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In 2013, Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze brought four five-star and seven four-star recruits to Oxford for what was a historic Rebels recruiting class.
The quartet of five stars — defensive lineman Robert Nkemdiche, offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil, wide receiver Laquon Treadwell and defensive back Tony Conner — have all played crucial roles for Ole Miss the last two years. They’re now juniors soon facing the decision to return to school or enter the NFL.
But they aren’t the only members of the Rebels 2013 class that have become major contributors.
Former four-star quarterback Ryan Buchanan and former three-star quarterback DeVante Kincade both found themselves competing with Chad Kelly for the starting job this season. Although Kelly has been named the starter, Buchanan and Kincade both saw plenty of action in the Rebels first game and are expected to see more moving forward.
Wide receiver Quincy Adeboyejo and tight end Evan Engram were both three-star recruits out of the 2013 class that have emerged as starters. Engram has turned into one of the best tight ends in college football, period.
Fadol Brown, unrated because he transferred from Florida International in 2013, is now a impactful starter on the Rebels stout defensive front.
As mentioned before, several players from this vaunted class will be playing on Sundays next year, while others return for their senior seasons. But regardless of which players do what, it appears this will be the 2013 recruiting class’ last season all together in Oxford.
As a result, we decided to follow the members of the 2013 class and how they play throughout the Rebels season by noting standout performances from them, starting with Week 1 against Tennessee-Martin:
Robert Nkemdiche, DL
Nkemdiche had what was most likely the play of the game against Tennessee-Martin, but it didn’t on defense. Nkemdiche, a former running back in high school, caught a pass in the flat from Buchanan during the second quarter and preceded to turn upfield and show off his incredible speed by taking it 31 yards to the house.
However, his defensive numbers were lackluster with just 3 tackles and 1 quarterback hurry. But Nkemdiche isn’t known for putting up eye-popping defensive stats because he is often double-teamed by the opposing offensive line. But that in and of itself is a huge factor in the success of the Rebels defense.
Laremy Tunsil, LT
Tunsil was held out of this game due to an ongoing NCAA investigation regarding alleged contact between Tunsil and agents.
Freeze has not yet said whether or not Tunsil will play in the Rebels second game against Fresno State, and made it clear that he has nothing to do with the NCAA’s investigative process.
Laquon Treadwell, WR
The biggest aspect of this opening game for Treadwell was seeing how he would react to taking his first big hit after recovering in the offseason from a serious leg injury that he suffered last November.
The Rebels did get to see Treadwell get taken to the ground and get back up on several occasions, but as far as stats go it was a quiet night for Treadwell compared to what we’ve come to expect from him.
Treadwell finished with 4 receptions for 44 yards, but more importantly was able to regain confidence in his health and can look to increase his production as the season goes on.
Jordan Wilkins, RB
Ole Miss used eight different players in the backfield to rush for 338 yards on 36 carries and half of them scored at least one touchdown. Wilkins saw his fair share of carries but was not one of the Rebels ball carriers that hit pay dirt.
But his 41 yards on 6 carries for an average of 6.8 yards per rush was still a solid stat line for the redshirt sophomore. Akeem Judd’s 11 carries once the game was out of reach did cut into Wilkins’ production in Week 1, but it’s safe to say that Ole Miss won’t be playing with that big of a lead every single week.
Ryan Buchanan, QB
Freeze stayed true to his word of potentially playing all three of his quarterbacks and Buchanan was the first to come in after Kelly started. Buchanan finished with a slightly higher quarterback rating (99.6) than the other Ole Miss passers by completing 4 of his 6 passes for 58 yards and 2 touchdowns.
His second touchdown was the aforementioned play to Nkemdiche, but his first went to Adeboyejo, as Buchanan continued to make his case for why he could come in and start for Ole Miss at any time.
DeVante Kincade, QB
Kincade played with extreme efficiency from the quarterback position as well and only had 1 incomplete pass out of his 7 throws.
Kincade threw for 55 yards on the day, including a fourth-quarter, 12-yard pass to wide receiver DeMarkus Lodge to put the Rebels up 62-3. The argument can be made that the Tennessee-Martin defense had probably checked out at this point, but Kincade still came in and did what he had to do, which is all any coach can ask.
Quincy Adeboyejo, WR
Adeboyejo was one of five Ole Miss receivers (if you count Nkemdiche) to catch a touchdown pass against Tennessee-Martin and did so late in the first quarter to really drive the dagger into the Skyhawks heart.
The Rebels were already leading 20-0 when Buchanan connected with Adeboyejo on a 15-yard strike to put Ole Miss up 27-0 only a quarter of the way through the game. Adeboyejo finished with 3 receptions for 33 yards and the score.
Pat Donohue is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers Ole Miss and Mississippi State. Follow him on Twitter @SportsDownPat.
