Ta’amu eager to guide Rebels from the start this season
Quarterback Jordan Ta’amu proved last year that he can finish a season for Ole Miss.
Now he’ll have the chance to guide the Rebels from the start.
The 6-foot-2, 212-pounder from Pearl City, Hawaii, became the Ole Miss starter after Shea Patterson’s season-ending knee injury in the seventh game at LSU. Ta’amu was brilliant in relief, completing 115 of 173 passes (66.5 percent) for 1,682 yards with 11 touchdowns and four interceptions, and now the offense is his show to run.
“The dynamic doesn’t change at all,” Ta’amu said in Atlanta at SEC Media Days. “I went in last season when Shea got hurt, and I
knew I was the guy. The team had my back throughout the rest of the season, and we’re going into this season trying to be the best we can be.”
Ta’amu threw for a staggering 368 yards in his first start against Arkansas, a 38-37 loss, and guided the Rebels to victory in three of their final four games. Included in the late surge was a 31-28 road upset of Mississippi State in an emotional Egg Bowl, which concluded a 6-6 season for Ole Miss.
Matt Luke had been the interim coach last season, but the interim tag was removed after the win in Starkville, providing stability for a program that needed it following what has amounted to a twoyear NCAA postseason ban. The Rebels are ineligible for a bowl game again this season, but Luke is confident Ta’amu can guide the Rebels back to the winning ways the program enjoyed from 2012 to 2015.
“I knew he was a talented quarterback,” Luke said. “I knew
he could throw it, and I knew he could run it. When he came in last year, his first seven possessions were scoring drives. I was most impressed with how he handled being in tough situations, taking a two-minute drive on the road at Kentucky and winning that game.
“I think he earned the respect of his teammates quickly.”
While recent quarterbacks from Hawaii such as Marcus Mariota and Tua Tagovailoa earned elite status in high school, that was not the case for Ta’amu. Despite throwing for 29 touchdowns and four interceptions as a Pearl City senior, he had to begin his college career at the not-so-glamorous New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell.
It was a time when nothing came easily for Ta’amu, but he looks back with nothing but appreciation.
“My size was my biggest problem coming out of high school,” he said. “I was only 175 pounds. I felt like I had the arm talent, so I took the junior college route. That helped me a lot as far as gaining weight and improving my skills, but the toughest part was that it was a military school.
“I had to wake up at 6 o’clock every morning, or really 5:30 to put on the uniform and make sure it was right. We had to shave our head those first two weeks, so that was kind of rough. Our rooms had to be topnotch without any dust.”
Ta’amu signed with Ole Miss in December 2016, and he prepared for every game last season as if he was going to start. When the injury bug struck Patterson, who since has transferred to Michigan, it was Ta’amu’s time to shine.
The Rebels return 15 of 22 starters this season, including the standout receiver trio of A.J. Brown, DaMarkus Lodge and D.K. Metcalf. All three averaged at least 16.5 yards per catch last season, with Brown leading the SEC and setting an Ole Miss single-season record with 75 receptions for 1,252 yards (104.3 per game).
Although Ole Miss scored more than 30 points seven times last season, the Rebels allowed at least 22 points in every game, including 44 to Auburn, 52 to LSU and a whopping 66 to Alabama. The obvious goal in football is to collect more points than the opponent, but there were times last season when the Rebels had to score on nearly every possession simply to keep pace.
“There is that pressure,” Ta’amu said. “With our receiving corps and with our O-line coming back, I feel like we can score on every drive, but if the other team ends up scoring and we have to score again, then there is for sure pressure.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress. com or 423-757-6524.