Magnolia Bowl Preview: An in-depth look at Ole Miss

Offense

Quarterback Jaxson Dart is the leader of this high-octane offense. Dart has completed 63.1% of his passes and has thrown for 1,096 yards with seven touchdowns and two interceptions. However, Dart has been inconsistent through the air against teams not named Mercer as he struggled against the likes of then-No.22 Tulane, Georgia Tech and then-No. 13 Alabama. Dart is, suprisngly, the leading rusher for the Rebels with 219 yards and three touchdowns.

The rushing attack will be led by All-SEC running back Qunishon Judkins. Judkins has gotten off to a slow start this season as he has only rushed for 201 yards on 47 carries to start the season. Judkins’ 3.3 yards per carry isn’t great, but that isn’t neccessarily his fault, which is something that will be covered shortly.

The Rebels have one of the best receiving corps in the country.

The unit is led by Jordan Watkins who has 24 catches for 347 yards and one touchdown, which are both team-highs.

ANother receiver to watch out for is Dayton Wade is the second-leading receiver with 16 catches for 303 yards, which is a whopping 18.94 yards per catch. He also has one of eight wide receivers at the FBS level with four catches of 40+ yards this season.

Although Tre Harris only has eight catches on the year, five of his catches are touchdowns and he has 188 receiving yards.

Ole Miss will also see UTSA transfer Jahkari Frahanklin make his second start. He made his debut against Alabama after missing the first threee games. Among active FBS wide receivers, he is first in career receptions with 263 and is second in receiving yards with 3,364.

The Rebels’ offensive line is led by All-Conference right tackle Micah Pettis and center Caleb Warren. However, this unit has been one of the most disappointing in the country as the Rebels’ offensive line havs allowed 11 sacks (93rd in the country) and are 103rd in tackles for loss allowed. If you want to know how far the Rebels’ offensive line has fallen, they went from averaging 256.6 rushing yards per game, which was the third best in the country in 2022, to averaging 146.8 yards per game this season, which is good for 76th out of 130 FBS teams.

Defense

The defensive line is a pretty deep group and it will be led by J.J. Pegues, Stephon Wynn and Jared Ivey. They will also have Akelo Stone, Isaac Ukwu, Zxavian and Jamond Gordon in the rotation as well. The defensive line is responsible for eight of the Rebels’ 14 sacks.

Ole Miss also has a decent set of linebackers as well. This is an experienced group as it is led by Cedric Johnson, Kahari Coleman and Jeremiah Jean-Baptiste. Coleman is the most prominent linebacker as he has 19 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble.

Another linebacker to watch out for is outside linebacker Suntarine Perkins. Although he is not listed as a starter on the depth chart, the true freshman gets a lot of reps as he has playmaking ability. Perkins has 18 tackles, 3.5 tackles for a loss and three sacks.

Similar to LSU, the defensive backfield for Ole Miss has really struggled. The secondary has allowed 226.2 yards per game, which is just two yards less than LSU. On the perimeter, Ole Miss has Deantre Prince and Zamari Walton. At the safety spots, the Rebels have strong safety Daijahn Anthony and free safety Trey Washington.

Special Teams

The Rebels have a really good kicker in redshirt senior Caden Davis. Davis is 7-for-9 on the year in field goal attempts and has been pefect on extra point attempts. and has the ability to kick it from deep as his longest field goal was from 56 yards out. He was the Special Teams Player of the Week fr his performance in Week 2 against Tulane.

The Rebels also have a pretty good punter in redshirt senior Fraser Masin. The Aussie has averaged 43.1 yards per punt and has fielded three balls inside the 20-yard line.

Jordan Watkins is also a dangerous punt returner as he has returned one punt return for a touchdown already this season.