Ole Miss driven by low expectations
OXFORD — Something felt different this summer.
Short of hiring a new head coach, the Ole Miss football team did just about everything a program can do to rebuild this offseason. New coordinators on both sides of the ball. New position coaches everywhere from quarterbacks and tight ends, to linebackers and safeties. A recruiting class filled with 31 signees, the most of any Power 5 program.
But if you ask the players, the biggest difference between Ole Miss in 2018 and Ole Miss heading into 2019 is mentality. After years of ranking at or near the bottom in almost every defensive category, not to mention wins, this group of Ole Miss players says its sick of being told how bad this team is.
“We’re more hungry than ever,” junior cornerback Jaylon Jones said. “With all the rankings and stuff having us down and the ‘We can’t stop the run.’ I think this new defense with [defensive coordinator Mike Macintyre] and all the work we put in this summer and in the spring, you can feel a confidence about this team that’s a little bit different for this year.”
Criticizing Ole Miss’ past is fair. Last season, Ole Miss’ defense allowed 36.2 points per game, the most any Rebels team surrendered in a single season since 1915. The Rebels ranked last in the SEC last season in scoring defense, total defense, rushing defense, penalty yards per game, sacks, punt return yards and punt return yards allowed.
But as Jones said, he expects the defense in particular to have a different attitude this year. The switch to a 3-4 defensive scheme should free up pass rush lanes to help the Rebels increase its sack totals and make life easier on defensive backs by giving quarterbacks less time. And the consolidation of two inside linebackers up the middle could help clog some holes in the run game, which would be a massive help after Ole Miss allowed an average of 7.5 run plays per game that went 10 or more yards last season.
Speaking at Ole Miss media day on Thursday, players raved about the change in attitude this offseason. Competitions have been fiercer, and sessions in the weight room have been more intense as Ole Miss’ players and coaches are trying to beat the stigma that this team belongs in the bottom tier of the
“We’re more hungry than ever. With all the rankings and stuff having us down and the ‘We can’t stop the run.’ I think this new defense with [defensive coordinator Mike Macintyre] and all the work we put in this summer and in the spring, you can feel a confidence about this team that’s a little bit different for this year.”
Jaylon Jones SEC.
Without being able to prove this on the field, however, that stigma has persisted throughout the offseason. As of Aug. 2, Ole Miss is listed as a six-point underdog in its season opener against Memphis, a fact about which Ole Miss’ players are eminently aware. Quarterback Matt Corral and linebacker Momo Sanogo have both said they printed out that betting line and have it taped in their lockers as a reminder of how low the expectations are for their team.
“I think we were ranked 14 out of 14,” freshman quarterback John Rhys Plumlee said of his team’s ranking in the SEC. “Not that it’s a slap in the face. Somebody has to be 14th. But you have to choose that 14 wisely. Coming in, it changes the whole mentality of the team. Just to see how people see us, I think it made us work a whole lot harder this summer.”
Plumlee’s numbers aren’t exactly accurate. In the SEC preseason poll, Ole Miss received the 12th-most votes, ranking the Rebels ahead of Arkansas and Vanderbilt, two teams on the schedule this fall. But Ole Miss did rank last in the SEC in number of players voted onto the preseason ALL-SEC teams.
And regardless of the factuality of the assertion, that’s the attitude Ole Miss has used to drive itself this summer. Whether or not the Rebels were actually picked last, this team has been training like it was.
This is why the month between the start of training camp and the start of the regular season is going to feel particularly long this year.
“Everybody’s ready to go,” freshman running back Jerrion Ealy said. “Everybody has that hard edge to them. Everybody’s ready to get the season started and show people what we’ve got this year. A lot of people are doubting us, but we don’t doubt ourselves.