Three weeks ago, Ole Miss was on top of the world. Coming off a win against Alabama in Bryant-Denny Stadium, many were calling the Rebels the best team in college football. They seemed unstoppable.
Since then, that flame has gone out. A lackluster performance against Vanderbilt led to a 38-10 trouncing in Gainesville.
The injuries piled up.
Tony Conner and C.J. Johnson each went down with a torn meniscus. Even after getting back on track against New Mexico State, there seems to be a sense of uneasiness that isn’t usually associated with a 5-1 football team that controls their own destiny in the SEC as well as the postseason. Ole Miss needed a spark. They needed something positive to drown out the talk of the Florida loss and the injuries and deficiencies on both sides of the ball, at least temporarily.
The Rebels may have received that spark on Monday evening after learning junior offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil was cleared to play next week against Texas A&M.
The announcement was the silver lining of a dark cloud that hung over the Rebels for the first six weeks of the season— a cloud over which no one in the Ole Miss football program had any control. Whenever Hugh Freeze and his staff were asked about the situation, the answer usually was “no comment” or “that’s above my pay-grade.”
“It was just something that was always hovering, whether you’re talking to the media or you’re going uptown to get something to eat. You’re going to get asked,” Freeze said on Tuesday. “Any time you have things that are going on in your program that you have zero control over, it’s not the most comfortable feeling.”
Now Freeze has control. Ole Miss has gained the nation’s top offensive line draft prospect— the player that could anchor a young offensive line unit.
If you’re looking for a gauge as to how big Tunsil’s return is, re-watch the Florida game and see casino online just how badly their front seven disrupted anything and everything the Rebels were trying to do on offense.
Tunsil can completely alter an opposing defense’s game plan, as well as Ole Miss’, with what he brings to the left side of the offensive line. He can boost the Rebels’ struggling run game, as well greatly improve pass protection. If I were Chad Kelly, I’d be feeling a little bit more comfortable in the pocket knowing my blindside is going to be much more secure now.
Ole Miss is about to hit the meat of its schedule. The Rebels’ remaining opponents boast a combined record of 24-8, and games against undefeated Texas A&M and LSU, the two teams in first place in the SEC West, await.
If Ole Miss can survive against a talented Memphis team this week and hit the home stretch of the SEC schedule with Tunsil on the field, their chances of success greatly increase.
“It makes a lot of guys excited and encouraged for the next couple of games knowing that he’s going to be back,” Fahn Cooper, senior offensive lineman, said. “I think it improves the whole offense and the whole team.”
Things won’t get any easier for Ole Miss going forward. They’re still without Conner and Johnson, two players who can change the course of a game on defense, but having the best offensive lineman in the country back on the field definitely provides a huge lift.
Is Tunsil the spark that can light the fire in this team again? That remains to be seen.
Does his return drastically improve Ole Miss’s chances of success? Undoubtedly yes, and in more ways than one.
