Mississippi Scoreboard highlights a Mississippian who plays football at Ole Miss, another at Mississippi State and another who is playing at an out-of-state SEC school each week.
By Robert Wilson
ST. STANISLAUS HIGH AND OLE MISS TIGHT END CHASE ROGERS SCORES FIRST TD AS A REBEL VS NO. 1 ALABAMA
St. Stanislaus High alumnus and Ole Miss senior tight end Chase Rogers caught his touchdown pass as a Rebel and second of his collegiate career against No. 1 Alabama Saturday in Tuscaloosa.
The 6-foot-3, 240-pound Rogers caught a 2-yard TD pass from Matt Corral with 2 minutes, 23 seconds to play to pull Ole Miss within 42-21 of Alabama. Rogers had career highs of three catches for 53 yards. Corral hit Rogers on a 42-yard pass play on the first play of the scoring drive for Ole Miss’ second TD. He also caught a 9-yard pass in the third quarter. Rogers has now caught seven passes for 71 yards this season.
Rogers played in eight games last season and started one, against Indiana in the Outback Bowl and caught his first pass for Ole Miss. He had three catches for 18 yards.
Rogers played his first two seasons at Louisiana-Lafayette. He was redshirted his first season, then played in eight games with two starts and caught six passes for 54 yards and one TD in his second season. He suffered a season-ending injury against Ole Miss. Rogers transferred to Ole Miss and sat out the 2019 season.
Rogers was MaxPreps first-team All-American and caught 61 passes for 1,042 yards and 12 TDs as a senior at St. Stanislaus. Rogers finished his career as Mississippi’s all-time leader with 216 receptions, 3,729 yards and 44 TDs.
No. 17 Ole Miss, 3-1, plays host to No. 13 Arkansas, 4-1, Saturday at 11 a.m. on ESPN.
BRANDON ALUMNUS WILL ROGERS COULD SET NCAA RECORD FOR LOWEST INTERCEPTION PERCENTAGE
Brandon High alumnus and Mississippi State sophomore quarterback Will Rogers ranks third in the country in both passing yards per game (372.4) and completion percentage (75.7) and he is on pace to possibly break the NCAA record for lowest interception percentage.
Rogers has only thrown two interceptions in his 284 passes for an interception percentage of 0.704. If he keeps this pace, he will challenge the record of 0.696, set by Kelvin Moore of Boise State in 2009 (3 of 431). Rogers had seven interceptions in 346 passes (2.02 percent).
Rogers completed 46 of 59 passes for 408 yards in MSU’s 26-22 victory over then No. 15 Texas A&M. It was the third most yards he has passed for in his career, 440 against Ole Miss last season and 419 against LSU this season. Three of the top four completions and attempts in the country are by Rogers this season.
Rogers’ 75.6 completion percentage within reach of the NCAA record, set by Alabama’s Mac Jones of 77.4 last season. Rogers has completed 74.6, 75.8 and 78.0 for the past three games. He completed 13 of his first 14 passes against Texas A&M.
Against Texas A&M, Rogers matched his career high with three TD passes, throw a TD pass for the 11th consecutive game, completed five passes for at least 20 yards to five different receivers.
Rogers had the most consecutive passes without an interception in the SEC last season (176 in 13 quarters). Dak Prescott holds the school record with 238 in 2015. Rogers did tie Prescott’s school record of most passes without an interception a game (52 against Georgia).
Rogers – the Priority One Bank/Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson Football Player of the Year in 2019 at Brandon High — was the first freshman to start at quarterback for Mike Leach in his 22-year head coaching career last season.
NORTH PANOLA ALUMNUS AND ARKANSAS QUARTERBACK K.J. JEFFERSON COMES HOME, PLAYS AT OLE MISS
North Panola High alumnus and Arkansas starting quarterback K.J. Jefferson will be coming home to play in front of his family and friends Saturday when the No. 17 ranked Hogs visit No. 13 Ole Miss at 11 a.m. on ESPN.
“I’m feeling pumped,” Jefferson said. “I’m very excited. I’ve got a lot of family members coming to the game to watch me play who have never been to a game. So, I’m pretty pumped that they get to come to see me play.”
Jefferson was rated as the fourth best dual-threat quarterback in the country by 247 Sports coming out of North Panola High. He won 40 games, passed for 9,582 yards, ran for 2,922 yards, and accounted for 143 touchdowns. He chose Arkansas over Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, and Baylor.
Jefferson had made only two starts in his career before this season, starting as a freshman against No. 1 LSU in Baton Rouge and against Missouri in the final game last season when Feleipe Franks was injured.
But this year, Jefferson, a redshirt sophomore is the full-time starter. Jefferson passed for 138 yards and ran for 73 more to help Arkansas to one of the biggest upsets in college football, a surprising, 40-21 victory over then No. 15 Texas at Arkansas Sept. 11.
The 6-foot-3, 245-pound Jefferson ranks second in the SEC among quarterbacks with 235 rushing yards. His 141.4 passer rating on balls thrown 20 yards or more leads the SEC and ranks No. 6 nationally, according to Pro Football Focus.
“K.J. runs the ball really well, looks like he weighs about 250,” Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said. “It looks like it may be an issue tackling this guy and bringing him down.”
