Twenty-two Names to Know for the Ole Miss Football Season: No. 15 John Saunders, Jr.
OXFORD, Miss. – As we lead up to week one in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium for the kickoff of Ole Miss football’s 2024 season, The Rebel Walk team will highlight one player each day. We’ll break down who they are, how they got here and what we expect from each.
Today, we take a look at the No. 15 player on our list, safety John Saunders Jr.
It feels that Ole Miss made additions or improvements to nearly every position group on the field this offseason, and the secondary is no exception to that. Ole Miss has arguably the deepest safety room in the SEC and has looked at many different lineups combinations of players to play there. That being said, we are now looking at a key returner who looks to continue to make plays in the back of the Ole Miss defense.
Let’s dive in and learn a little more about No. 15 John Saunders, Jr.
How did John Saunders Jr. arrive at Ole Miss?
In high school, Saunders, Jr. was a two-way player at High Point Christian School in NC, showing his prowess on the offensive side of the ball also. In his junior season, he accumulated over 30 total touchdowns. What may be most impressive is that he threw for 19 TD, and had a combination of rushing/receiving for 12 more, a true jack-of-all-trades type of utility player on offense.
In a stat-filled senior year, Saunders Jr. earned All-State honors while grabbing over 900 receiving yards and scoring 17 TDs on offense. On defense he notched six interceptions and 16 pass breakups while being the team captain and voted Most Valuable Player by his teammates.
Saunders Jr. committed to play at Miami (OH) out of high school, where he would focus primarily on the defensive side of the ball. He played at Miami (OH) for three seasons before transferring to Ole Miss in December of 2022.
Career Outlook
Saunders Jr., has been a productive player wherever he has played. The other noticeable is that his career production has increased every single year, as well. At Miami (OH), he recorded a pick-six in his first career game played against Cincinnati in 2020.
During the 2021 and 2022 seasons, Saunders Jr. was a key contributor for Chuck Martin’s defensive group at Miami (OH). He would play 22 games over his final two seasons for the Redhawks, totaling 67 tackles during his tenure there. HE would lasso a record 15 passes defended with a team high10 in 2022.
After arriving in Oxford in 2023, Saunders Jr. was highly productive under first year defensive coordinator Pete Golding. Starting all 13 games for the Rebels last season, Saunders recorded a career-high 65 tackles (39 solo), tied a career-high three interceptions, and was graded out as the top defender on Ole Miss’ team last year per PFF College Football with a grade of 79.1.
His play earned him Second Team All-SEC honors per the College Football Network.
Heading into 2024
Like we mentioned at the beginning of the article, the secondary has had a makeover with an influx of players coming in. It also has created one of the deepest position groups on the Ole Miss roster. At the top of that group is none other than John Saunders Jr.
Saunders is listed at 6’2 and 210 lbs. Last year he was given a PFF coverage grade of 80.3, which was top on the Ole Miss defense. PFF also ranked the returning safeties in the SEC, where he was slotted in at No. 6 in the entirety of the league. With good size for a safety, one of the reasons for such a high coverage grade comes from his history at wide receiver. Saunders plays the game with good instincts and has a knack for ball hawking the ball in the air. His length and quickness allow him to cover ground well and he tracks the QB’s eyes well. Saunders excels at attacking lanes in the run game as well. He will need to continue to improve in run defense in year two. Last season we also saw Saunders start a few games at nickel corner.
Saunders should be expected to be a starter again for this year’s defense.
Camp Notes
In camp, Saunders made a big redzone interception during one of our media availability sessions. He can expect another year of continuity with Pete Golding and safeties coach Wes Neighbors III which will pay off for Saunders given how cerebral the safety position is. Other noticeable players at safety in camp include Louis Moore, Yam Banks, Key Lawrence, Trey Lawrence, and Nick Cull.
A new relationship to watch is of Sanders and new co-defensive coordinator Bryan Brown. The former Rebel player joined the staff in January after recent stops with Scott Satterfield at Appalachian State, Louisville and Cincinnati.
So watch for John Saunders, Jr. when the season kicks off August 31, at Vaught-Hemingway against Furman!
TJ Oxley
TJ Oxley is the Vice President of Operations and the Director of Community Relations for The Rebel Walk. He is also the Director of Basketball Content and Senior Basketball Writer. He has over five years of experience providing in-depth analysis of college basketball through multiple platforms. A former MBA graduate of Ole Miss, TJ started with The Rebel Walk in 2019.
