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SEC Preview: Ole Miss Rebels
By Chris Pendley | August 19, 2008
After three years and a 10-25 record, Ole Miss finally figured out it probably shouldn’t have fired David Cutcliffe and canned Ed Orgeron to make up for it. Their replacement should look familiar, as Houston Nutt comes over from Arkansas’s stupidity. Nutt loses his starting RB and his starting “QB”, but should be the better for it in both cases.
Nutt will hopefully have a longer leash in Oxford than he did in Fayetteville, although it’s not like Ole Miss is known for their supreme patience. Nutt’s been known for making more with less than pretty much any other coach in the SEC. Nutt’s staff (that doesn’t sound right) is well stocked as OC Kent Austin (right, with QB Jevan Snead) comes from the CFL and DC Tyrone Nix has previously coached at Southern Miss and South Carolina.
Quarterback Jevan Snead has resurfaced after losing the Texas starting job to Colt McCoy in 2006; Snead lucks out not having to deal with Orgeron, and he brings dual-threat capability that Brent Schaeffer couldn’t. He’s only a sophomore, but he’s clearly Nutt’s best QB since Matt Jones; those of you that remember Jones wrecking SEC defenses shouldn’t get too far ahead of yourselves. Snead should be at worst better than both of Ole Miss’s QBs, but that is a pretty low bar to clear.
BenJarvus Green-Ellis is gone, and there’s no easy solution to the RB situation. Dexter McCluster is the leading returning rusher, but he didn’t even get 100 yards on the season … and he’s a wideout. Cordera Eason has a ton of talent, but was barely used over the last two years. Enrique Davis is the biggest recruit on the offensive side of the ball this year and will likely factor into the offense at some point. For now, avoid the situation until we know what’s going on here; Davis is the better long-term option, but that may not hold true for this year.
Most of the WR corps returns intact. Of these guys, Mike Wallace is the fantasy-relevant option, as he did end up with 700 yards and 6 TDs last year. His numbers should improve a little bit, but he has a peak of 1,000 / 10. Shay Hodge is worth noticing, too; Nutt’s offenses normally use a primary receiver, but Hodge could be more consistent week-to-week than Wallace, although Hodge’s ceiling for 2008 is likely 800 / 8. TE Gerald Harris isn’t anything to write home about.
Ole Miss returns almost everyone of note on their defense. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing is an exercise best left to the reader, as aside from Greg Hardy’s 10 sacks, there was nothing of note here and especially so that he is out 6-8 weeks with a broken foot. They had a disproportionate number of pass breakups to INTs, but there’s no guarantee that will normalize.
K Joshua Shene is too erratic to consider drafting. Until he can perform better than 9-13 from inside 40 yards, he’s not worth touching. This isn’t a dynamic enough offense to think of picking him up for the XP capability.
Summary
Ole Miss should be significantly better this year than they were last year, but that’s not saying a whole lot. Fittingly, everyone will give Nutt all the credit for it, which is at least partly deserved but is also kind of a condemnation of how Ole Miss views their coaches. It’ll work for Nutt for now, though. From a fantasy perspective, there are no guaranteed draftees, but most of the skill positions are worth monitoring at worst.
Topics: Chris Pendley, Preview, SEC |
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