Speed, Skills and Intelligence: Jonathan Mingo is a Triple Threat in the Ole Miss Offense
ATLANTA – Jonathan Mingo is an intelligent young man. The senior from Brandon, Miss., has made the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll three times, and has also appeared on the Chancellor’s and the Southeastern Conference’s honor roll.
So, Mingo would be the perfect person to ask what a defense needs to do to slow down the Ole Miss offense.
He is an exercise science major and that adds validity to his advice for the opponents – start running wind sprints now.
“Probably being in shape (is the most important thing for a defense),” Mingo said at this year’s SEC Media Days. “Because we play fast, so we play fast and try to get them tired, so you just got to be in shape for us,” he explained.
But keeping up with the Rebels is not the only challenge facing opposing defenses. They also must contend with the mind of Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin.
“It’s kind of hard to outsmart Kiffin. So, you just got to be ready for any tricks, he’s going to throw up his sleeve.”
Jonathan Mingo
That might give defenses something extra to expect, but Kiffin insists he – and college football – has toned down the use of gadget plays.
“Trick plays? I don’t know,” Kiffin said at SEC Media Days Monday. “I think kind of, offense has evolved so much from where we used to be that, in a way, maybe you don’t run as many because you know we’re not quite the same as we used to be as far as setting things up as much because so much is about tempo and how we do things — so I guess you know the analytics on tricks, trick plays, we don’t do as many as we used to.”
Another reason to not rely on trick plays is simply the talent on the Ole Miss offense. That begins with a healthy Mingo who stands 6-feet-2 and weighs in at 225 pounds.
In only six games last season that was cut short due to an injury, the Brandon, Miss., native caught 22 passes for 346 yards and three touchdowns. In his career, he has grabbed 61 passes for 897 yards and scored seven times.
Mingo had advice for opposing defenses, but he also has the same main suggestion for his teammates – start running sprints now and begin studying the opponents.
“You got to think fast (in our offense). You can’t be celebrating after a play because we try to go as fast as possible so we’re trying, as soon as the play is over, we’re trying to get the ball to the ref and get the next play, so you got to be in shape for this offense.”
Jonathan Mingo on the Ole Miss offense
Jonathan Mingo (#1 Ole Miss) is a WR I'll be monitoring this college season. 6-2 215 lbs (according to the Ole Miss website) and has deep speed and acceleration for his size. pic.twitter.com/fw2xmJINDE
— Daniel Harms🎳 (@InHarmsWay19) June 23, 2022
Mingo has been around Ole Miss and the SEC enough to know players cannot be one dimensional to be successful and that preparation begins before fall camp begins.
“You got to be physically ready for it, mentally ready for it because you got to read coverages on the fly,” Mingo said. “So, it’s something you train for in the offseason. But we prepare for it so when the game comes, it’ll be easy to us and the other team’s not ready for it.”
The first team that will find out how Ole Miss has prepared is Troy, who visits Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in the season opener Sept. 3.
(Photo credit: Evelyn Van Pelt, The Rebel Walk)
Steve Barnes
Steve Barnes joins The Rebel Walk staff as a senior writer and brings a trifecta of journalistic experience. As a writer, he has covered college sports for Rivals.com, Football.com and SaturdayDownSouth.com as well as served as a beat writer for various traditional newspapers.
He has been a broadcaster for arena football and several national tournament events for the National Junior College Athletic Association as well as hosting various shows on radio.
A former sports information director at Albany (Ga.) State University and an assistant at Troy and West Florida, he has helped host many NCAA conference, regional and national events, including serving five years on the media committee of the NCAA Division II World Series.
Barnes, a native of Pensacola, Fla., attended Ole Miss in 1983-84, where his first journalism teacher was David Kellum. The duo has come a long way since that time.
He will bring a proven journalistic track record, along with a knack for finding the out-of-the-ordinary story angles to The Rebel Walk.
Barnes continues to reside in Pensacola a mere ten minutes from the beach because he does have taste and a brain.
