Why the Ole Miss defense is poised to compliment their offense this season
Ole Miss has unprecedented postseason hopes this upcoming college football season with a Top 10 preseason ranking and one of the most talented rosters in the country. But if they want to reach new heights in Oxford, they’ll definitely have to improve on the defensive side of the ball.
Scoring points and racking up yards has come pretty easy for the Rebels since offensive mastermind Lane Kiffin became the program’s head coach. But at the On3 Roundtable, OM Spirit‘s Ben Garrett revealed this could be the year that Ole Miss’ defense can match the production of their high powered offense.
“Defensively I do think this is the year,” Garrett said. “And I think of it specifically because I mentioned the secondary, but Ole Miss has always had linebacker depth concerns. Certainly since I started covering Ole Miss in 2008 they have dealt with linebackers always, it’s like the joke on the Ole Miss internet … They have linebackers.
“Chris Paul is an all-league player that came over from Arkansas, contemporary for Ole Miss, a rival,” Garrett added. “Suntarine Perkins I think is poised for a breakout in year two, I think TJ Dottery‘s got every tool in the toolbox to be an all-league caliber player. He’s been good since he started in the Peach Bowl, his Ole Miss debut, after transferring him from Clemson.”
Linebacker isn’t the only place the Rebels added depth to this offseason, with numerous impact additions through the transfer portal on all three levels of the defense from defensive line, to the secondary, and everywhere in between.
But what gives Garrett confidence in the Ole Miss defense this year is their playcallers paired with their talent across the board.
“I think is the year and in the easiest way to point for that defensive improvement, or catching up, or being the same caliber of threat as the oldest offense with Lane Kiffin,” Garrett said. “I think Pete Golding and Bryan Brown, the co-defense coordinators, the best defensive coordinator pairing for sure in Ole Miss history.
“But one of them by themselves would have had the case for best defensive coordinator in Ole Miss history,” Garrett added. “And they have more to work with and the depth to really attack teams that they just did not have, and especially at the second level against the Georgia’s and the Alabama’s. So definitely, I think this one could be the one.”
Garrett made it clear that this is a story that Ole Miss has heard before, which was followed by seasons of underachieving defensively. But this upcoming season he believes that the Rebels have a defense that has resembled some of it’s top counterparts in the SEC in recent history. Giving them a legitimate shot at the SEC and national title this season.
“When you walk out there, you’d be like, ‘Well, if they’re wearing purple and gold, or Georgia black and red, or crimson this looks like one of those teams on any given year.’ And that’s why we can talk about them that way because the personnel definitely lends itself to a title contender,” Garrett concluded.