Mississippi defensive back Senquez Golson (21) watches a replay during the second half an NCAA college football game against Alabama in Oxford, Miss., Saturday, Oct. 4, 2014. The replay showed a Mississippi interception to stop a potential Alabama scoring drive late in the fourth quarter. Ole Miss won 23-17. (DM Photo | Cady Herring )
The Landshark defense has been the bright spot for Ole Miss this season.
Before the game against Auburn, the defense hadn’t given up more than 20 points in a game all season. Even in a loss to LSU, the defense gave up 10 points on the road in a hostile environment.
The loss to Auburn was a different story. The defense that once averaged only 11 points allowed per game on defense gave up 35 points to the Auburn offense and more than 500 total yards. The points against average rises to 13.2 points per game after that.
The secondary is the position group that everyone focuses on when facing the defense of Ole Miss. The secondary got torched against Auburn, giving up 254 passing yards to opposing quarterback Nick Marshall, who is known as a more effective runner than passer. The secondary also gave up two scores through the air.
Senior defensive back Senquez Golson added another interception to his 2014 resume, picking off Marshall in the second quarter while the game was tied at seven.
The interception was Golson’s ninth of the season, which makes him second in the country.
Secondary coach Jason Jones has noticed a significant change in Golson’s approach to the game on and off the field.
“Senquez has grown into a leader. It all goes back to coach (Hugh) Freeze trying to teach him and coach into him. I think Senquez finally got it,” Jones said. “He finally got the process. He’s been a great leader for us. He’s done a god job talking to the younger guys, telling them don’t make the same mistakes that he made.”
Jones talked about moving junior defensive back Mike Hilton to safety and how it will affect the depth of his group come Saturday. Jones added on which other players will fill up the rest of the unit.
“We’ll move Mike Hilton back to Rover for this week. Senquez (Golson) will start at one corner, and (freshman) Kendarius (Webster) will start on the other side. (Senior) Cliff Coleman and (sophomore) Kailo Moore will be back up,” Jones said. “Kendarius has had a great camp. He’s done everything right and well. I think he’ll do well.”
Moore moved from running back to defensive back in the spring, which helped with depth in the secondary. Moore is also on the track team, where he advanced to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 4×100 meter relay.
Moore has not had a lot of experience playing defensive back for Ole Miss yet, but Saturday will be his chance to get plenty of reps.
“We got behind on schedule with Kailo simply because he’s learning a new position, new techniques and things like that,” Jones said. “We’ve slowly been bringing him along, but it’s hard during the season with limited reps, and the game plan is constantly changing. The last couple of weeks, he’s gotten back to understanding exactly what’s going on, so I’m looking forward to seeing him get out there on Saturday.”
The wide receivers need all the help they can get with the injury to sophomore Laquon Treadwell. The experiment with former sophomore defensive back Derrick Jones being converted to wide receiver did not work out like the Rebels hoped it would earlier in the season. Jones has not had a catch yet as a wide receiver this season.
Jason Jones said Derrick Jones will play snaps at wide receiver against Presbyterian Saturday.
“DJ (Derrick Jones) will move back to wide receiver. DJ is just a great athlete,” Jones said. “He has a good bit of flexibility in that we can move him around from offense to defense. He’s got a good attitude; he can do whatever, and he’s a great help to the team.”
