In one week, the fortunes of both Ole Miss and Texas A&M changed dramatically, as the Rebels’ quarterback Chad Kelly went down with a season-ending knee injury, and the Aggies quarterback Trevor Knight suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. Instead of a matchup between two of the SEC’s most dynamic quarterbacks, we’ll see which team can field the best replacement quarterback in a battle of the backups on the historic Kyle Field.
While it’s still not known who will go under center for Ole Miss, Texas A&M will play junior Jake Hubenak, who completed 11 of his 17 passes for two touchdowns and one interception in the second half of the Aggies’ loss to Mississippi State.
To prepare for the new passer, Defensive Coordinator Dave Wommack has been studying film of last year’s Music City Bowl, in which Hubenak started, as well as games he’s rotated into late, such as last year’s loss to the Rebels.
“It appears that he’s a pretty darn good thrower, and he probably doesn’t run it quite as well as Trevor Knight,” Wommack said. “They do some really nice things in the run game (…) so you don’t know for sure what they’re going to do with this quarterback.”
Wommack was impressed with Aggies star wide receiver Christian Kirk who already has seven receiving touchdowns on the year along with three punts returned for touchdowns.
“They use him all over the place. I mean, he’s got 61 receptions on the year, almost twice as many as the second receiver (Josh Reynolds) and then those two guys, they line them up on the same side a lot of time, and they use (Kirk) in the running game quite a bit as well,” Wommack said. “He’s just a great football player.”
The offensive line will also present a challenge for the Landshark defense.
“They always have a really nice offensive line, all these NFL guys, so they’re a typical, good SEC line,” Wommack said.
Texas A&M typically runs a passing-heavy offense, but this year they’ve been much more balanced. Part of that is owed to Knight’s running ability, which will certainly be sorely missed for the rest of the season, but the biggest reason for the change is the play of true freshman running back Trayveon Williams.
Williams has been one of the best backs in the SEC this season, rushing for 804 yards and six touchdowns with an outstanding 7.4 yard-per-carry average, along with catching 15 passes for 82 yards.
“He can run over you, run away from you; I think he’s the whole package,” Wommack said. “He can jump cut and catch the ball out of the backfield, so they do a lot of nice things with him.”
The Rebels will need good play at the linebacker position if they hope to contain Williams, something they’ve struggled with all season. Senior Rommel Mageo will start at middle linebacker for the second consecutive week.
“He did some good things, and he graded higher than any linebacker’s graded, so we’ll use him, but we have to use a combination of guys,” Wommack said. “We’ll use Willie (Hibbler) more at Stinger.”
