Coach Kiffin and Jonathan Mingo Talk Win over Troy, QB Competition, Newcomers and Look ahead to Central Arkansas
OXFORD, Miss. — David Kellum, the Voice of the Rebels, sat down with Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin and wide receiver Jonathan Mingo on the Reb Talk radio show Thursday to discuss takeaways from the Troy game as Ole Miss heads into the Central Arkansas game on Saturday, September 10th at 6:00 p.m.
Coach Kiffin offered his thoughts on the Troy game. “It came out good. You know (we were up) 21-0, then 28-3, and should have gone up, had a chance to go up 35 and kind of blow it open and screwed up,” he said.
“So, you’re mad after the game and you look at it and find ways to make it positive. Now, we have a challenge to put together a full game, finish better. Sometimes when they don’t play great in the opener, they’re more apt to listen versus if everything goes great. Then, you know they just think they’ve got it all figured out. They did a good job in practice this week in refocusing because they know they need to play better with better opponents down the road.”
Coach Kiffin on Troy game and preparations for UCA
The transfer portal brought a wealth of new talent to Ole Miss football. In fact, there are so many new and talented faces for the Rebels this year that Kellum says he is on a learning curve trying to get to know them all.
Kiffin commented on the caliber of talent on this year’s team and the challenge of having so many newcomers. “That’s why it’s frustrating when they didn’t play great in the second half because it’s not like it’s a young team that doesn’t have talent,” he said.
“It’s a really, really talented team, and that was the message speaking to them Monday. If you can put this together you can be really special because you see it out there. You see some great-looking players making great plays, but then not being consistent,” Kiffin added.
When Coach Kiffin was asked if he felt better now that he has a game under his belt with the transfers, he replied, “A little bit. I think that they were tight which you wouldn’t think because of a lot of them are older players. But, I think there was so much applied pressure… It was like all those weapons are together. They’re supposed to play so well. I didn’t think they looked very loose. Hopefully, they got those first-game jitters out.”
Running back Quinshon Judkins was mentioned as a player who garnered a lot of attention following his performance in week one.
“He’s special,” Kiffin commented of the true freshman from Pike Road, Alabama.
“I asked him when he came over to the sideline after a carry. He’s from Alabama, and I said, ‘Are you just like angry at every person from the state of Alabama?’ It was like he was trying to go after every Troy player like he was mad at them.”
Coach Kiffin on Quinshon Judkins’ performance vs. Troy
Judkins has great field awareness and vision which, when combined with his speed and physicality, makes him a force to reckon with when it comes to the running game.
QB Competition
On Thursday night, Coach Kiffin reiterated that the plan for the Central Arkansas game is for Luke Altmyer to be the first quarterback to take the field.
“He (Altmyer) will ‘go first.’ We don’t use the ’S’ (starter) word.“
Coach Kiffin on Ole Miss QB competition
Both Altmyer and Dart had a great fall camp and each did good things. For this reason, Kiffin has decided to use the first two games of the season to let both quarterbacks have an opportunity to be “the first” out of the gate for a game.
Kiffin does have more history with Altmyer as the Starkville native was placed in a difficult situation in the Sugar Bowl game last season when he came in for the injured Matt Corral. The then-true freshman responded well to the pressure of the moment.
“We expect him to play really good,” Kiffin said of Altmyer. “He is a lot better than he was then. He was still kind of injured in that game.”
Mingo also discussed what he has seen in the quarterback battle between Dart and Altmyer.
“You’ve got two young quarterbacks competing every day. They are both hard on themselves. Some days you can watch them in practice sometimes and you can see the intensity on their face. They’re just trying to do good every day trying to win the job. So from a receiver’s standpoint, anything can happen, you saw what happened in the Sugar Bowl. Matt went down, and Luke had to come into the game. So, being a receiver, it doesn’t matter who the quarterback is; you’ve got to do your job.”
Jonathan Mingo on QB Competition
A look at Central Arkansas
Of course, head coach Nathan Brown and his Central Arkansas team will come into Vaught-Hemingway with a plan of their own. A former Central Arkansas quarterback, Brown is in his fifth year as head coach of the Bears.
Northern Iowa transfer Will McElvain is the quarterback for CA. McElvain set the UNI freshman passing record in 2019, throwing for 2,778 yards and 20 touchdowns.
Running back Darius Hale is also another player to watch. Hale earned Freshman All-America honors last year, tallying 1,015 rushing yards on 198 carries to pair with his 17 rushing touchdowns on the year.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Bears bring junior defensive end Logan Jessup and sophomore defensive back Tamuarion Wilson. Each were 11-game starters and earned All-ASUN honors during the 2021 season.
Coach Kiffin talked about the Bears Thursday. “They have a good system and a really good running back,” he noted. “So, any time you’ve got a running back, you’ve got to tackle, and he’s a big guy as well. We’re going to have to play really well.”
Mingo healthy and ready
Jonathan Mingo, one of the few returning receivers from last year’s team, was hurt for a great deal of last season. Kellum asked Mingo how hard it was to be “on the shelf” last season and not be on the field since he’s such a competitor, and the receiver talked about the difficulty of that period in time.
“It was hard, but it’s part of the game. So, it was just something I had to pray about. My family just kept me up. So, I worked hard to get back. I’m just happy to be healthy this year.”
Ole Miss WR Jonathan Mingo
Rebel fans are happy to see Mingo healthy and will be hoping for some great plays on Saturday as Mingo needs just 177 receiving yards to surpass the 1,000-yard mark for his career.
When it comes to the receiving room, the players are tall and capable. Mingo was asked for his take on the corps of receivers.
“Last year we really depended on three or four of us. This year we have more legs. So, if somebody gets tired, we can put in a new set of receivers and there won’t be a drop-off. So, it’s an exciting group. A lot of receivers from different places. I’m just excited to have them in the room this year.”
Ole Miss WR Jonathan Mingo
Mingo’s outlook for the team this season is optimistic. “I feel like we have a really talented team,” he said. “It’s just a matter of fact of everybody buying in. You know people come from a lot of different places. So, like the way people used to practice and play is different from how we do things over here. It’s just a matter of everybody buying in, just trying to take it one week at a time and go 1-0. So, we’re not trying to look ahead in the future. We’re just trying to get better in this league so when the time comes later in the season, we’ll be ready.”
Next Up:
Vaught-Hemingway will be rocking to the sounds of the first night game of the season as the Central Arkansas Bears, who haven’t visited Oxford in a decade, come to town. No doubt the Bears will find it a different place and atmosphere than it was ten years ago.
With a week to regroup and fine-tune some things, Ole Miss football will be looking to find the quarterback who will lead them through the rest of the season and to further transform a group of individual players into a team that works in tandem and compliments each others skillset.
Bring on the Bears! Hotty Toddy!
(Feature image credit: Josh McCoy, Ole Miss)
Donna Sprabery
Donna Sprabery is a former teacher, graduation coach, and academic coach for boys basketball. She graduated from the University of West Alabama with a major in business education and from Arkansas State University with a MA in Educational Leadership. A native of Meridian, MS, Donna enjoys traveling, gardening, writing, volunteer work, and cheering on the Rebels.
