An open letter to Ole Miss football fans: After all that, 2018 is going to be refreshing

To Ole Miss fans nationwide,

Take a deep breath and slowly exhale. It’s over. Finally. Finally, a season begins with no headaches off the field to distract what’s happening on it.

The NCAA is finally finished with their multiyear investigation into recruiting improprieties. Considering the length of time the investigation took and the amount of resources that went into it, you’d think they would’ve figured out who killed Kennedy or who really kidnapped the Lindbergh baby. Maybe solve some budget woes. Instead they ultimately found t-shirts, loaner cars and a sloppy booster offering what amounts to a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things.

The investigation dragged the program through the mud. It tarnished the name of a proud school with a proud fan base. National media pundits took easy potshots and rival fans were even worse. Recruiting became an absolute nightmare, because other schools were warning kids that Ole Miss was going to get the death penalty and the whole program was going to be shut down for good.

The cloud hanging over the program intensified last summer, when just weeks before the season began, Hugh Freeze, whom the school and fan base had staunchly defended, resigned due to personal reasons. Turns out he made quite a few calls on a school-issued phone to some places you probably shouldn’t be calling, at least not if you’re a $4.7 million a year coach of an SEC program who preaches bible verses all day long.

All of a sudden, the program was without a head coach. In addition to getting out of the NCAA storm, they had to find a new coach to lead the program, and the uncertainty of looming penalties didn’t exactly make the position as attractive to viable candidates as it normally would have been.

Simply put, 2017 could have been disastrous. With all of the uncertainty surrounding the program, it would’ve been easy for players and coaches alike to mail it in.

Expectations were low for interim coach Matt Luke and nobody really thought he’d keep the job following the year. It would have been understandable for the coaching staff, many of whom were hired just months earlier, to start hunting for their next job. And you know players and their handlers were getting feelers from rival schools looking to poach away the top talent, so the locker room could have very easily become toxic between the loyalists and the secessionists.

The first three quarters of the season were brutal. Blown lead on the road at Cal. Outscored by Alabama and Auburn by a combined 84 points. Gashed for nearly 400 rushing yards in a loss to LSU, a game in which they lost Shea Patterson for the year. A 24-point blown lead to Arkansas loss put them at 3-5.

The season was falling apart. Losses ranged from embarrassing to heartbreaking. Patterson, once destined to join the pantheon of Ole Miss QB legends like Archie and Eli Manning, was out for the year and there were grumblings about his discontent with the program. Jordan Ta’amu, a virtually unknown JUCO transfer, was now leading the offense.

Oh, and all the while, the NCAA was preparing to announce the penalties to be levied on the Rebs, and they certainly were about to get their pound of flesh. Eventually they would hand down probation, forfeited revenue, numerous show-causes, further scholarship reductions, recruiting restrictions and an additional year of the bowl ban, which would open up the floodgates of transfers.

Can you imagine how easy it would’ve been at this point for everyone to just toss in the towel?

That’s not what happened though.

Turns out Ta’amu could actually play. And he was actually a better fit in the offense than Patterson. The run game came alive and Jordan Wilkins found his legs. The defense still wasn’t great, but it got better. The team got more confident and Luke found his identity as a head coach. A thrilling upset win on the road against No. 14 Mississippi State capped the season and the Rebs finished 6-6, winning 3 of their final 4 games.

The win over State would prove to be the deciding factor in the school’s decision to keep Luke around and remove the interim tag.

So, here we are.

No longer are there investigators from the NCAA snooping around with their self-righteous indignation. No longer is there an embattled head coach struggling to maintain his public image. No longer is there the cloud of uncertainty as to what kinds of penalties were waiting in the future.

It’s a complete and total fresh start, which is a feeling Rebel fans are probably unfamiliar with.

Sure, there are some lingering effects of the punishment still trickling through, most notably another year sans postseason play, but that essentially takes all the pressure off the team and the fan base. Everyone can just have fun and cut loose. And this should be a fun team to watch this year.

Ta’amu returns for his senior year and there’s reason to believe he’ll be even better, now that he’s had a full offseason immersed as the starting QB and working with the one’s. He’s a terrific fit in Phil Longo’s offense, toeing the line between running and passing exceptionally well.

He’ll have the benefit of throwing to the best receiving corps in the country, led by All-American AJ Brown, who is widely considered the best receiving prospect in the 2019 Draft class. Brown set a school record for receiving yards in a season last year with 1,252 and tied the school record for TDs with 11. DK Metcalf, son of Ole Miss legend Terrence Metcalf, and DaMarkus Lodge, who combined for 1,344 yards and 14 TDs last year, are likewise poised for big years.

The offensive line is as good as it’s been in years. LT Greg Little is being touted as a top-10 pick. LG Javon Patterson is severely underrated among pundits and should contend for All-SEC consideration. C Sean Rawlings is a grizzled veteran with tremendous leadership skills and experience starting at multiple positions. RG Jordan Sims and RT Alex Givens provide the power and physicality in the ground game that Luke wants to reinstill.

Defensively the Rebs should be strong on the defensive line and in the secondary.

Much is expected from returning DTs Josiah Coatney and Benito Jones, two players with futures of playing on Sundays. There’s reason for optimism that someone will emerge as a pass rusher off the edge between Victor Evans, Ryder Anderson or Qaadir Sheppard. All three are highly athletic with the upside and potential to develop into effective edge rushers.

The secondary should be very stout as it is talented and experienced. CBs Ken Webster, Myles Hartsfield, Javien Hamilton and Jaylon Jones make for one heck of a unit. Safeties Zedrick Woods and CJ Moore are about as savvy and experienced as they come, and are good leaders.

The major questions for this team will be whether it can run the ball on offense and stop the run on defense.

Wilkins was a revelation last year, particularly near the end of the season, but he’s off to the NFL. Can JUCO transfer Scottie Phillips adequately replace him? We’ll have to wait and see.

The LB corps was rough last year, and it appears to be in far worse shape now with DeMarquis Gates off to the NFL. Can Detric Bing-Dukes finally emerge? Can Josh Clarke, Mohamed Sanogo or Willie Hibbler realize their potential?  Again, we’ll have to wait and see.

The Rebs will be able to score 35 points on just about anyone, but can they prevent everyone else from scoring 36?

Ole Miss will be fun this year. They’re talented, they can score in bunches and they’ll be playing with precisely zero pressure. They’ll be able to play loose and take risks other teams won’t have the luxury of.

The future looks bright for Ole Miss. Matt Luke, so far, appears to be an excellent fit from multiple perspectives. He’s provided a sense of calm and pragmatism that’s been gone since his mentor David Cutcliffe was fired. The coaching staff and culture will continue to have more of Luke’s fingerprints on them as time goes on and he continues to mold the program in his vision. The players obviously love playing for him, evidenced by their reaction when they found out he got the job. He and his staff are recruiting at a very high level and currently have the 12^thranked recruiting class for 2019.

So, Rebel fans, sit back, relax, enjoy the weightlessness and have fun this year.

The program finally feels like it’s back on the right track, and damn if that doesn’t feel good.

Rick Stavig

Rick Stavig, who played at Ole Miss and Shippensburg University, is the owner of SE Scouting. A veteran scout, he specializes in the NFL Draft and recruiting coverage.