Patience is at a premium in crowded Ole Miss wide receivers room
Through two games it has become very apparent how talented and stacked the Ole Miss receivers room truly is and now they have the stats to prove it.
The passing game has not fully opened up for Ole Miss as the ongoing quarterback battle between Luke Altmyer and Jaxson Dart carries on. This past week against Central Arkansas the Rebels took to the air a little more frequently.
Ole Miss racked up 277 passing yards — 101 more than in the season opener — and four passing touchdowns in its 59-3 rout of the Bears.
Nine different Rebels have caught passes through two games with seven of them being receivers. Spreading the ball around is a positive but for receivers such as JJ Henry it makes it hard to get a fair share at the table.
Related: Jaxson Dart gave his Ole Miss playmakers a chance against Central Arkansas. They delivered, too.
Henry is the fifth best receiver for Ole Miss this season with four catches for 34 yards. That is not a lot of yards but for a redshirt freshman who is behind Jonathan Mingo, Malik Heath and Dayton Wade it is not a small thing either.
With only two games under his belt Henry is still adjusting to the little things that come with live game experience.
“I’m starting to implement all the schemes that we’re doing out on the field,” Henry said after Tuesday’s practice. “So far I haven’t had much success because I’ve been speeding the game up. But now I know after watching film I’ve just got to slow it down and just go at my own pace. I know I’m going to make some plays.”
Henry and Mingo are the only receivers on the two-deep depth chart that played for Ole Miss last season.
The other four are Heath, Dayton Wade, Jaylon Robinson and Jordan Watkins. Henry finds himself slotted behind Robinson on the chart in the slot position.
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Mingo leads Ole Miss with 129 receiving yards on six catches. Of the transfers Wade follows with five catches for 68 yards and Heath with five catches for 67 yards. Henry is behind tight end Michael Trigg who has nine catches for 61 yards and three touchdowns.
Despite the crowded room and the need for all of the receivers to get a fair share of receptions constantly prevalent, the collective attitude does not reflect it.
“I think it’s all about focus,” Henry said. “Even though we have a talented group we’re not really as much competitive like, ‘Oh, I want these snaps. I want these snaps.’ We look at it as we’re getting better. This guy goes on there’s no drop-off from the starters to the second group. There’s no drop-off. I think we look at as we’re just a team.”
Related: First road trip of the season presents ‘challenges’ for an Ole Miss roster full of new faces
That team-first attitude is also noticed with how Henry talked about watching his Ole Miss teammate make the two circus-like catches against UCA.
“Mingo is the man,” Henry said. “Those plays are going to keep coming. I wasn’t surprise because I know Mingo can make those plays. It’s going to keep coming.”
Watch Henry’s full press conference below.
