Ole Miss Football Position Grades Versus Vanderbilt
Ole Miss overwhelmed the Commodores of Nashville in week two of the young SEC season, 41-3 at LP field in Nashville.
Vanderbilt is certainly going through some growing pains adapting to first year head coach Derek Mason and that can’t be ignored but Ole Miss’ first line started out strong and took control early which is a good sign.
Quarterbacks B
After the offensive line quit the pre-snap penalties from week one, Bo Wallace has looked exactly like one of the best QB’s in the SEC, which is what we expected for 2014.
Even with the slow start in the Boise game, he still completed 69% of his passes.
With playing a little less this week, Wallace completed 76.7% of his 30 passes this week and picked up another 300+ yards for the record books.
He didn’t have 4 touchdowns this week but he had a much better game overall.
Due to the Vanderbilt offensive ineptitude, Ole Miss was allowed to get the backup quarterbacks into the game. Ryan Buchanan looked pretty good (4/7 – 38 yards). He has a quick release and controlled the game better than I expected.
Devante Kincade is not quite ready to take over the passing game but he did add a touchdown on the ground.
Wide Receivers A
I will be shocked if this grade changes for this group any this year.
The loss of Donte Moncrief was a major concern entering 2014, but just look at Cody Core; 195 yards in two games – three touchdowns in only eight catches.
His three touchdowns ties him at 6th nationally.
Treadwell did not have a 100 yard game, but overall this team had 367 yards this week compared similarly to last weeks 387.
Running Backs B
My how much difference a week makes. From the very beginning of the game you could see a commitment to the run game as Jaylen Walton came out with the first team and owned the position. With a little success running the ball the passing game opens up and this is a completely different team than the first half of the Boise State game.
The group as a whole finished with 180 yards rushing on 50 carries, almost doubling the yards per rush from last week.
Walton and Mathers are still the starting upper classmen but after week two, Jordan Wilkins and Mark Dodson are leading in total yards.
It’s going to get harder to find enough balls to go around this year.
Offensive Line C
It wouldn’t be hard to improve from week one. The line was opening some holes early in week two and were able to answer a few questions.
As a unit, they still had some problems late with backups in the game.
They did give up three sacks and three QB hurries and that is not ok against this Vanderbilt team.
Christian Morris, a transfer from UCLA, was ruled eligible last week and Coach Freeze is planning to add him to the mix as soon as possible.
Greyshirted lineman from the 2014 class, Tyler Putman has been added to the official roster and will be able to add to the depth (still expecting him to redshirt per Hugh Kellenburger)
Tight End B
Evan Engram is just pouring it on with 112 yards receiving this week. The only thing preventing this group from getting an A is the lack of blocking skills which should get better over the season, but Engram is an special player in the right matchup.
The cornerbacks have really impressed me so far this year, even without Tee Shepard (season ending surgery) and Derrick Jones (moving to WR) the group was solid during the first game and even improved in week two with nine passes deflected.
Backup Cliff Coleman got into the act this week with an pick six.
The secondary was not going to allow anything in this game. If not for a turnover this was a easy shutout.
Linebackers B
This group seems to get a little overshadowed by the defensive line and a secondary that is on fire. But they contributed greatly to keeping an SEC team below 200 yards total offense and I don’t care who you are playing, that is impressive.
Seniors’ Keith Lewis and Deterrian Shackelford are averaging 4.5 tackles per game and near the top of the team in total tackles.
Serderius Bryant had a nice tackle for negative yards showing his speed at the position.
Defensive Line B
This group probably could have taken advantage of the situation a little more but Vanderbilt has a lot of experience on the offensive line. They don’t seem to be all running the same play at times but they know how to block in the SEC.
So not having outrageous stats is not a bad thing.
I think everyone is excited to see this group get fired up and on a roll.
You saw a flash of it with Nkemdiche’s sack this week. Channing Ward is more consistent than in past years. Perhaps his offensive line switch during the offseason has lit a fire under him to produce when he got the opportunity to play defensive end again.
Special Teams B
Not much to complain about. There was no punting heroics from Will Gleason as the Rebels did not even have to punt against Vandy. We did get a chance to see Andrew Fletcher kick two field goals inside 30 yards but didn’t need the big leg of Gary Wunderlich.
Maybe the only facet you would like to see more production from, would be at the kick return/punt return position. Freshman Markell Pack did have one punt return for 24 yards.