Ole Miss receiver John Rhys Plumlee seeing "hard work" begin to pay off
However the rest of this season — and beyond — at Ole Miss goes for John Rhys Plumlee, he is grateful for every moment.
The junior from Hattiesburg came to Oxford as the former star quarterback at Oak Grove high school, expected to battle for the starting quarterback position at Ole Miss.
None of that came to pass as Matt Corral eventually took the reins during Lane Kiffin’s first season with the Rebels in 2020.
In fact, Plumlee is no longer even in the same room as Corral, shifting to full-time receiver over the course of the offseason and fall camp.
Since racking up over 70 receiving yards in what became he debut as a Rebel receiver in last season’s Outback Bowl, Plumlee had his best game as a wideout this past Saturday against Liberty.
In the 27-14 victory over the Flames, Plumlee had 7 catches for 110 yards, finishing behind Dannis Jackson’s 126 receiving yards and touchdown. The pair were the only two receivers to finish with more than 64 yards.
On Monday, Kiffin noted Plumlee had his best week of practice leading up to Saturday’s game and could feel a big performance coming. Plumlee agreed the week of preparation was one of his best this season.
“You feel like you prepare really well every week whether or not you’re in the game plan or outside the game plan,” Plumlee said on Tuesday. “You kind of have a feel of who’s going to be targeted and all that stuff, but I did feel like I had a good week of practice. It was reassuring to know that, ‘Hey, I’m in the game plan. I’m going to get targeted some.’ That always helps your mindset some.”
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Outside of Saturday’s performance, Plumlee next best game this season came against Arkansas on Oct. 9 where he had two catches for 32 yards with one of them going for 26. He’s recorded 16 yards in two games (Louisville, Auburn) and six yards on two catches against LSU.
Not having the immediate success to the start of this season in a new position that he experienced against Indiana in Tampa last January, Plumlee has remained steadfast and confident in his abilities and acknowledging and understanding the position he’s currently in.
“You kind of expect one thing and you get the other and I’ve learned to trust the Lord through it all,” Plumlee said. “Whether or not I’m in it or out of it, I still realize I’m truly blessed to be at a SEC school, at a (Division I) school playing football (and) doing the thing that I love. But, leading up to the Liberty game you get really excited because it almost seems like, ‘Hey, all your hard work is starting to play off a little bit.’”
The receiving corps is still one that is banged up, but potentially slowly on the mend. Jonathan Mingo has been out since the Alabama game with a lower leg injury but was seen on the sideline on Saturday without a walking boot.
Braylon Sanders and Dontario Drummond are also dealing with injuries this season, but Sanders returned to action on Saturday. With Corral’s top targets banged up, it has created a necessity for Plumlee and others further down the depth chart to step up in recent weeks.
That necessity could continue this Saturday when No. 12 Ole Miss hosts No. 11 Texas A&M at 6 p.m. CT.
