Jonathan Mingo is ready to lead the room, and he’s drawing inspiration from Ole Miss wide receivers in the NFL to do it
Jonathan Mingo was an AJ Green fan growing up.
But when asked at SEC Media Days earlier this week the wide receiver(s) he models his game after, Mingo went in a completely different direction than the all-time Georgia great and long-time NFL veteran.
“I like to watch all the Ole Miss receivers — AJ (Brown), DK (Metcalf), Elijah (Moore),” he said. “Anybody who played at Ole Miss, I like to model my game after them.
“I’ve just tried to take little things from their games that can help mine.”
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Mingo’s long been viewed as the next great Ole Miss receiver.
He wears No. 1, just as Brown and Laquon Treadwell did before him, and he had a similar recruiting pedigree, too.
Mingo was ranked by the industry-generated On3 Consensus as a four-star and the No. 206 overall prospect in the country in the 2019 class.
The problem, of course, is he hasn’t been able to stay on the field.
His most recent injury setback came 10 months ago, when Mingo, the rising fourth-year senior, went down with a season-ending broken foot during a mid-fall practice.
He’s back to full strength now, but showing he can be durable, and productive, is the challenge Mingo now faces as he looks, first, to leading the Ole Miss wide receivers, and, later, an NFL path like Brown, Metcalf and Moore.
All three went on to be second-round NFL Draft selections.
“I feel like I can contribute in a lot of ways,” he said. “I don’t feel like I’m just a deep-ball threat. I can get open with any type of route; I can run the whole route tree. I’m a five-tool receiver. I have all the tools I need to be the best receiver I can be.”
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Mingo has appeared in 28 games over the course of his Ole Miss career.
He was putting together his best season in 2021, when the Rebels finished 10-3, including their 10th all-time appearance in the Sugar Bowl.
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Mingo had 22 catches for 346 yards, which was 23 shy of his career-best mark the year prior. He also had three touchdowns, tied for his most as a Rebel.
However, he doesn’t have Matt Corral throwing to him anymore, and Ole Miss is replacing its Top 3 wide receivers in Braylon Sanders, Dontario Drummond and Jahcour Pearson.
Mingo has primarily used the summer to build chemistry with quarterbacks Jaxson Dart and Luke Altmyer.
The dueling quarterbacks enter fall camp practices in August in a heated battle unlikely to be settled before Ole Miss kicks off the year against Troy September 3.
“I’ve been getting my chemistry down with them this off-season,” Mingo said. “Whoever coach picks at the end of fall camp, I’ll be behind him. My job doesn’t change. My job is to get open and catch the ball. It doesn’t matter who’s throwing the ball.
“They’re pretty similar. They’re both mobile (and) they’re both accurate throwing the ball. Got a good feel for the defense. It’s hard to pick them apart. It’s probably something you’ll have to pick apart over the course of fall camp.”
