Predicting the roles of each incoming freshman for Ole Miss football
The Ole Miss football team is back on campus and fully in the midst of summer workouts with official practices a little over a month away from starting, making the football knob turn closer to 11 as the 2023 season is nearly here.
Plenty is to be excited about with the incoming freshman class, some of which has been here since January and entrenched into the Ole Miss schedule. Others are a few weeks into being in Oxford and have yet to taste what practice is like at the collegiate level.
Soon everyone will be on the same page but when it comes to the roles of all the players in the 2023 recruiting class some will have bigger ones to play than others this fall.
That is not a bad thing or a slight as depth in certain positions dictates the need to have an underclassman ready at any given moment or put on the shelf via the redshirt for 2024.
Having gotten all that out of the way here are what I predict the roles for every incoming freshman will be. Some are no-brainers and easy to feel good about predicting while others I could end up being dead wrong with my logic come September or further into the season.
Incoming freshmen that Ole Miss will need immediately
Suntarine Perkins – LBKedrick Reescano – RBAyden Williams – WRCayden Lee – WRBrycen Sanders – OL
This category is one that probably is the easiest to sort out and the explanations are just as simple. All five of these players are in positions of need for Ole Miss as of yesterday. Depth or concern of talent of current players in each position room are the reasons.
Perkins comes in as the first five-star prospect Ole Miss has landed in some time and he will be on the field for the defenses first series against Mercer on September 2. Book it, Danno. Perkins does not come in with all the hype, expectation and fanfare nor does Lane Kiffin fight tooth and nail for this kid if he does not see immediate impact player written all over.
In the running back room Reescano is preceded by what Quinshon Judkins did his freshman season a year ago. Does that factor into the expectations placed on Reescano? Maybe or maybe not. But with Judkins and Ulysses Bentley IV the only returners with high volume of experience then look for Reescano to get chances sooner than later this season. Fall camp in a handful of weeks will paint a clearer picture.
The additions of Williams and Lee to the Ole Miss receiver corps are major and needed. That room has an ‘all hands on deck’ feel to it heading into the second half of summer despite the number of bodies currently residing in it. Jordan Watkins, Dayton Wade, a couple transfer portal additions and other returners help create a wealth of potential that just needs to be sorted out in August and through the first three non-conference games.
Sanders joining the offensive line is an addition that I do not see being tucked away on the shelf for next fall. Getting the chance to play in four games before burning a redshirt helps in Sanders case to see where he might fit in the depth chart and if he can prove to be as valuable as the staff feels he is.
Ole Miss quarterbacks Jaxson Dart and linebacker Suntarine Perkins
Incoming freshmen that may not be needed with much urgency
Jamarious Brown – DLEthan Fields – OLSkieler Mann – LBAhmad ‘AJ’ Brown – S
This group is one where any of the three could slip up into the immediate need category, though unlikely at this point, or down into the next category that is predicted redshirts.
On defense the front line is one that is possibly the most seasoned and veteran position Ole Miss has. This leaves Brown kind of in no man’s land of wading through a crowded room and also one foot in waiting until 2024 to get his chance. Not a terrible problem, but in the transfer portal era who is to say what a player may feel come December if they did not see the field often.
In the second level of defense at linebacker that is a position with a lot questions of who will help fill out that group and is there a chance for Mann to impress in fall camp and work up the depth chart? Time will tell but Mann is one that could have an opportunity presented to him in August.
For Fields the offensive line looks to be settled at the moment but there is always a need in the two or three-deep depth chart. That is why I find it hard to determine Fields fate with Ole Miss this fall and why I don’t immediately see a red shirt in his future for now.
The Ole Miss secondary needs all the bodies it can get and that is why Brown fits perfectly in straddling the fence of this category or moving up to an immediate need. I can see both for Brown who might start on the sidelines but work his way onto the field sooner than later this fall.
Incoming freshman Ole Miss will redshirt in 2023
Chamberlain Campbell – DEDeejay Holmes – DEMana Taimani – OLDaniel Emery – S
This group feels like the ones who will end up redshirting and being put on hold to start their careers come next spring and into the 2024 season.
The defensive line is fine for the aforementioned reasons so icing Campbell, so to speak, for a season is not the worst move in that area. Same for Holmes as there will be a mass exodus after this season so ensuring there are at least two to slide in next spring is important.
Offensive line has bodies and the need to start stockpiling players for next year and beyond becomes the crucial move on that side of the trenches as well. Redshirting Taimani is the right move.
Emery in the secondary is one where the plan could be to redshirt but out of a need due to injury or just trying some other players if things go sideways could result in him moving out of this category.
The post Predicting the roles of each incoming freshman for Ole Miss football appeared first on On3.
