swinkowski, Kody Gilley, J.P. Dennis, Austin McCluskey and Jarius Gooch will be called on to fight in the trenches not only on defense but offense as well.

Horton will continue to be a two-way player for Water Valley as he’ll resume his duties in the defensive backfield. Horton will try to improve on the team-high 127 tackles he recorded a season ago.

Special teamsThe Blue Devils take another hit in the

special teams department with the loss of seasoned kicker Alex Robles. Behind Hawkins, Robles was responsible for the second-most points on the team with 70, two shy from tying Hawkins’ mark.

Robles handled nearly all the kicking duties ranging from kickoffs to field goals and extra points. The only thing he did not handle were punts, which Brandon Bounds was responsible for. Varner, who is fighting for the starting quarterback spot, was the backup punter to Brandon but will be called upon to punt at times this season as well.

Last season, Robles converted 37 of 40 extra point attempts and was perfect with field goals, hitting 11 of 11. His longest was 41 yards.

“Brandon was our punter, he’s gone. And Alex was our kicker, and he’s gone,” Embry said. “We’ve got two kids that I’m pleased with right now, but they’ve got to keep coming.”

Junior Edgar Guzman, who is Robles’ cousin, will handle the bulk of the kick-ing responsibilities this year. He has recruited some professional help as well. Former NFL and Ole Miss punter Steve Lindsey, who works at Water Valley High School now, is working with Guzman. Lindsey played two seasons in the NFL from 1999-2000, spending time with Jacksonville and Denver. Lindsey was the Rebels’ field goal kicker in the 1997 season.

“They’ve come a long way,” Embry said. “Obviously Edgar hasn’t been there and done that, but he’s got the ability. He’s working hard at it, and right now, I’d say he’s the guy. He’s Alex’s cousin, so he can lean on Alex and has that in his back pocket. He can talk to Alex about it. Alex was great physically, but he was also really good mentally. Things didn’t both-er him, and Edgar can pull from Alex on that. I hope he’s the guy.”



HEAD OF THE CLASSphotos by Bruce Newman


By Davis Potter

Sports Editor

Laquon Treadwell won’t soon forget it.

Shortly after the members of the best recruiting class the

Ole Miss football program has ever seen arrived on campus in the summer

of 2013, they walked into their first workout

with head strength

coach Paul Jackson.

But they didn’t get far before Jackson set the record straight.

“On the first day, he just checked everybody, the whole class,” Treadwell said. “He didn’t make it about any specific individuals. He was just like, ‘I don’t want to see any camp shirts. I don’t want to see any Five-Star Challenge (attire), nothing. You’re Ole Miss Rebels.’”

Treadwell, ranked as the nation’s top wide receiver prospect in that recruiting cycle, was one of four five-star recruits to sign with the Rebels just months earlier. Ole Miss also inked the nation’s No. 1 overall recruit in Robert Nkemdiche, the No. 1 offensive tackle prospect in Laremy Tunsil and ESPN’s No. 2-ranked safety in South Panola’s Tony Conner, an astonishing haul for a program that’s historically struggled to keep up with the behemoths in the Southeastern Conference.

The star-studded class also included tight end Evan Engram, wide receiver Quincy Adeboyejo and a pair of quar-

terbacks vying for the starting job this year in Ryan Buchanan and DeVante Kincade, but the much-ballyhooed four-some led a signing day charge that result-ed in the school’s first-ever top-5 class nationally and got the college football world talking about the SEC program in Oxford.

The talented quartet has spent the last two seasons trying to turn that chatter into results. Nkemdiche, Treadwell, Tunsil and Conner all enter their junior season as preseason first- and second-team All-SEC selections after helping the Rebels to nine wins and a ranking as high as No. 4 in the inaugu-

ral College Football Playoff polls a season ago.

All that top-end talent has

many

think-ing Ole Miss can improve on that this season. The Rebels are No. 15 in the preseason coaches’ poll while Sports Illustrated put them at No. 13 in its preseason top 25.

“I think this is the season right here that we can really do it,” Conner said.

And for good reason.For some — if not all — this will be

their last season in a Rebel uniform. All four are projected as first-round picks in next year’s NFL draft with ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. pegging Tunsil No. 2 overall, Nkemdiche No. 4, Treadwell No. 7 and Conner No. 20 on his first Big Board for 2016 released in late May. CBSSports.com also has the group among the top 22 picks next spring.

“It’s really a dream come true to live up to your expectations,” Treadwell said.

“Not saying the work is done, but to still be in front of what you knew you could do all your life, it’s a dream come true.”

There are still questions to answer before the group can think about being part of a historic draft class. Will Tunsil and Treadwell be the players they were before suffering broken legs? Can Nkemdiche take the next step and finish plays consistently? Can Conner improve his coverage skills enough to go from a physical safety to a complete safety?

Every one of them will address those inquires on the field — for better or for worse.

“Their résumé will take care of that. Nothing else,” head coach Hugh Freeze said. “The résumé that they put on the film will decide whether all that stuff has any validity to it or not, and that’s the only thing that will decide it. That’s what I hope they hear from me every sin-

gle day. It’s your résumé and, you’re making it today.”

The case can be made that it started

when

Jackson insisted they put their star rankings and egos to the side that summer day two years ago.

“We’re brothers,” Conner said. “We call each other brothers. Just because Laremy and Laquon are on offense, we still compete and get after each other, but it’s just family. We get along really good.”

Said Treadwell, “From that day, every-body just blended.”

See CLASS on Page 40

“We’re not losers. Only winners want to come here. ... This is our vision to be the top team in the SEC and build on it

from there. Be the first class to do something nobody has ever done, and hopefully this will be the year.”

— ole Miss wiDe receiver laquon treaDwell

on desire to win SEC and national championships at Ole Miss

Crown jewels of Ole Miss’ 2013 signing class live up to the hype, but quartet wants titles before NFL comes calling

Opposite page: (Clockwise from top left) Laremy Tunsil, Laquon Treadwell, Tony Conner and Robert Nkemdiche have met the lofty expectations heaped on them ever since signing with Ole Miss as part of a historic recruiting class in 2013. But the juniors don’t want to be remembered simply for their stars and rankings during the recruiting process.


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PHOTOS BY BRUCE NEWMAN

(From left) Ryan Buchanan, Chad Kelly and DeVante Kincade are locked in a heated battle to replace Bo Wallace as Ole Miss’ starting quarterback, a competition head coach Hugh Freeze has said will likely trickle into the early part of the season.

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Rebs’ starting QB vows to be ready — whoever that may beBuchanan, Kelly, Kincade not backing down in competition

By Jake Thompson


It has probably been the most documented quarterback race in the Ole Miss football program’s history whether it’s due to the names involved, the potential for great things this season or the fact all three are talented enough in different areas to land the job.

The most obvious reason could be that head coach Hugh Freeze has kept his feel-ings on the situation close to the vest and has only released small morsels about the prog-

ress of the competition itself.After spring drills were

completed, Freeze gave the ever-so-slight, razor-thin lead to redshirt sophomore Ryan Buchanan over fellow sopho-more DeVante Kincade and junior college transfer Chad Kelly.

Buchanan having been in the program going on his third year now after fighting for a backup spot behind Bo Wallace the last two seasons gives the Jackson native the edge when it comes to the experience factor.

“I feel a lot more comfort-able,” Buchanan said. “Each camp since I’ve been here has just been about trying to get the game to slow down for me. Each camp, I’ve gotten better and I’ve seen stuff before I snap the ball and call for the ball that I didn’t see two or

three camps ago.”Buchanan has tried to keep

the blinders on when it comes to drowning all the noise and talk of the three-man race. It is still something new to him that he has never experienced during his time at Ole Miss and even in his high school days playing for Jackson Prep.

“I’ve been waiting for this for a while,” Buchanan said. “Last year, I was battling for a backup quarterback position and this year, it’s starting for that position. It’s what I’ve always wanted. ... It was a lot easier in high school. That’s how it is for a lot of athletes. You’ve got to compete in col-lege. Last year, I competed with DeVante and I guess still competing with him this year. It’s just part of it.”

For Kincade, this dynamic has been more about patience

than anything else. Behind Buchanan, the consensus seems to be that Kelly is a close second nipping on the heels of the starting position after spring drills with Kincade fighting to stay relevant in third place. That has never once deterred the Skyline High School product out of Dallas to question if this is where he was supposed to be.

“My freshman year, that’s when I had all my frustra-tion,” Kincade said. “Once I redshirted, I realized this is for the better. ... I always felt like this is where I wanted to be because when I came here, I came to so many rela-tionships with my teammates, coaches. I really just want to be the guy. I’ve wanted to be the guy for a long time.”

See QB on Page 41


DAVIS POTTER: What have you learned from all of your off-the-field situations?

CHAD KELLY: Just know that every-thing is under a microscope. Everything you do.

DP: Is there anything specifically that

you’ve changed since you dealt with your arrest in December?

CK: I try to not go out of the house. I’m almost scared of going out of the house really because you just never know how someone could perceive something or look at something a certain way. I just try to always make the right decision.

DP: Where do you feel like you are

in the quarterback competition heading into the fall?

CK: I mean, that’s for the coaches to decide that one. But I know every day I’m going to come to work and try to work as hard as I can every day and show the coaches that I want to be the best and I want to be that quarterback and the leader of the team.

DP: You said you don’t go out as

much. What were your days like this summer?

CK: Watched film, stayed in the (indoor practice facility) and worked hard, watched film, watched more film and eat. That’s every day.

DP: After your arrest in December,

was there a point where you thought you wouldn’t play at Ole Miss?

CK: I never lost faith. I’ve been through a lot. I lost my grandma while I was on the way to Haiti (for a mission trip this spring), and I used to live with her. That was a big crush. It kind of didn’t feel the same after that. But I never lost faith, like I said. To kind of get through the summer, she was always

just in the back of my mind to just keep on pushing. Some days you wake up and you’re like, ‘Man, this really stinks.’ But you’ve just got to understand that you’ve got to keep pushing every day if you want to be the best.

DP: What were the talks like between

you and coach Hugh Freeze in the days after your arrest?

CK: I just knew that he had my back. He understood that a lot of the stuff that came out was untrue. We just had faith. We had faith in God, and that’s

one thing that me and him both have in common is that we believe in the Lord. That’s truly what I believe.

DP: Do you feel like you’ve earned

the trust of Ole Miss fans or do you feel like that’s something you’ll have to do once the season starts?

CK: I think you have to keep on build-ing it. You’ve just got to keep on making the right decisions. I think as long as you play on the field good, I think they’ll keep on rallying around you. That’s about all you can ask for.

A&Qwith quarterback

BRUCE NEWMAN

Chad Kelly


DAVIS POTTER: Last year’s defense was so good. You guys led the nation in scoring defense. How can this year’s defense be better?

DAVE WOMMACK: I think it’s a whole new year with a whole new chem-istry. You’ve got lots and lots of the same guys back, but there’s always a different chemistry with a team. But I love the way these guys worked in the spring. I loved the competitiveness of it. To sit there and say statistically, I’m going to do this or do that, I don’t know. We’re trying to be one in everything we can do and most importantly win football games. To me, it’s all about making the best football team you can — offense, defense and the kicking game.

DP: What specific area do you look

at and say, “This is where we have to get better”?

DW: It’s hard to say. When you lose two All-Americans in the secondary, you’ve got to look at that and say, “Hey, can we replace them?” Probably the answer is no right off from the stand-point of experience and so forth. But golly, I love the talent of the guys we brought in, and I love the depth we have there. Linebacker is kind of the same way. We lost three guys, but we’ve got six or seven guys that I think are really pretty good. Some of them made vast improve-ments in the spring. Until you really get into the games and see what you’ve got, I like what we have.

DP: You guys struggled some last

year against the power running teams you face in the SEC. What makes you feel like you will be better against those teams this year?

DW: The biggest thing is because we’ve been able to develop some depth, we can now play Robert (Nkemdiche) at defen-sive end at times. Where we were smaller with C.J. (Johnson) and maybe a Marquis

(Haynes) in there, we can now put Fadol (Brown), Robert, Channing (Ward), all those guys at defensive end, and still have Breeland Speaks, D.J. (Jones), Woody (Hamilton), Issac (Gross) in there. We have more depth on the defensive line — and quality depth — than we had last year. So we can get big guys on the defen-sive line with some bulk or we can be fast and play with quicker guys in there. I think that’s certainly a positive. And then we also created some packages that we think will help us against some of those teams as well.

DP: How has the group of freshmen

you guys redshirted last year along the defensive line progressed, and what will their roles be this year?

DW: Each one will earn his own role. If it’s anything like the spring, I think

Breeland made vast improvement and is a very athletic guy that will get a lot of playing time if he stays healthy and continues to do what he does. I thought Garrald McDowell made some improve-ments and Victor (Evans) made some improvement, but there’s a lot of com-petition in there for their playing time. They’re going to have to go earn it.

DP: Tee Shepard and Tony Bridges

take over at cornerback. Do you feel comfortable putting those guys on an island?

DW: All day. DP: How does that change the rest

of the defense in terms of what you can call and how aggressive you be?

See WOMMACK on Page 43

A&Qwith defensive coordinator

BRUCE NEWMAN

Dave Wommack


Class: May be now or never for juniors to win bigContinued from Page 35

The group ranges from outgoing and charismatic to quiet and private in their personalities, which were on display during the recruiting process. A self-proclaimed motivator, Treadwell was the first of the group to commit, pulling the trigger for the Rebels in January of that year in hopes that the other crown jewels would follow his lead.

“With Robert being No. 1 coming out, it was just like, ‘Is he really going to come here?’ It was just a thought in the back of your head,” Treadwell said. “I committed because of the possibility of him coming and loving coach Freeze and what his vision was and Denzel (Nkemdiche) showing his vision to me on visits, telling me what he believes and how they were so close in play-ing LSU and Alabama.”

The younger Nkemdiche, Tunsil and Conner followed suit with signing day announcements, though Conner made Ole Miss coaches sweat it out as he went back and forth between the Rebels and

Alabama before being the last of the four to sign that afternoon.

“It was a tough decision,” said the soft-spoken Conner, who rarely does media interviews. “Nothing against Alabama because coach (Nick) Saban is a great coach. I just had to make a decision on my own.

“Me and Robert had good communica-tion. Me and him was talking all the time. Me and Laquon, we’d talk every once in a while. All of us, we just talked about it throughout the recruiting (process). At one point, we just decided that all of us were

going to go to the University of Mississippi.”But the group wants to be known for

more than just hype. They’re part of a retooled roster and a depth chart that has more than half its starters returning on each side of the ball, including the entire offensive line.

The group has helped vault Ole Miss into the national conversation and briefly taste a playoff push. But the head of the Rebels’ talented junior class wants to help the team finish what it started a season ago.

“We all want a national championship,” Treadwell said. “If we don’t win that, we feel like wherever we’re projected to go goes down. That’s our main goal, and that’s our intent.”

It’s a mindset that’s been more than two years in the making.

“We’re not losers. Only winners want to come here,” Treadwell said. “This is our vision to be the top team in the SEC and build on it from there. Be the first class to do something nobody has ever done, and hopefully this will be the year.”


“We call each other brothers. Just because Laremy and Laquon are on offense, we still compete and get after each other, but it’s just family. We

get along really good.”

— Ole Miss safety tOny COnneron relationship among junior class


QB: Rebels taking patient approach to finding signal callerContinued from Page 37

With the well-documented arrival of Kelly, who played at East Mississippi Community College last season, it cloud-ed the quarterback conversation even further. It was expected to be Buchanan with Kincade playing the role of backup and used in certain game situations, but all that changed when the nephew of Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly arrived in Oxford.

Kelly has had the hardest road to take to get to Ole Miss with off-the-field issues taking place back in his hometown of Buffalo, New York, putting his future with the Rebels in doubt. Now that he is here and suited up with the Rebels, he is ready to prove his worth.

“I’ve been through a lot. That I have,” Kelly said. “You just have to approach it every day and try to get better on and off the field. Just keep looking forward and never look back and just hope for the best. ... (Freeze) has pushed me on and off the field a tremendous amount. I’m

just thankful he gave me the opportunity to play here.”

For Freeze, the key to competing in the SEC hinges on the play of a team’s

quarterback. With that in mind, he knows how imperative it is to make the right decision when the time comes to name a starter and be confident that his choice is the right guy to lead his team toward a potential SEC Championship in December.

The three candidates will likely have the entire month — and then some — to continue auditioning for the job. Freeze said during his appearance at SEC media days in July that the competition would likely extend into the first two weeks of the season before he nailed his choice in advance of the Rebels’ league opener at Alabama in mid-September.

Freeze wants to be sure.“I think the team or teams that will

emerge to be the top will be the teams whose defense is the most stingy in the red zone and whose quarterback plays the best,” Freeze said. “I don’t know that I can overstate the importance of our quarterback situation, us finding the guy that can hopefully make us efficient.”


BRUCE NEWMAN

Hugh Freeze is taking his time to evaluate his three options at quarter-back before deciding on his guy.


An afterthought in 2013 class, junior could leave early, too

By Davis Potter

Sports Editor Mel Kiper Jr. believes four

Ole Miss juniors will be select-ed in the first round of next spring’s NFL draft. ESPN’s draft guru is equally as high on another member of the Rebels’ star-studded 2013 signing class.

Kiper has Evan Engram ranked as the top underclass-man tight end in the country for 2016, and depending on how Engram’s third year in a Rebel uniform plays out, Kiper believes the preseason first-team All-Southeastern Conference selection could make a case to be the first tight end off the board.

“Yet another draft prospect in the Rebels’ loaded junior class,” Kiper wrote as part of his evaluation for Engram earlier this summer. “At just shy of 230 pounds, he won’t be confused with a classic tight end, but he’s a matchup threat and can pluck the ball.”

It’s been a quick, unforeseen ascent among the nation’s best for a player who was a polar opposite from his classmates — Robert Nkemdiche, Laremy Tunsil, Laquon Treadwell and Tony Conner — in terms of expectations entering college.

Every other member of the Rebels’ 2013 signing class took a back seat to that four-some three Februarys ago, but as an undersized tweener who committed to the Rebels eight months before signing day, the 6-foot-3 Engram, a

See ENGRAM on Page 44

Engram works to become high riser at tight end

BRUCE NEWMAN

An undersized tight end coming out of the Georgia prep ranks in 2013, Evan Engram has kept the speed that makes him a mismatch for linebackers and safeties despite packing on nearly 30 pounds and has morphed into one of the nation’s top players at his position.


Engram: Athletic pass catcher adds weight the right wayContinued from Page 42

three-star prospect coming out of Hillgrove High (Powder Springs, Georgia), was all but forgotten.

“When I got here, I was 209, 208 (pounds),” Engram said. “I was very little.”

Said senior safety Mike Hilton when first seeing Engram, “I thought he was a receiver.”

But Hilton and the rest of his teammates soon found out size was the only question mark with their new tight end.

“The more he got out there, he was able to move pretty well and catch the ball pretty well, and once he got in the weight room and started pick-ing up some weight, I was like, ‘OK, I see why they recruited him,’” Hilton said.

Engram routinely visited the weight room and ate as much as he could to speed up the process of packing on some girth. By the time he started his first fall camp in Oxford, Engram got up to 225, a weight that allowed him to at least get by in the rigorous SEC.

“Lift as much and eat as much as I can,” Engram said. “Eat the right stuff, and then all the bad weight comes off when we grind. We basically lift and make sure we take care of our bodies and eat right. … It’s just come in, work as hard as you can and see what we can do here.”

Engram eventually worked his way into the starting line-up as a freshman and became a tough cover for linebackers and safeties over the middle. He hauled in 21 passes for 268 yards and three touchdowns on his way to second-team All-SEC honors, becoming just one of two true freshman in school history to earn that distinction, before setting a

single-season school record for a tight end and leading all SEC tight ends with 662 yards receiving last season.

Engram is listed at 227 pounds on Ole Miss’ updated roster, but he said he’s closer to 235 pounds. He’s added the size without giving up the speed and athleticism that make him a unique player at his position.

“He’s really a mismatch,” Hilton said. “Going against him every day in practice, he runs faster than most peo-ple think. His catch radius is really good, so we’re going to count on him a lot this year.”

Said head coach Hugh Freeze, “He’s a very difficult matchup that we think makes

us more difficult to defend when he’s on the field.”

Kiper isn’t the only one high on Engram. He is list-ed as the No. 2 tight end prospect in his class by CBS Sports, but he may not have to wait until 2017 to start his professional career.

“It’s hard not to think about it,” Engram said of the NFL draft projections. “It’s been a dream, but right now, our main focus is winning ball games here. That time will come. All that will come with winning. That’s the way we look at it. We want to be here and focus on what our mission to win as many games as possible and compete for a championship, both confer-

ence and national. And then that day will come.”

As much as Engram tries to not let his mind wander into the future, it’s a position he’s worked to put himself in just three years removed from being an afterthought among his peers.

“I have high expectations for myself with just the way I work,” Engram said. “A lot of people slept on me in the recruiting process. I know what I bring to the game. I know I can make plays, so I’m definitely not surprised. But I am very blessed and very thankful for the point I’ve worked myself to.”


“He’s really a mismatch. Going against him every day in practice, he runs faster than most people think. His catch radius is really good, so we’re

going to count on him a lot this year.”— Ole Miss s Mike HiltOn

at SEC Media Days in July

What they’re saying about Evan Engram

“He is a playmaker who can make plays from all over the field. He has very good straight line speed and good acceleration, he is athletic enough to

make guys miss in the open field, and he can break some tackles.”

— lijaH spencerNFLDraftDiamonds.com writer

“Yet another draft prospect in the Rebels’ loaded junior class. At just shy of 230 pounds, he won’t be confused with a classic tight end, but he’s a

matchup threat and can pluck the ball.”

— Mel kiper jr.ESPN draft anyalst

“Junior Evan Engram is arguably the nation’s top tight end and will also be considered for the first round.”

— Dan kaDar SBNation.com NFL draft editor


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# Name Pos. Year1 Tony Bridges DB Jr.1 Laquon Treadwell WR Jr.2 Tee Shepard DB Jr.2 DeVante Kincade QB So.3 C.J. Hampton DB So.3 Damore’ea Stringfellow WR So. 4 Denzel Nkemdiche LB Sr.5 DaMarkus Lodge WR Fr.5 Robert Nkemdiche DT Jr. 6 Jaylen Walton RB Sr.7 Trae Elston DB Sr.7 Jason Pellerin QB Fr.8 Quincy Adeboyejo WR Jr.8 Chief Brown DB Sr.9 Breeland Speaks DL RS-Fr.9 Ryan Buchanan QB RS-So.10 C.J. Johnson DE Jr.10 Chad Kelly QB Jr.11 Channing Ward DE Sr.11 Markell Pack WR So.11 Will Easter WR Jr.12 Van Jefferson WR Fr.12 Tony Connor DB So.13 Eugene Brazley RB So.13 Kailo Moore DB Jr. 14 Victor Evans DE RS-Fr.14 Bo Wallace QB Sr.15 Kendarius Webster DB So.15 Jeremy Liggins TE/OL Jr.16 Drew Davis QB Jr.16 Jalen Julius DB Fr.16 Collins Moore WR Sr.17 Evan Engram TE Jr.19 Derrick Jones WR Jr.20 Christian Russell LB Sr.21 Terry Caldwell LB Jr.21 Akeem Judd RB Jr.22 Ray Ray Smith LB So.

# Name Pos. Year22 Jordan Wilkins RB So.23 Carlos Davis DB Jr.24 Tayler Polk LB So.24 Johnathan Ratliffe DB RS-Fr.24 Eric Swinney RB Fr.25 Montrell Custis DB Fr.26 Quintavius Burdette WR Sr.26 C.J. Moore DB So.27 Marquis Haynes DE So.27 Cale Luke WR So.28 Cameron Ordway DB Fr.29 Brandon Bell WR Jr.29 Armani Linton DB Fr.30 A.J. Moore DB So.31 DeMarquis Gates LB So.31 Justin Anderson DB So.32 Temario Strong LB Jr.33 Nathan Vanderburg RB So.33 John-Patrick Sherling LB So.34 Shawn Curtis LB Fr.35 D.K. Buford RB RS-Fr.35 Josh Johnson DB So.36 Zedrick Woods DB Fr. 37 Luke Davis LB So.38 Mike Hilton DB Sr.39 Martin Johnson RB Jr.41 Antwain Smith DB So.42 Garrald McDowell DL RS-Fr.43 Ty Quick TE So.47 John Youngblood DE Jr.48 Jack Raborn LB RS-Fr.50 Sean Rawlings OL RS-Fr.52 Michael Howard OL Fr.52 Austrian Robinson DL Fr.53 Will Few LS Jr.54 Sam Johnson OL Fr.55 Tyler Putman OL RS-Fr.56 Woodrow Hamilton DT Sr.57 Chadwick Lamar LS RS-Fr.

# Name Pos. Year58 Michael Taylor LS Fr.59 Bobby Daggett LS Jr.63 Jacob Feeley C Jr.64 Ben Still C Sr.67 Alex Givens OL Fr.68 Justin Bell OL Sr.70 Jordan Sims OL RS-Fr.71 Christian Morris OL So.72 Aaron Morris OL Sr.73 Rod Taylor OL So.74 Fahn Cooper OL Sr.75 Robert Conyers OL Jr.76 Daronte Bouldin OL So.77 Talbot Buys OL Jr.78 Laremy Tunsil OL Jr.79 Javon Patterson OL Fr.80 Willie Hibbler TE Fr.80 Elliot Markuson LB So.81 Trey Bledsoe WR So.82 Dylan Dyer TE Sr.83 Dillon Barrett TE Sr.84 Hunter Thurley DE Jr.85 Alex Weber WR RS-Fr.86 Jordan Gallegos WR Jr.87 Matt Brown TE Jr.88 Cody Core WR Sr.89 Taz Zettergren TE Jr.90 Fadol Brown DE Jr.91 Ross Donelly DT Fr.91 Nathan Noble K Jr.92 Andy Pappanastos K So.93 Tyler Jackson K Jr.93 D.J. Jones DT Jr.94 Issac Gross DT Sr.94 Will Gleeson P So.97 Gary Wunderlich K So.98 Grant Warren P So.99 Herbert Moore DT So.

2 0 1 5 O L E M I S S S C H E D U L E A N D R O S T E RDate Team

Sept. 5 UT-Martin

Sept. 12 Fresno St.

Sept. 19 at ALABAMA

Sept. 26 VANDERBILT

Oct. 3 at FLORIDA

Oct. 10 New Mexico St.

Oct. 17 at Memphis

Oct. 24 TEXAS A&M

Oct. 31 at AUBURN

Nov. 7 ARKANSAS

Nov. 21 LSU

Nov. 28 at MISSISSIPPI ST.

ALL CAPS denotes SEC game


PLUG AND PLAY By Jake Thompson


The Ole Miss second-ary took a major hit with the departure of standout Senquez Golson. Golson was responsible for 10 intercep-tions, second-most in the country, during his time in the Rebels’ defensive back-field last season.

The Rebels will look to two highly touted junior college transfers Tee Shepard and Tony Bridges to step up and fill the void that one player left behind. Their confidence level is high when asked if they can fulfill that task.

“It’s motivation,” Shepard said. “We’ve never had a lock-down corner like Tony or Ken Webster. Not only are we just good. We’re tight. Everybody is doing their part to fill the void and I fell like that’s what you need in the SEC.”

After transferring from Holmes Community College by way of Notre Dame last year, Shepard was not able to make the impact he hoped he would his first year in Oxford as he tore a tendon in his toe that required surgery, keeping him out for the 2014 season.

“Getting hurt last year, it really made me better today,” Shepard said. “I had to take the time to get stronger and faster and rehab my toe. It was real hard because I was supposed to be a part of (the secondary). I feel like I could have helped a lot. It was defi-nitely hard to watch.”

Bridges transferred in from Mississippi Gulf Coast

See PLUG on Page 53

JUCO transfers Shepard, Bridges ready to fill holes at CB

PHOTOS BY BRUCE NEWMAN

Ole Miss lost just one starting cornerback from last season in Senquez Golson, but coaches are so confident in the abilities of former junior college All-Americans Tee Shepard (opposite page) and Tony Bridges (above) that Mike Hilton was moved to safe-ty in the offseason to make room for both of them to start. Shepard is fully recovered from a toe injury that kept him out of action all of last season while Bridges was the top-ranked cornerback in the junior college ranks last season at Mississippi Gulf Coast CC.


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Rangers more experienced in Wright’s second yearNWCC not content with taste of playoffs

By Jake Thompson


Things are looking up for the Northwest Mississippi Community College Rangers’ football team. A year after fin-ishing 1-8 overall, the Rangers improved to 4-6, which includ-ed a first-round appearance in the Mississippi Association of Community & Junior Colleges (MACJC) playoffs in their 2014 campaign.

Second-year head coach Jack Wright is looking to take anoth-er step in a positive direction and improve upon their perfor-mance from a season ago.

“We wish we had won

more,” Wright said of his first season with the Rangers. “I felt like there were a couple of games where we had an oppor-tunity to win and maybe we let that slip. We can’t do any-thing about that now. We’re just going to try and improve and be better and try to win them this year. ... Any time you win a few more, and to me looking back last year, it was very important to me to make the playoffs in Year 1 and we did that. It gives us a lot of momentum (heading into this season).”

CoachesWhen Wright took over the

program a year ago, he com-pletely revamped the coach-ing staff minus wide receivers coach Scott Oakley, who he kept from the previous regime. The first campaign as a staff

went so well that there was not any turnover during the offsea-son and every coach stayed on board for the 2015 campaign.

“Everybody came back, and I’m tickled to death about that,” Wright said. “I joke around, but it’s true — every one of these guys was the only guy that was offered that (coaching) position. It’s truly a staff that’s here that’s my dream staff, and they’re just going really good.”

Benjy Parker is back as the Rangers’ defensive coordinator.

Jonathan Webster will again coach defensive backs while Travis Macon will oversee the defensive line.

Wright, who served as the Rangers’ offensive coordinator from 2008-2012 before return-ing as the head coach, will help run the offense. Jim Jones will coach the offensive line.

OffenseWhat is becoming a common

theme among area schools, both at the high school and collegiate level, is the search for a new starting quarterback. That trend is the same in Senatobia as NWCC is looking to replace sophomores Karsten Miller and Kyle Morgan along with the 1,616 passing yards and 9 touchdowns worth of production between the two.

See RANGERS on Page 50

2015 ScheduleDate OpponentAug. 29 at Jones CountySept. 3 Gulf CoastSept. 10 Northeast*Sept. 17 at Itawamba*Sept. 24 HindsOct. 3 Holmes*^Oct. 10 at Miss. Delta*Oct. 15 at East Miss.*Oct. 22 Coahoma** - MACJC North Division game^ - homecoming game


JUCOWEEKLY.ORG

With the likes of All-American running back Justin Crawford on the roster, the Rangers have enough pieces to improve on last season’s win total.


Rangers: NWCC seeks starting QB to complement CrawfordContinued from Page 48

Wright has several options at the signal caller position with freshman Gardner Minshew, who played at Brandon High last fall, and Shea Chism, who was the starting quarterback at Southaven in 2013.

Minshew was a three-year starter for Brandon and accumulated over 3,500 passing yards and 31 touchdowns his senior year. Minshew made a brief stop at Troy University as a walk-on this spring but found his way to NWCC by way of a transfer this summer. Minshew was also named one of the top incoming fresh-man for the 2015 season by the National Junior College Athletic Association earli-er this month.

The third quarterback that is fight-ing for the starting position is Tasleem “Taz” Wilson from Atlanta. Much like Minshew, Wilson had committed to UAB prior to signing with the Rangers.

“We’re having a real healthy competi-tion right now,” Wright said. “We’ve got

three kids that are here and all competing and making each other better. (Minshew) has had a really good summer throwing the football. We’ll see how everything goes when the bullets start flying. In the summer it’s really tough to tell.”

One position that is not a concern for Wright is the running back slot. Breakout star Justin Crawford is coming back and will bolster the offense and be one of the

centerpieces Wright will plan around.Crawford had a team-leading 1,627

rushing yards and had 12 more touch-downs (14) than the next closest running back. He didn’t just amaze on the ground as he also was a threat through the air on his way to second-team NJCAA All-American honors. He had 306 receiving yards, good enough for third-best on the team.

Wright feels Crawford will be just as productive if not more but also knows last season’s production was due to sever-al circumstances.

“I think that was a result of a few things last year,” Wright said. “Our starting quarterback got hurt, and unfortunate-ly we kind of became one-dimensional offensively. We weren’t as efficient throw-ing the football as we would have liked to have been. He gave us the best chance to win, and he had a large number of car-ries. Hopefully this year, we have a little more balance and will make defenses use a little bit more of the field.”

The wide receiving unit got a big boost

“We’re having a real healthy competition right now. We’ve

got three kids that are here and all competing and making each other better. (Minshew) has had a really good summer

throwing the football. We’ll see how everything goes when the

bullets start flying.”

— NWCC CoaCh JaCk Wrighton Rangers’ quarterback competition


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when a former Ole Miss play-er joined their ranks. Former Rebel tight end Sammie Epps left Oxford in the summer before joining NWCC. Epps will be part of a group that loses its top three wideouts as Kentrell Spencer, Jalen Gaston and Jamarius Mabry moved on.

Rising sophomore Jacob McCray is the most experi-enced receiver to return as he recorded 371 receiving yards, which was just 16 yards less than Mabry, the Rangers’ leading receiver, had last year (387).

DefenseWhen Wright arrived on

the scene in Senatobia last year he implemented a tra-ditional 4-3 scheme on the defensive side of the ball. He plans to keep it that way with second-year defensive coor-dinator Benjy Parker at the helm but will also evolve his defense when the situation

calls for it.“We’re a 4-3 base,” Wright

said. “In today’s game, us included, everybody’s got to have a degree of multiplicity. You’ve got be able to move

around and line up in a three man front at times and be able to show a lot of different pressure looks. If you just sit in one look and just kind of sit there in a 4-3 I think

today’s quarterbacks are going to be able to move the ball pretty easily.”

The Rangers lose their top tackler in Terry Caldwell who racked up 61 tackles last sea-son as well as Kendall Carr who had 43 but they do get back rising sophomore line-backer Malik Hawkins who picked up 48 tackles. The defense is going to be much improved this season though as they return four starters. The defensive line also returns five players from last season.

“We’ve got a lot of seasoned big guys,” Wright said. “You say seasoned, but I mean they are only 19 or 20 (years old). It’s only their second year of college football but in junior college that second year guy usually is a lot better.”

Northwest begins its season on Aug. 29 when they travel to Ellisville to take on Jones County.


NWCCRANGERS.COM

Second-year head coach Jack Wright enters the fall with higher expectations for his team.


Immediate contributors highlight Rebs’ newcomersFreeze’s third full signing class helps further team’s depth

By Davis Potter

Sports Editor

Hugh Freeze has spent the last three years retooling Ole Miss’ roster, and the Rebels’ head coach has it the deepest and most talented it’s been since he took over the program in December 2011.

But it still won’t keep some members of Freeze’s latest recruiting class from contribut-ing immediately.

Ole Miss signed 22 play-ers in February for its third straight top-25 recruiting haul. Eighteen of the new signees were ranked as a four-star pros-pect or higher by at least one recruiting service, the most in program history, with four members of the class being from the junior college ranks.

That’s where this class’ con-tributions will begin.

“When you look at the (junior college signees) with D.J. Jones, Chad Kelly, and Tony Bridges, those guys right there, they’ve all got a great chance to start,” said Yancy Porter, Mississippi’s recruiting analyst for Scout.com.

Northwest Mississippi Community College lineback-er Terry Caldwell rounds out the quartet of junior college additions, but Kelly, Jones and Bridges are at positions of more pressing need for the Rebels.

Kelly, the former Clemson quarterback who was ranked by some recruiting services as the nation’s top junior college signal caller coming out of East Mississippi CC last season, joined third-year sophomores Ryan Buchanan and DeVante Kincade in the competition

to replace Bo Wallace in the spring as an early enrollee. Freeze said the race will likely trickle into the season with all three in line to get snaps in the first couple of games, but Kelly could end up being the guy under center.

“I don’t think they brought Chad Kelly in to help with depth,” said David Johnson, publisher and recruiting ana-lyst for Rebels247, Ole Miss’ 247Sports.com affiliate. “I think he was brought in to compete for the starting job, which still has to be played out. But certainly they strengthened the quarterback position with the addition of Kelly.”

The role is more clear-cut for Bridges, a first-team NJCAA

All-American last season at Mississippi Gulf Coast CC rated as the top junior college cornerback in the country by Scout, Rivals.com and ESPN.com. The 6-foot-1 Bridges, who had three interceptions and nine pass breakups a sea-son ago, will step in and start opposite another former junior college signee, Tee Shepard, with Senquez Golson off to the NFL.

“I think they really helped themselves at cornerback with the addition of Tony Bridges to go along with Tee Shepard, who had to sit out last year with an injury,” Johnson said.

Jones, another signee out of East Mississippi CC, will immediately be a part of the

rotation along the defensive line. The 6-foot, 324-pound Jones adds another big body on the interior to help against the power running teams Ole Miss will see in the Southeastern Conference.

“When they’ve played a power team whose bread and butter is to run it north and south between the tack-les, they’ve struggled at times to stop that,” Johnson said. “Arkansas, LSU, even Alabama at times. D.J. Jones is a guy you can put in there that can be that run-stopper in the mid-dle.”

Advanced freshmenNot all of the 18 incoming

freshmen will play, but both analysts have three in mind who are likely too talented to keep off the field.

Petal offensive lineman Javon Patterson chose Ole Miss over Auburn and got a head start on his college career by enrolling early. The 6-3, 313-pound Patterson, ranked as one of the nation’s top 5 guard prospects by every recruiting site, was running with the sec-ond team by the end of spring practice after a rash of injuries decimated the Rebels’ num-bers up front, and he’s talented enough to at least be a part of the rotation on a line returning all five starters.

“With Justin Bell, Aaron Morris, Roderick Taylor, (Jordan) Sims, they’ve got a lot of experience from being there a year or two or some of them three, four or five years, but I think Javon’s going to be in the rotation. I do,” Porter said. “I just think he’s another guy who it real-ly helped him to go through spring practice. Athletically, he’s in there with the Roderick Taylors and (Laremy) Tunsils. He’s just got really light feet.”

See NEWCOMERS on Page 57

BRUCE NEWMAN

Former Petal High standout Javon Patterson, one of the nation’s top guard prospects in 2015, is a building block for the future of the interior of Ole Miss’ offensive line and may be talented enough to work his way into the rotation as a freshman.


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Plug: Rangy CBs give Ole Miss length on back endContinued from Page 47

Community College and joined the pro-gram in the winter of this year, participat-ing in spring drills as well as the Grove Bowl.

With a fully healthy Shepard on one side of the field and Bridges on the other, two players who are 6 feet or taller, gives the Rebels the height they have not had in the secondary in recent years. With two talented defensive backs keep-ing tabs on some of the Southeastern Conference’s top wide receivers, there is added confidence in the defense heading into this season.

“The length that Tee and Tony pro-vide and bring to the defense, it helps,” defensive backs coach Jason Jones said. “Especially nowadays with the wide receivers being as big as they are, 6-feet-4 and 6-5. They can line up and compete with those guys. So they give us a shot.”

Getting prepared to cover the elite receivers of the SEC, Shepard spends

much of practices assigned to Rebel standout receiver Laquon Treadwell. That in itself is a task that has made the Ole Miss secondary better before even facing opposing receivers this year.

“It’s an everyday competition,” Shepard said. “Either (Treadwell) wins or I win. There’s not too many receivers in the league that we’re going against that are like Laquon. Not every team has a Laquon. Maybe one or two or three teams.”

There is also a competition on the same side of the ball that happens with Shepard and Bridges, who has not yet been made available to the media. It’s a friendly competition being that they are on the same team, but it’s a competition that has made them better and in turn made the team better.

“Just by (Bridges) doing what he does, it makes me more motivated, too,” Shepard said. “It’s like we’re competing, but we’re on the same team. We both be fighting to see who can get the most (interceptions)

and the most tackles.”The receivers of the SEC will not be

the only ones who could have a tough time trying to get around the Ole Miss duo. The quarterbacks of the league could have a tough time finding open guys to get the football to or will have to fit the ball through a smaller window than they might have anticipated. The Rebels’ quarterbacks have already gotten a taste of how difficult that can be during preseason camp this month.

“You’ve got to be precise,” redshirt sophomore quarterback Ryan Buchanan said. “When you throw a fade, you’ve got to put it over the shoulder. You can’t leave it behind. They have such long arms, they can knock it down and can break quick on the ball. Along with our two safeties, Mike (Hilton) and Trae (Elston), I mean, these guys are experi-enced. I feel like I’m getting some great experience going against them.”



Patterson, Metcalf highlight consensus top-5 class for now

By Davis Potter

Sports Editor

Ole Miss tabbed Hugh Freeze as its head football coach four years ago, and with his hire came a height-ened degree of success on the recruiting trail.

No recruiting class in school history has been better than the one Freeze assem-bled in 2013, a top-5 group nationally that’s produced All-Southeastern Conference performers Laremy Tunsil, Robert Nkemdiche, Laquon Treadwell, Tony Conner and Evan Engram — most of whom are in line to be taken in the first round of next year’s NFL draft.

But recruits and analysts believe the class Freeze is cur-rently putting together could rival its quality once pen meets paper come February.

“I think we have the poten-tial to be something really spe-cial,” said quarterback Shea Patterson, who headlines the Rebels’ 19 verbal com-mitments for the 2016 class. “One of the best classes to ever come up through high school football. I know that’s saying something crazy, but similar to Laquon Treadwell’s class in 2013.”

Ole Miss’ 2016 class is ranked in the top 5 nationally by every recruiting site with Rivals.com giving the Rebels the highest ranking at No. 4. More than half of the Rebels’ commits are ranked as a four-star prospect or higher by at least one site with Patterson being a consensus five-star recruit.

The 6-foot-1, 200-pound Patterson, who will play his senior season at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, is also the consensus choice as the nation’s No. 1 signal caller.

“Obviously with Shea Patterson there at quarter-back, that’s the most import-ant piece,” said Yancy Porter,

Mississippi’s recruiting ana-lyst for Scout.com. “Having Shea there really solidifies the future at the quarterback posi-tion. Recruiting other elite prospects is going to help Ole Miss big-time. I’ll be very sur-prised come signing day when it’s all tallied up if Ole Miss doesn’t have a top-10 class.”

Ole Miss will lose wide receivers Cody Core, Quintavius Burdette and Collins Moore to graduation after this season and could take even more of a hit at the position should Treadwell head to the NFL early, but a year after signing DaMarkus Lodge and Van Jefferson from

Could Ole Miss’ 2016 haul match 2013’s success?

DAVIS POTTER

Led by the verbal commitment of five-star quarterback Shea Patterson, Ole Miss is piecing together a recruiting class for 2016 that’s among the best in the country.


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Pos. Name Hometown Ht. Wt. Rivals Scout 247SportsQB Shea Patterson Shreveport, La. 6-1 200

WR D.K. Metcalf Oxford 6-3 205

DT Benito Jones Waynesboro 6-2 260

TE Octavious Cooley Laurel 6-3 220

CB Jaylon Jones Allen, Texas 5-11 182

OT Bryce Matthews Brentwood, Tenn. 6-5 280

RB Justin Connor Sardis 5-10 190

DE Charles Wiley Stockbridge, Ga. 6-3 234

RB Denzel Mitchell Hamilton, Ala. 5-10 197

G Chandler Tuitt Tyrone, Ga. 6-3 294

RB D’Vaughn Pennamon Manvel, Texas 5-11 199

TE Gabe Angel Cookeville, Tenn. 6-3 212

C Eli Johnson Oxford 6-3 295

LB David Luafatasaga Honolulu 6-3 225

S Greg Eisworth Grand Prairie, Texas 6-0 185

LB Donta Evans Lawrenceville, Ga. 6-1 230

RB Jarrion Street Trussville, Ala. 6-1 195

LB Tariqious Tisdale Lexington, Tenn. 6-5 247

OT Jack DeFoor Calhoun, Ga. 6-5 260

2016 Commitmentsthe prep ranks, the Rebels have another reinforcement coming in Oxford’s D.K. Metcalf.

The 6-3 Metcalf, the son of former Ole Miss All-American Terrence Metcalf, is ranked as one of the top 10 wideouts in the country. Another wide receiver target, Meridian’s Daniel Crowell, decommitted late last month.

“They’ve got arguably the top wide receiver in the country in my opinion in D.K. Metcalf,” Porter said. “Daniel Crowell is a guy that’s being overlooked by the services, but there’s a reason why Ohio State just offered him in June. He’s a very explosive guy.”

Ole Miss is also working on hitting its needs along the defensive line and at tight end, arguably the thinnest position on the roster.

Wayne County defensive tackle Benito Jones, the top-ranked defensive lineman in the state, gave his verbal pledge to Ole Miss last August, but the Rebels will have to fight off Alabama and others until sign-ing day. Jones joins Stockbridge (Georgia) defensive end Charles Wiley as the Rebels’ only commits on the defensive front.

See 2016 on Page 56


2016: Little, Simmons, Knott among Rebels’ top targetsContinued from Page 55

The Rebels have two tight ends in the fold in Laurel’s Octavious Cooley and Cookeville (Tennessee) prod-uct Gabe Angel, the top-rated players at the position in their respective states. The 6-foot-3 pass catchers bring different styles to the position.

“Gabe is that hybrid tight end, the kind of guy that can fit into that offense,” said David Johnson, publisher and recruiting analyst for Ole Miss’ 247Sports.com affiliate, Rebels247. “And when you look at Octavious Cooley, he not only can be that receiving threat, but he’s also a guy that can shift inside, put his hand in the dirt and help you in the run game. He’s more of an all-around tight end.”

But Ole Miss could be in the market for a third tight end depending on what Engram decides to do after the season now that Sammie Epps has been dismissed from the team. Madison Central’s Grayson Gunter, an Arkansas commit, Buford (Georgia) product Isaac Nauta and Berkley Prep (Tampa, Florida) pass catcher Jacob Mathis are some of the ones Ole Miss is keeping an eye on.

The Rebels are also piling up at running back where they have four commitments in North Panola’s Justin Connor, Hamilton (Alabama) standout Denzel Mitchell, Manville (Texas) speedster D’Vaughn Pennamon and Hewitt-Trussville (Trussville, Alabama) product Jarrion Street, the biggest of the group at 6-1 and 203 pounds.

Needs to addressBut Ole Miss is still work-

ing on its other pressing needs at linebacker, offensive line and safety. The Rebels have three linebackers com-

mitted in Tariqious Tisdale of Lexington, Tennessee, Arizona Western Community College’s David Luafatasaga and their most recent pledge, Archer (Lawrenceville, Georgia) product Donta Evans, with three linebackers in the rotation set to leave after this season in Denzel Nkemdiche, C.J. Johnson and Christian Russell.

Both Johnson and Porter believe the bigger-bodied Tisdale could be a long-term solution in the middle, but the Rebels may have a harder time keeping Luafatasaga in the fold. The 6-3 Luafatasaga, a Hawaiian native, is still being recruited heavily by Arizona and other schools closer to his West Coast home.

“(Tisdale) is listed as a defensive end by most recruit-ing services, but he will play linebacker at Ole Miss in the middle,” Johnson said. “He is a 6-foot-5, 250-pound guy that can run from sideline to sideline. I think he’s going to be a big-time edition in the

’16 class.”Lafayette’s Eli Johnson,

Sandy Creek (Tyrone, Georgia) guard Chandler Tuitt, Calhoun (Georgia) product Jack DeFoor and Brentwood Academy (Tennessee) stand-out Bryce Matthews make up the Rebels’ current offensive line class for this recruiting cycle, but with Tunsil project-ed as a top-10 pick in next year’s draft, Ole Miss will like-ly lose all five starters up front after this season. Ole Miss would like to add one or two more, Johnson said.

“The number we keep hear-ing is five, but I think we could see them six if that sixth one is the right one,” Johnson said. “I think they’re done with offensive line recruiting in Mississippi. I think the next two or three offensive line-men they get will come from out of state.”

Starting safeties Trae Elston and Mike Hilton will be gone after this season while Conner, the third safety in Dave Wommack’s 4-2-5

defense, could join them to leave some holes on the back end. South Grand Prairie (Texas) safety Greg Eisworth committed early on, and the Rebels recently got a pledge from one of their top defen-sive back targets in Allen (Texas) product Jaylon Jones, a four-star cornerback who could be versatile enough to slide over to safety at the next level.

Two four-star safeties, Meridian’s Quincy Lenton, a Florida commit, and Manville (Texas) standout Deontay Anderson, are among other defensive backs the Rebels are targeting.

In hot pursuitOther prospects the

Rebels are heavily pursing are Noxubee County four-star defensive end Jeffrey Simmons, Germantown four-star cornerback Nigel Knott, Starkville four-star defen-sive lineman Kobi Jones, North Webster (Springhill, Louisiana) four-star athlete Devin White, Allen five-star offensive tackle Greg Little, John Curtis (New Orleans) five-star offensive tackle Willie Allen and Paramus Catholic (New Jersey) defensive tackle Rashan Gary, the nation’s No. 1 overall recruit, according to 247Sports and Scout.

Any of them would help the Rebels improve on an already impressive class.

“Just going down the list — and I’m using 247Sports’ rankings here — you’ve got the nation’s (No. 1) quarter-back, No. 3 wide receiver, the nation’s No. 3 tight end, No. 7 guard, No. 5 center and No. 2 JUCO linebacker,” Johnson said. “This class has got the potential to equal or perhaps even better the success that the 2013 has brought to Ole Miss.”


DAVIS POTTER

North Panola standout Justin Connor is one of four run-ning backs committed to Ole Miss.



Said Johnson, “He’s going to be a guy that factors into that offensive line at some point here in 2015.” Ole Miss added to an already deep receiving corps with the additions of DaMarkus Lodge and Van Jefferson, but similar to Patterson, both analysts believe they’ve got skill sets to get on the field at some point.

Rated as a five-star recruit by Scout, Lodge, a Cedar Hill (Texas) product, was the Rebels’ top target at receiver and chose Ole Miss on National Signing Day. The 6-2 Lodge has been praised by coaches and analysts alike for his ability to high-point the ball, something the Rebels could use when approaching the end zone.

“I think Lodge is a special weapon in red-zone situations,” Johnson said.

Jefferson is also an out-of-state grab, signing with Ole Miss out of Ravenwood

High in Brentwood, Tennessee. The U.S. Army All-American checks in at 6-2, has added weight in the offseason and has a strong background in the game as the son of former NFL player and Tennessee Titans wide receivers coach Shawn Jefferson.

“I think Van has got a good chance to make a real quick impact because of how fundamental he is and the route-running ability that he has,” Porter said. “He’s very sharp, and he’s already close to 190 pounds.”

Ole Miss’ lone running back signee, Eric Swinney, was in line to get carries this season until the former four-star prospect out of Sandy Creek (Tyrone, Georgia) recently suffered a fracture in his leg that will require surgery. Offensive linemen Alex Givens and Michael Howard are also in line to redshirt as is quarterback Jason Pellerin.

Ole Miss lost linebackers Serderius Bryant and D.T. Shackelford to grad-

uation, but Caldwell will help inside and out. Freshman Shawn Curtis, who was signed as a middle linebacker, is a redshirt candidate but could be needed with just two viable options there in C.J. Johnson and Christian Russell.

“He’s a big, strong, fast kid,” Porter said of Curtis. “I think the question everybody wants to see is what kind of lateral speed does he have if wants to settle in there at middle linebacker? But he’s a guy that’s 6-foot-4, 255 pounds and extremely intelligent.”

The Rebels signed four defensive line-men and four defensive backs from the prep ranks, though end Joe Anderson will start his career at a junior college while fellow end Rasool Clemsons is likely headed there, too. Newcomers who could help at those spots include Cameron Ordway, Armani Linton, Zedrick Woods, Ross Donelly and Austrian Robinson, who may also get a look at offensive line.


Newcomers: Young WRs, OL could see field earlyFootball Preview • August 2015 – 57

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