When Ole Miss Football Resumes: The Wide Receivers


Ole Miss WR Jonathan Mingo

Spoiled.

That’s how we – Ole Miss fans/coaches – have been with wide receivers, and why not? How many other schools can boast of guys like Donte Moncrief, Laquon Treadwell, A.J. Brown, D.K. Metcalf, DaMarkus Lodge, et al?

Easy to be “spoiled.”

Alabama and LSU come to mind – maybe, but neither have produced more or better.

But there was a bit of a dip last year at wideout, for a couple of reasons.

One, the Rebs opted more for the run game with a quarterback – John Rhys Plumlee – who didn’t need to throw the ball to take the top off a defense. Two, there was only one healthy, experienced receiver returning – Elijah Moore, who led the team with 67 catches last year while nobody else was even close. (RB Jerrion Ealy was next in receptions on the team with 20.)

Enter Lane Kiffin and OC Jeff Lebby, who both don’t mind throwing the pigskin around the yard liberally.

Where does that leave the wide receiver room – under the direction of Derrick Nix, who has coached running backs at Ole Miss the last decade or so and has switched to WR – when the pandemic is over and football resumes? (Not including signees who have not been on campus yet.)

Note: It goes without saying that the learning curve of grasping a new offense applies to all these candidates, so we won’t repeat that sentiment over and over.

In a nutshell, a core of three older, experienced players and several who have potential but have a lot more to prove to show they can be counted on in the big way this offense will need.

We’ll start with the oldest and work down age-wise. Braylon Sanders and Dontario Drummond are the seniors and elder statesmen of the group.

Sanders was dinged up most of last year and played in only eight games, catching 10 balls for 192 yards and a very solid 19.2 yards per catch, but a lot more was expected of him based off how he did the previous year when he filled in for the “Big 3” of Lodge, Metcalf or Brown when they were banged up. His charge is to get healthy, stay healthy and get back to the form he flashed in 2018.

Drummond started out strong last year, but tapered off at the end of the season, ending with just 13 catches for 188 yards as he struggled to “keep up” with changing gameplans week-in and week-out, which is typical for a JUCO transfer. His skill set is what college coaches look for so it will be a matter of how he capitalizes and moves forward from the experience he gained a year ago.

Junior Moore was obviously the main target from a year ago. He’s not the fastest and not very big, but his quickness is exceptional and his knack for getting open is proven via 103 total catches for 1248 yards and 8 touchdowns the past two seasons. Will there be a mental stigma attached to the unfortunate antics at the end of the Egg Bowl last year that he will have to overcome? Word from within is that the mistake has made him even more determined to produce.

So those three give Nix a good base to work with, but here’s where the fun starts and questions surface.

Redshirt sophomores Miles Battle and Damarcus Gregory didn’t pan out last year and decided to enter the transfer portal, but when Kiffin was hired, they opted to come back to Ole Miss and test the waters again.

Battle won one of the split end jobs in spring, but was beaten out last season early on for lack of production. It was surprising how that transpired because there has never been a question about Battle’s ability and he was expected to be the heir apparent to Lodge or Metcalf. He’s got the size – listed at 6-4, 200, speed and vertical jump, but he just didn’t make plays a year ago. Untapped talent, so to speak. Can Nix bring that out in him? The ability is certainly there, but he has to prove it by becoming a playmaker.

Gregory was trying to overcome a pair of knee injuries which have hampered his speed somewhat, but he showed – in limited chances – that he will catch the ball in a crowd and will use his big body to take advantage of DBs. He only caught six balls last year but his 21.2 yards per catch were tops on the team.

The batch of true sophomores also has ability that has not been developed to its full potential yet, but it goes without saying they will be needed in a big way in the new offense because any modern attack requires 6-7-8 wideouts to function at full capacity.

Unfortunately, this group, more than anyone, will have to play catch-up at a faster pace than anyone in the wideout room that are being counted on. Spring was going to be critical for them, but with no spring, their learning pace will have to go into double time simply because it will include the double whammy of learning the skills required of the raw position and learning the basics and intricacies of a new system.

In this group, one would have to start with Jonathan Mingo, who caught 12 passes for 172 yards and one score last year. He was thrust ahead of Battle early in the season as a starting wideout because he was physically ready and because he is an extremely hard worker, but he has a lot to learn in terms of route running, releases off the line of scrimmage and adjusting routes versus different coverages.

Dannis Jackson and Jadon Jackson are the speedsters of the room. Both showed flashes last season and both are expected to be very good, but the question is when? They will be needed sooner rather than later, but will they have time to get where they need to be to contribute in a significant way? Dannis caught 7 passes and Jadon 5 last year.

There are also a couple of walk-on candidates who showed some promise last fall, but they were in dire need of spring training to prove themselves to new coaches. Will they get many reps when football resumes? That remains to be seen.

The bottom line for the wide receivers reveals there is plenty of raw talent for Nix to work with, but he will have a dual task of bringing out the potential and developing the younger guys and teaching all of them – old and young - a new system.

Yes, we’ve been spoiled by the wideouts who have come through Ole Miss in the past few years.

Will this group continue to spoil us? We shall see – when football resumes.

SOURCE: Rounsaville, Chuck. "When Ole Miss Football Resumes: The Wide Receivers." OMSpirit - 247Sports.com, 18 April 2020, https://247sports.com/college/ole-miss/Article/When-Ole-Miss-Football-Resumes-The-Wide-Receivers-146184721/