Five Ole Miss Rebels to watch vs Florida in week 13.
QB Jaxson Dart #2
Senior Jaxson Dart has been one of the best quarterbacks in all of college football this season. The 6’2, 225-pound dual threat quarterback has completed 70.8% of his passes for 3,409 yards and 22 touchdowns while tossing just four interceptions. He’s also rushed for 304 yards while adding three scores on the ground. Dart’s offensive grade of 91.4 is the 3rd best among quarterbacks in the FBS, per Pro Football Focus. Dart and this Ole Miss offense look to go deep often. Dart has exceled in this area, holding a 13-2 touchdown to interception ratio on passes over 20+ air yards. They attempt a deep pass play on 21.1% of their pass attempts. For comparison, DJ Lagway throws a deep pass on 21.4% of his pass attempts.
Ole Miss will utilize designed runs with Dart, but he has also logged 29 scrambles this season, 16 of which against pressure.
Dart isn’t getting the love from NFL scouts that he probably deserves, which could be because he plays in a quarterback friendly offense surrounded by elite weapons, but Dart is a dynamic college quarterback.
Edge Princely Umanmielen #1
Ole Miss has statically the best defensive front in college football, and one of the edge rushers leading the charge is former Gator Princely Umanmielen. The 6’4, 255-pound pass rusher is once again one of the best in college football at winning at the line of scrimmage, holding a ‘win rate’ of 28.4%, the highest on the Rebels’ defense.
Through 9 games of the 2024 season, Umanmielen has 9.5 sacks, 37 pressures, and nine QB hits. The trio of Umanmielen, Jared Ivey, and Suntarine Perkins have combined for 26.5 of Ole Miss’s NCAA leading 46 sacks. Umanmielen ranks 5th in the country in sacks per game.
Umanmielen grades as the 4th best edge rusher in college football while Jared Ivey ranks 9th.
WR Tre Harris #9
The Rebels leading receiver, Tre Harris, is a guy that Billy Napier is very familiar with given he started his collegiate career at Louisiana Tech and is from Lafayette, where Napier coached for four years.
Harris hasn’t played since October 12th vs LSU, but he’s returning for week 13 against Florida. In just seven games, Harris hauled in 59 receptions for 987 yards and six touchdowns, establishing himself as one of the best wide receivers in college football. Harris ranks 5th in the country in receiving yards despite missing three games this year.
The 6’3, 210-pound receiver is an elite down field threat, having hauled in eight catches of 20+ air yards for 356 yards and four touchdowns. Harris is averaging 44.5 yards on deep passes this season. Harris is a physical receiver that will surprise you with his run after the catch ability, averaging 7.8 yards after the catch this season.
Harris’ is the top graded receiver in college football this season, per PFF.
DT Walter Nolan #2
After transferring from Texas A&M last offseason, Walter Nolan has been a force on the interior of Ole Miss’s defensive line. The former No.1 player in the 2023 class has totaled 32 tackles, four sacks, and one pass deflection through 10 games this season.
The Rebels’ interior defensive lineman, Nolan and JJ Pegues, have the ability to rush the passer, combining for 53 pressures this season. Nolan has proven himself as an elite run defender, highlighted by his missed tackle rate of 5.9%.
LB Chris Paul Jr. #11
We’ve talked a lot about the Rebels’ defensive line, but linebacker Chris Paul Jr. is having an incredible season which has shot him up NFL draft boards. The Arkansas transfer grades as Ole Miss’s best defender and the 2nd best nationally.
Paul Jr. has 72 tackles, 2.5 sacks, four pass deflections, and one fumble recovery across 10 games. The 6’1, 235-pound can do a little bit of everything, exceling in run defense, coverage, and can even rush the passer. Paul’s missed tackle percentage of 4.0% is particularly impressive given his number of tackles and the position he plays, which often puts him in difficult situations in open space.