Kevin Smith returns to Ole Miss as running backs coach

Plenty of changes have come on the Miami football staff after the Hurricanes finished 5-7. Now, Mario Cristobal’s sideline has taken another hit as Kevin Smith, the U’s running backs coach, is heading back to the SEC.

That’s because, per Chris Low at ESPN, Smith is headed back to Oxford to coach on Lane Kiffin’s staff at Ole Miss.

Kevin Smith is finalizing a deal to reunite with @Lane_Kiffin at @OleMissFB as RB coach, sources tell ESPN. It’s been an exodus from the @CanesFootball staff this offseason. Smith was with Kiffin at FAU and then went with him to Ole Miss and helped recruit Quinshon Judkins.

— Chris Low (@ClowESPN) February 14, 2023

Smith has been a big piece of Kiffin’s staffs, even going back to his previous stop at FAU. In that time, he has coached several top backs, specifically Devin Singletary with the Owls, while also piecing together some solid rushing attacks both individually and as units.

Specifically, in his last season in the SEC in 2021, three Rebel backs in Jerrion Early, Snoop Conner, and Henry Parrish finished Top 25 in the league in rushing yards. With that kind of production, Ole Miss finished third in the conference in rushing yards with 217.6 per game.

In his lone season back home with the Hurricanes, Smith’s rushing attack finished with 1,538 yards. That number, though, finished just 10th in the ACC this year.

As Low pointed out, Smith was an important part of recruiting the SEC’s leading rusher this season in Quinshon Judkins. Now, the star back will get to play for the coach who brought him to Oxford in the first place.

Ole Miss adds former Rebels running back Enrique Davis to staff

Ole Miss has hired Enrique Davis as an analyst, On3’s Matt Zenitz reported Monday. A former Rebels running back, Davis spent this past season at Western Kentucky as the Hilltoppers’ running backs coach.

Davis spent four seasons at Ole Miss from 2008-11, playing behind future NFL running backs Dexter McCluster and Brandon Bolden. He finished his career with 864 yards rushing and eight touchdowns.

Davis began his coaching career at the high school level as the head coach for Renaissance Christian Academy in Georgia in 2013 and remained with the team until 2016. He entered the college ranks in 2017 on the staff at Division II Morehouse College in Atlanta.

From there, Davis took over as the running backs at West Georgia in 2018 and remained in that role until 2020. He was an offensive quality control assistant for the NFL’s New York Jets in the summer of 2021 for the team’s training camp before taking over at McMurry University as running backs coach.

Western Kentucky ranked sixth in Conference USA this past season with 145.1 yards rushing per game. Davion Ervin-Poindexter and Kye Robichaux combined for 1,021 yards and six touchdowns.

Enrique Davis joins an Ole Miss team coming off of a 8-5 finish this past season. The Rebels led the SEC with 256.6 yards rushing per game and returning leading rusher Quinshon Judkins, who had 1,567 yards and 16 touchdowns. That number was also good for first in the SEC.

Davis will coach his first game as a member of the Ole Miss staff when the Rebels open the 2023 season on Sept. 2 against Mercer.