Ole Miss TE Hudson Wolfe hopes the ‘bad luck’ is behind him and 2024 is a breakout year

If Ole Miss junior tight end Hudson Wolfe had a theme song that reflected his Rebel football career to this point, it might be a tune by the brilliant Ray Charles – “If It Wasn’t For Bad Luck, I Wouldn’t Have No Luck At All.”

“My freshman year, I got a little playing time here and there but ended up with a shoulder injury and wasn’t able to finish the season,” Wolfe said. “Then, during winter workouts in the offseason, I tweaked my back and it never got better. I’d have a month or two where things would be alright and then I’d go back into that state of not being able to move well or do the things I needed to do to play college football.”

An MRI showed enough damage that significant back surgery was necessary.

“Obviously, I missed my entire sophomore season,” he continued.

The word around the Manning Center was that Hudson may never play football again, but he had different ideas.

Lo and behold, number 87 showed up for spring training before the 2023 season and was ready to roll when the season rolled around.

Unfortunately, the bad luck theme continued to follow Wolfe.

“The first game of the year, I broke my collarbone making a catch. I missed six weeks. I’ve just had some bad luck,” Wolfe noted. “In terms of my development as a college player, the injuries have set me back a lot. It did not allow me to do the work I needed to do to put myself in a position to be successful those first two years and last year as well.

“I had a great fall camp going into the season and was expecting a big year and then the clavicle happened. With those injuries you can’t train and put your body in a state of being able to perform successfully.”

But Wolfe persevered and came back strong this past spring.

“As of right now, I am healthier than I have ever been,” said Hudson. “I feel great and had a pretty good spring. I was able to perform well against our defense and this is the best defense I have seen at Ole Miss, by far.

“I’m now putting myself in a position to be successful during the fall. I now have a complete understanding of what’s going on. What a defense is trying to do and what our offense is doing to attack certain defensive looks.”

A healthy Hudson Wolfe feels like he can hold his own in the run game because he’s not the 6-foot-7, 230 pounds listed in the current roster, as he explains.

“No,” he laughed. “I’m not 230. When I left school two days ago for our break, I weighed 253 pounds and I hope to report in August at 260 and play around 255. I showed this spring that I can hold my own blocking in the run game and in the passing game I believe I have a difference maker mentality.

“Now, it’s just putting those things together and showcasing them in an injury-free, I hope, season.”

Wolf believes the Ole Miss tight end room is as strong as it’s ever been with senior leader Caden Prieskorn and junior transfer Dae’Quan Wright, true freshman Dillon Hipp and himself.

“Dae’Quan is a big-time player. He will excel in the pass game and make some big plays for us,” Wolfe stated. “Prieskorn is an all-around NFL tight end. He can do it all. He’s a special player who works his tail off. Caden has played a lot of college football and if you pay attention there are a lot of nuances we can pick up from him.

“He is a student of the game and I try to apply things I learn from him all the time. It’s special to have an older guy like him mentoring you. Caden just had his second child – a little girl. She is beautiful. He’s got his life in order. He’s a great dude and one of my good friends.”

Hudson Wolfe intends to break the injury bug that has plagued him most of his Ole Miss career and this will be the year to do it.

It’s time, contrary to what Ray Charles sang, for good luck in his football career to come Wolfe’s way.

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