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“If you ask me right now which team I’d least want to face, it’s Ole Miss,” said an SEC defensive coordinator of a Top 25 team. “They’re now the most talented defensive team in the league. They have all these difference-maker pass rushers and a true lockdown corner in
Trey Amos.
“They just got all these dudes up front. Three guys in the top five of sack leaders in the SEC (
Suntarine Perkins, 10 sacks and No. 1;
Princely Umanmielen, 9.5 sacks and tied for No. 2; and
Jared Ivey, 7.5 sacks and tied for No. 5). That’s crazy! (J.J.) Pegues was a featured guy for them last year; he’s
still really good (11.5 TFLs, two sacks) and he’s not even one of their top three!
Walter Nolen is also really good. An inside guy with four sacks is pretty dang good. It’s really impressive.”
The other part of this that multiple SEC assistant coaches noted was that
Ole Miss beat up Georgia even though the
Rebels were without their best player
Tre Harris, a wide receiver who has been dealing with a lower-body injury. Harris’ 141 yards per game leads the country.
Last Saturday
the Rebels held Georgia to its fewest points of the Kirby Smart era (10), its fewest total yards in seven seasons (245) and its fewest rushing yards since 2021 (59). Ole Miss leads the SEC in yards per play allowed in games against ranked opponents among the 14 teams who have faced at least two Top 25 opponents. Last year, the Rebels were dead last in the SEC at 7.81 YPP in those games.
To say Ole Miss has a ferocious defensive front is an understatement. It’s why defensive line coach Randall Joyner, a Larry Johnson protege, is making a good case to get Broyles Award consideration. That award is given nation’s top assistant, but of course, Rebels defensive coordinator Pete Golding is also making a compelling case. Ole Miss has 23 more TFLs than anyone in the SEC (103) and 18 more than anyone in the country. It also has 13 more sacks than any other team in the SEC.
Four players already have double-digits in TFLs, and Ivey is close at 9.5. Last year, they only had one guy in double digits (Ivey with 11.5) Eight Rebels have at least four TFLs.
A big piece of that impact is due to the commitment Ole Miss made this offseason to upgrading their talent in the trenches through the portal.
Umanmielen, who transferred from Florida, and Nolan, who transferred from Texas A&M, were the big headliners. But other transfers are making a statement: top tackler
Chris Paul Jr. (74 tackles, 10 TFLs) from Arkansas; second-leading tackler T.J. Dottery from
Clemson; Amos from Alabama; and defensive back John Saunders from Miami (Ohio). Some current leaders transferred three years ago, like the 325-pound Pegues (
Auburn), Ivey (
Georgia Tech) and linebacker
Khari Coleman (
TCU).
The 6-foot-4, 255-pound Umanmielen has had 11.5 TFLs and 8.5 sacks in his last six games has emerged as a dominant force for the Rebels.
“His quick get-off is phenomenal,” a Rebels coach told
The Athletic this week. “He sets them up where he wants to counter them, sometimes with a spin move, or he will go speed-to-power rush at times. One of the (Georgia) tackles overset too quickly because he was so worried about Princely’s speed rush, so (Umanmielen) countered him with a spin move and was able to get a sack. He’s very smart and does a good job of studying the opposing tackles. He picks them apart.”
Umanmielen only played one snap in a 29-26 loss to
LSU due to injury.
“If we had him, we win that game,” said that Rebels coach.
The 6-1, 210-pound Perkins, a former five-star recruit, has been another nightmare for offenses.
“He’s so freakin explosive. He’s one of the best QB spies in the country,” said the Rebels coach.
“He is stronger than you think at the point of attack for being a lighter guy,” said a rival SEC DC who has seen a lot of Ole Miss on crossover film. That coach has been very impressed with the job Golding has done this year. “They run more games than he used to at Alabama. He’s been really aggressive on first and second downs and he has really cut that D-line loose.”
