Ole Miss wide receiver Malik Heath not satisfied with career-high day against Kentucky
Malik Heath celebrated like mad with the rest of his Ole Miss teammates after the final, and ultimately decisive, Ole Miss defensive stop of Kentucky on Saturday.
But he was quickly back to business in the postgame locker room.
Heath was the go-to receiver for quarterback Jaxson Dart, who was making his seventh career start and the fourth in five games following his transfer from USC to Ole Miss. Head coach Lane Kiffin last week officially named Dart the starter moving forward.
Heath, himself a transfer, but from in-state rival Mississippi State, had six catches for a career-high 100 receiving yards.
“It’s a lot of plays I left on the field with (my) drop on the sideline and (pass interference),” he said. “I feel like I can do a little bit better in the run game blocking. The 100 yards is great, but I still didn’t play to my standard that I hold myself to.”
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Heath joined Jonathan Mingo as the only Rebels to go over the century mark in receiving yards in a single game this season.
His previous best receiving performance was 88 yards, as a Bulldog, vs. Memphis in 2021.
Ole Miss is 5-0 for the first time since 2014 and just the second time since 1962. So while he may have been more reserved with time to take in the most consequential Rebel win of the season to date, he still used a minute or two to take it all in in the moment.
Ivey got around his man and knocked a would-be Levis pass away, recovered by Tavius Robinson. Chaos ensued, and Heath was right in the middle of everything.
“It was so crazy over there,” Heath said. “We were like, ‘There ain’t no way he just did this.’
“We believe our defense is the best defense in the country. We’ve got players over there that play like they’re the top players in the country. We weren’t worried. They’d just stood them up one time, so we thought they could do it again.”
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Heath believes in his offense, too.
The Rebels had 399 total yards, including 186 on the ground.
Running back Quinshon Judkins had a team-best 105 yards rushing and a touchdown on his 15 carries. He averaged 7.1 yards per carry, and his 535 rushing yards so far are the most by any Ole Miss freshman in the first games of a season since at least 1976.
But all Heath could seem to focus on, outside of the circus-like sideline hoopla as the final seconds ticked away, was the missed opportunities. Ole Miss was 2 for 3 in the red zone.
“We’ve just go to finish more,” he said. “We’re right there at the door. We’ve got to finish in the red zone. Everything’s good other than that. We’ve got to finish our drives.”
Here’s everything else Heath had to say in his postgame press conference, in a video provided by Ole Miss Sports Production.
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