OXFORD, Miss. — As we count down the days until the Ole Miss season opener against Memphis in the Liberty Bowl, we are releasing who we think the Top 50 Most Impactful Players will be for the Rebels this season. This series is a way for Ole Miss fans to learn more about players to keep an eye on this fall.
With 10 days before kickoff, coming in at No. 10…
Lakia Henry
Lakia Henry was a consensus four-star prospect at inside linebacker according to ESPN, Rivals, and 247Sports, out of Dodge City Community College when he signed with Ole Miss in the Class of 2019. He picked Ole Miss over offers from nine other SEC schools, including Alabama, Auburn and Florida, as well as other top national schools such as Texas and Florida State.
As a freshman at Dodge City CC, the 6-foot-0, 235-pound Henry, led the team in tackles and tackles for loss with 110 and 13, respectively. As a sophomore, he was second on the team with 77 tackles for the season. He was ranked as the No. 3 overall JUCO player and the No. 1 JUCO inside linebacker after his performance last season.
Henry, who enrolled at Ole Miss at the end of May, sat down with the The Rebel Walk at Media Day to discuss the challenges of fall camp.“I’m ready for the challenge of fall camp,” he said.
“We’re going to push each other to be better. That’s really the main thing that matters — being a better team.”
Ole Miss LB Lakia Henry
With a couple of weeks of fall camp under his belt, Henry told the media last week the biggest challenge he has faced so far has been adjusting to the various coverage schemes of defensive coordinator Mike MacIntyre’s 3-4 defense.
Lakia Henry practicing at LB for the Rebels. (Photo: Josh McCoy, Ole Miss Athletics)
“Just knowing what to do…knowing who to cover, knowing which way to drop. I feel like that was the hardest thing coming into it, but I feel like I’m good now when it comes to that,” Henry explained. “I just need to keep working at it to get better.”
During the first two weeks of fall camp, Henry was seen taking mostly first and second team reps. However, after senior inside linebacker Willie Hibbler was sidelined for a few days with an injury, Henry took over first string reps at one of the inside linebacker spots, with MoMo Sanogo at the other starting spot.
Although media cannot observe Saturday scrimmages, it was reported in the first scrimmage that Henry did not miss any tackles during the one-on-one opportunities. On Monday, in the recap to the media of the scrimmage, Coach Luke mentioned Henry by name — the only defensive player he singled out — saying the LB “flashed” with his performance.
Henry was asked to describe his performance in the scrimmage. “I feel like I did well,” he said.
“There are some things I have to clean up as far as the pass stuff, but I feel like I’ve got the run down pat. That’s the most important thing to me as a linebacker is just having the run down. The pass will come. It’s coming fast, and I like that.”
Lakia Henry on his first scrimmage with the Rebels
Be on the lookout for No. 1 on defense this fall. He’s going to be a big factor in stopping the run for the Rebels moving forward!
Derrell has covered Ole Miss athletics in the past for Rebels247 at 247Sports. He attended Delta State University where he graduated with a B.S. in Biology. He is currently pursuing his Pharm.D. at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy with an expected graduation of May, 2020.
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