It’s Triathlon Time: Competition seeks to keep local kids active
July 29, 20142014 season will be big for Nicholls football’s future
July 29, 2014
Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace enters the 2014 season having led his school to two straight bowl victories in which he was the game’s Most Valuable Player each time. Moreover, he is already second in school history in total offense and passing yards and fourth in touchdown passes.
Wallace is coming off a junior season in which he threw for 3,346 yards and 18 touchdowns, while rushing for 355 yards and six more touchdowns. Those numbers helped earn him a spot on the preseason All-SEC list as well as the watch list for the Maxwell Award.
By this point, there’s no question that Wallace is one of the best passers in Ole Miss history. Now the senior quarterback stands the chance to become a legend at the school.
In a year where several of the SEC’s perennial heavyweights – namely Alabama and LSU – will be experimenting with new starters at quarterback this fall, Wallace gives the Rebels one thing many other schools in the conference don’t have coming into the season: an experienced signal-caller.
According to Archie Manning, the most storied quarterback in Ole Miss history, there’s no substitute for experience.
“He’s a good player, and I guess he’s probably the most experienced quarterback in our conference,” Manning said of Wallace. “He has played a lot of football and played in some great competition. That’s what you want in a senior quarterback: you want experience and a good team around him. I think he’s got a good team, I just hope he can stay healthy. But he’s a good player and a tough kid. He’s as tough as any quarterback as I’ve ever seen.”
Wallace attended Manning’s annual summer football camp – the Manning Passing Academy – at Nicholls State in July and said he and the Rebels hope their experience will translate to success on the field.
“We feel like we’re bringing a lot of talent and experience back,” said Wallace, who is entering this third season as a starter. “I think everybody is just ready for camp right now.”
In all, Ole Miss will be returning six starters on offense in addition to Wallace, including sophomore preseason All-American receiver Laquon Treadwell (72 catches, 608 yards, 5 touchdowns last year) and tight end Evan Engram (21 catches, 268 yards, 3 touchdowns).
The Rebels did lose two talented receivers to the NFL in Donte Moncrief and James Logan, plus versatile tailback Jeff Scott from last year. But the return of Treadwell – the reigning SEC Freshman of the Year as voted on by SEC coaches – and the emergence of Engram as one of the league’s fastest-rising tight ends should give Wallace two reliable targets in the passing game, while at running back, junior Jaylen Walton returns after getting seven starts in the backfield and playing in all 12 games.
Meanwhile, on defense, the Rebels return 10 starters, including both of the heralded Nkemdiche brothers (Robert and Denzel) along the front seven, plus their entire secondary of Senquez Golson, Mike Hilton, Trae Elston, Cody Prewitt, and Tony Connor.
With all that talent returning, and the fact that three of the school’s five losses a season ago was by eight points or less, it’s no wonder that Ole Miss is considered by many to be one of the biggest sleeper candidates in the SEC this season.
Wallace said he hopes that he and third-year Rebels coach Hugh Freeze can capitalize on that talent and in essence be the ones to help change the culture at Ole Miss, the only member of the original SEC West that has yet to appear in the conference’s championship game.
“I embrace that (challenge),” said Wallace. “I don’t think it’s a lot of pressure. I want him and I to be the ones that turn it around, so I embrace that. Hopefully people remember that and we have a good year.”
For his part, Manning believes the program is headed in the right direction, and that Wallace and Freeze are big reasons why.
“We’re getting better,” Manning said. “We’ve got a really good coach and our program is going in a great direction. And I’ll add to that: We play in one hell of a tough conference.”
Ole Miss is scheduled to open the season Thursday, Aug. 28 against Boise State at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
The Rebels’ conference opener is scheduled for Sept. 6 at Vanderbilt, a game that pits the Rebels against their traditional rival in the SEC East.
