Ole Miss RB Quinshon Judkins stays hot during awards season, named to SEC All-Freshman Team

The postseason awards continue to roll in for Ole Miss freshman running back Quinshon Judkins.

Judkins on Thursday was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team, as announced by the league office. He’s coming off a dynamic debut Ole Miss season in which he set the single-season program record for both rushing yards (1,476) and rushing touchdowns (16).

“(Judkins is) just unique,” Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said earlier this season. Judkins also won the Conerly Trophy, handed out each season to the top college football player in Mississippi.

Kiffin added, “His personality is very calm and very quiet. The most unique (player) we’ve had was Troy Polamalu. Unbelievable off the field and the switch would go and he’d want to knock everybody out on the field. Q kind of reminds me of that off the field. It’s really neat. He’s raised really well.”

Judkins recently signed a new NIL (name, image and likeness) agreement with the Grove Collective.

Sources indicate the contract is in the ballpark of $500,000 a year. Judkins more than earned it with his play. Judkins on Wednesday was named SEC Freshman of the Year. He led the SEC and was Top 10 nationally in total touchdowns (17) and rushing yards per game (123.0).

He had one of the greatest seasons ever by an SEC freshman running back. Judkins is currently third all-time amongst conference freshmen in rushing yards, behind only Herschel Walker (1,616 yds, Georgia, 1980) and Nick Chubb (1,547, Georgia, 2014). He was named SEC Freshman of the Week five times and leads all freshmen nationally in rushing yards, rushing yards per game, rushing touchdowns, all-purpose yards, scoring and total touchdowns.

“He’s a good player,” Alabama coach Nick Saban previously said of Judkins, a native of Pike Road, Alabama. “He’s had an outstanding year (and) a lot of production. The guy’s a really, really good competitor. Does a good job of executing the plays they ask him to run.

“He’s relentless in the way he carries the ball. He’s tough. He can run behind his pads. He can make you miss. He’s got pretty good speed. We looked at him coming out last year. In hindsight, it would be great if he was on our team.”

RELATED: Ole Miss’ Quinshon Judkins named AP SEC Newcomer of the Year, First Team All-SEC

Judkins is only the second Rebel in history to total multiple 200-yard rushing performances in a single season.

He paired with fellow Rebel running back Zach Evans to rush for 421 combined yards in a loss at Arkansas. They became the first duo in school history to go over 200 rushing yards in the same game, as well as the first to rush for at least 150 in available game-by-game data since at least 1976.

Judkins’ 214 yards were the 10th-most ever for a Rebel in a single game, while Evans’ 207 are ranked No. 12.

“I feel like he’s my little brother,” said Evans, a former five-star recruit once ranked as the No. 1 running back in his class (2020). “I’d say I mentor him a little bit. We do film together, we eat together, sometimes he’ll come chill. If he has nothing going on and doesn’t have class we’ll meet in the film room.

“He can be great. Way better than I was. His ceiling is so high. Knowing that ceiling that he has, it will work out for him in God’s plan.”

The Ole Miss rushing attack leads the SEC in rushing yards per game.

The Rebels are also No. 3 nationally (261.6 ypg). Ole Miss has already broken the single-season school record in rushing yards (3,139) with a bowl game left to play. The record was previously set in 1957.

Ole Miss (8-4) closes out the 2022-23 season against Texas Tech (7-5) in the Texas Bowl on December 28 at 8 p.m. CT.

RELATED: The many explosive runs (and TD celebrations) of Conerly winner Quinshon Judkins

2022 SEC ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM

OFFENSE
QB: Robby Ashford, Auburn
RB: Quinshon Judkins, Ole Miss; Trevor Etienne, Florida
WR: Evan Stewart, Texas A&M; Barion Brown, Kentucky
TE: Mason Taylor, LSU
OL: Will Campbell, LSU; Emery Jones, LSU, Tyler Booker, Alabama, Jager Burton, Kentucky
C: Matthew Wykoff, Texas A&M
AP: Barion Brown, Kentucky

DEFENSE
DL: Mykel Williams, Georgia; Jaheim Oatis, Alabama; Deone Walker, Kentucky; Shermar Stewart, Texas A&M
LB: Harold Perkins, LSU; Jalon Walker, Georgia; Shemar James, Florida; Chris Paul Jr., Arkansas
DB: Malaki Starks, Georgia; Terrion Arnold, Alabama; Quincey McAdoo, Arkansas; Nick Emmanwori, South Carolina
         
SPECIAL TEAMS
PK: Damian Ramos, LSU
P: Brett Thorson, Georgia
RS: Barion Brown, Kentucky
KOS: Nathan Dilbert, LSU
LS: Eli Stein, Arkansas