Ole Miss RB Ulysses Bentley IV uses speed to make his mark on a football field
When it comes to Ole Miss senior RB Ulysses Bentley IV and his style of play, it’s almost like a magic trick due to his speed.
Now you see him, now you don’t. In the open field, he’s gone to the house and we haven’t seen anyone catch him yet.
And even though he has been a Rebel going into his second season, Rebel fans have not had much of a look at that speed due to injury and the Quinshon Judkins-Zach Evans one-two punch from a year ago.
You will recall during fall camp of a year ago, it looked as if the Rebels would have a three-headed running back attack with Evans, Judkins and Bentley, but Ulysses broke his hand/wrist early in the year and missed several games.
By the time he returned, Q and Evans had worked up a lather and taken over the RB chores completely.
“Injuries happen and those guys played hard and deserved to get the carries,” Bentley said this week. “I was disappointed but that’s just the way it goes in football sometimes.”
Unfortunately, the injury bug bit Bentley again this fall camp.
He’s just now coming back from roughly 10 days of missed practices due a lower body problem.
With a little over a week to go before the opener, Bentley appears to be number two behind Judkins, but he understands the importance of depth, starting with recent transfer Jam Griffin.
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“Jam is a great fit here. He runs hard and gets after it. Plays hard on special teams too,” Bentley noted. “He adds more depth to the running back room, which we need. Depth is critical in this offense.
“If one of us goes down in the running back room, there’s someone there to pick up the slack and not have much drop off. Everyone can go hard. Being in a tempo offense, you can only go four or five plays before you need a rest as a running back. About five plays and I’m tapping my head for coach to send in someone else.”
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The pecking order looks to be Q, Ulysses, Jam, Matt Jones and freshman Kedrick Reescano.
But Bentley is not necessarily playing a straight running back position.
“I’m playing running back, but the coaches are also putting me at slot receiver,” he noted. “That puts me in space and lets me use my speed. I definitely like what the coaches are doing with me this year so far.”
Bentley likes the Rebel offense, but he said there is work to be done.
“We aren’t where we want to be offensively, but we are getting there,” Ulysses added. “Gotta move faster and get our tempo going faster because that’s what we are. But we’ve got time to get that going and to fix any of the little things we need to work on from now until the first game.
“We’ll probably never be a finished product. Probably always have something to improve on. That’s just the nature of football.”
In the meanwhile, here’s hoping Ulysses Bentley IV can showcase his speed for the Rebels this season.
Now you see him, now you don’t.
