Winners and losers from Ole Miss football preseason practices
OXFORD − The preseason is finally over.
It's game week for No. 24 Ole Miss football, which opens its 2022 season Saturday against Troy (3 p.m., SEC Network). This marks the end of a long, complicated offseason that included the second-most transfer portal acquisitions of any Power 5 team and new hires at offensive, defensive and special teams coordinator.
With so many new players, coaches and schemes to get used to, let's run down the winners and losers from Ole Miss' preseason practices.
Winner: WR J.J. Henry
No returning player is drawing more rave reviews than redshirt freshman receiver J.J. Henry. Henry played sparsely and didn't record a catch in 2021, but the McKinney, Texas, native has been a revelation heading into his second season.
Henry's opportunities increased because UCF transfer Jaylon Robinson has missed time because of a minor injury. Henry's taken advantage of those opportunities, so much so that Rebels coach Lane Kiffin joked with Robinson about checking to see if he had a redshirt year available. As recently as Friday, Henry took reps with the first-team offense alongside senior receivers Jonathan Mingo and Malik Heath.
Henry has track-star speed and agility to go along with a knack for making plays in space. The Rebels tested him in motion and jet sweep sets last season and could go back to that as well with him, just more frequently, this fall. But don't underestimate his route running and ability to make plays downfield.
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Loser: Making sense of the secondary
The good news is Ole Miss has more secondary depth than it has since the end of the Hugh Freeze era. The bad news is heading into game week it's not clear which players will be 100% healthy.
The list of Rebels defensive backs who have either missed the media viewing portion of practice or practiced in non-contact jerseys denoting injury is uncomfortably long: safeties A.J. Finley and Tysheem Johnson, cornerbacks Miles Battle, Markevious Brown, Demarko Williams and Kyndrich Breedlove, whose arm is in a sling.
Outside of Breedlove, none of the injuries appear to be severe enough to keep anyone from playing. But whether some of the Rebels' most important secondary pieces will be at full strength to start the season is yet to be seen.
Winner: LB Austin Keys
Redshirt sophomore Austin Keys missed the second half of last season and all of spring recovering from a knee injury. Now he's asserting himself as one of the Rebels' best linebackers.
"I know that when Keys is healthy he's a very, very, very good backer," senior Central Michigan transfer Troy Brown said.
When Keys was healthy last year, he was among Ole Miss' best defenders. He made 12 tackles with a quarterback hurry in six games, including a start against Alabama. Pro Football Focus gave Keys an 85.5 grade for the season, the highest of any Ole Miss defender and the 11th best of any SEC defender who played at least 40 snaps.
If Keys can play that well for an extended period of time, expect him to anchor the Rebels' defense this fall.
Loser: OL Mason Brooks
Ole Miss brought in senior Mason Brooks to start at right tackle. Heading into game week, he's hardly a lock for the job.
Redshirt freshman Jayden Williams has started at left tackle the last two weeks of preseason practices, bumping incumbent starter Jeremy James back to the right side. Brooks has been relegated to second-team guard and tackle reps.
Having more than five starter-caliber offensive linemen is a good problem to have. But Brooks was a first-team All Conference USA performer a year ago. Even being in a competition for a starting spot is a tough situation to be in.
Winner: OL Jayden Williams
Of course, the flip side of the Brooks situation is Williams' rise. The 6-foot-5, 300-pound Arkansas native has played his way into at least being a factor in the Rebels' rotation after sitting out last season.
Williams is one of 12 offensive linemen the Rebels signed in the past three recruiting classes, but among them only guard Eli Acker has any experience.
James, Nick Broeker and Caleb Warren are stalwarts up front, but they were all inherited from the previous regime. Having another young, homegrown offensive line talent to build around is a good sign given how hard it can be to find linemen in the transfer portal.
Contact Nick Suss at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow @nicksuss on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Ole Miss football winners and losers from preseason practices 2022
