'Just put the ball anywhere': Jonathan Mingo becoming a weekly highlight reel for Ole Miss
Jonathan Mingo sat out most of last season with a lower leg injury when he was expected to finally take that next step in the Ole Miss passing game.
Three games into this season Mingo is making up for lost time.
The Ole Miss senior is leading the team in receiving yards with 203 and currently tied with Malik Heath in catches with nine. Mingo’s 22.56 yards per catch leads the Southeastern Conference and is good enough for 10th best in the country.
A third of the way into the year it is looking like 2022 is Mingo’s career year. A season many have been waiting for since he arrived at Ole Miss three years ago.
“I to work hard every day on every aspect of my game,” Mingo said. “Whichever aspect. Deep ball, short routes, intermediate routes. That way they can get me the ball and I’m just trying to capitalize. It’s definitely something I worked on in the offseason.”
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Mingo has become the deep ball threat that Ole Miss needed this season and a favorite target for the quarterbacks.
Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart and Mingo have hooked up for some jaw-dropping catches over the last two weeks. Against Central Arkansas Mingo hauled in a throw by Dart with one hand.
Then there were the two catches Mingo made against Georgia Tech that seemed impossibly but ones that only he could make.
With a fall camp and now three games under their belts there is a strong chemistry forming between Mingo and Dart.
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“Whenever we have an off day or a day where we’re just chilling we’ll just try to go to the football field and get a little one-on-one time,” Mingo said. “I’ll tell (Dart), ‘Just put the ball anywhere around me and I’ll just try to come down with it.’ So he can trust me. I feel like we have a really good chemistry.”
Mingo is earning himself a lot of poster moments but the Ole Miss wideout is not consciously thinking that he needs to make the catch in any spectacular way. In the heat of the moment it is just a catch by any means possible mentality.
Even though Mingo comes across humble he also knows he is more than capable of making those types of catches whenever the occasion arises. He credits it to the Ole Miss secondary he faces on a daily basis.
“I wasn’t really, just like, shocked,” Mingo said. “I feel like I made some of those catches in practice this year and going against (defensive backs) in practice is way harder than in the game. So get in the game it’s a lot easier.”
Watch Mingo’s entire post-practice interview from Tuesday below:
