Robert Nkemdiche has always garnered a lot of attention. In high school, he was the No. 1 overall player in the class of 2013. His recruitment was closely followed by the entire college football world, and his decision to attend Ole Miss was broadcast on national television.
On the field, it’s no different.
Because of his size and skill set, he is the focus of opposing offenses. He attracts double teams and creates opportunities for other guys because of the amount of attention put upon him.
“He’s a freak of an athlete,” Hugh Freeze, head coach, said.
“He wants to be good. He wants to be really good and he has the potential to be that.”
All of the attention and focus has never seemed to bother him, and it was no different in what may have been the biggest game of his career last Saturday. Nkemdiche had 10 total tackles including two for losses and 0.5 sacks. After his dominant performance at Alabama, Freeze called it his best performance as a Rebel.
“I thought it was it was his best game since he’s been here. Very few people could have played the number of snaps he did with the amount of production that he had.” Freeze said.
“He finished plays and he was disruptive, and that’s how he has got to play the rest of the year.”
Nkemdiche agreed with Freeze when asked if he thought if it was the best game he’s ever played.
“I felt like this was the moment where I needed to step up and make the energy felt,” Nkemidche said. “I don’t talk a lot. I’m more of a guy to try to make my presence felt.”
That is exactly what he did on Saturday. He was productive and was able to get into the Alabama backfield and disrupt the run game, leading to one of the biggest wins in Ole Miss history. One of the biggest knocks against Nkemdiche during his tenure at Ole Miss was his not finishing plays. Nkemdiche finished those plays Saturday and made his presence known from the start.
“What we’ve been working for this whole time, it finally came to show,” Nkemdiche said. “The behind the scene work that we do in the spring and summer, and the world got to see the Rebels.”
Some saw Ole Miss’ 43-37 in Bryant-Denny as an upset in the world of college football. As for Nkemdiche? Not so much.
“Everybody thinks it was an upset, but we were expecting that,” Nkemdiche said. “So it’s not really a high we have to come down from. We expected that, and so now it’s on to the next game.”
Even after such a monumental win, Nkemdiche and the rest of the Ole Miss team are still looking to improve.
“I’ve still got to figure out ways where I can elevate my game in any way possible,” Nkemdiche said “You know your expectations for yourself, and so you want to start looking at the minute things to make yourself better.”
Nkemdiche said he remembers the letdown last year. After a 7-0 start, and climbing as high as third in the college football playoff rankings, Ole Miss faltered a little bit down the stretch.
The Rebels lost four of their last six games to end last season, but Nkemdiche says the DNA in this team is different. There will not be a letdown this year.
“It’s fun to see everybody preaching about the moment of now,” Nkemdiche said.
“We just have to get hyped, just like we did against Alabama and treat every team like that. If we play like we know how to play, we can do some really good things.”
