By Billy Watkins
They are mostly known as “the big guys.” They are quick and agile and appear to block with a nasty attitude.
Ole Miss began using the duo in short-yardage situations — primarily on the goal line — a couple of games ago. Big, beefy linemen lined up as running backs.
Their names are Devin Harper (Number 70) and Terez Davis (Number 55). With them leading the way, it’s been almost a sure touchdown (or first down gained). As the late John Madden would’ve put it, they’re a load.
Harper is a 6-foot-4, 315-pound true freshman who originally committed to LSU. He was a four-star prospect out of Shreveport, La. Most recruiting services had him rated among the Top 15 offensive lineman in the class of 2025.
Davis is a sophomore transfer from Maryland, 6-foot-4, 310 pounds. He played in 10 games and started two last season for the Terrapins. He was part of an offense that ranked third in rushing in the Big Ten.
He grew up in Hyattsville, Md. and was a three-star prospect out of high school.
Overall, Ole Miss has been productive in the red zone this season, scoring 39 touchdowns in 62 trips (63 percent). That would rank fourth among NFL teams’ touchdown rate. (The red zone is considered from the opponents’ 20-yard line to the goal line.)
The Rebels rank second nationally in red zone rushing TDs but 21st in passing TDs. Choosing to throw against Florida didn’t make sense.
Example:
Facing third and goal at the Florida 3-yard line, leading 27-24 with 2:59 left, the Rebels threw it two straight times.
This was after Harper and Davis, along with the rest of the much-improved offensive line, had led Lacy into the end zone untouched from the 1-yard line to give Ole Miss the lead for good
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Give Lacy the ball running behind his line and the “big guys” when you need a yard or three.
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Missouri fans must be questioning how and why their coaches let Lacy get away to Ole Miss via the transfer portal. A sophomore, Lacy has been everything a team could hope for in a running back. He will run inside, outside, catch passes and pick up blitzes. And he can break a long run, too.
The first defender rarely tackles him, He plays nearly every offensive snap and seems to improve as the game goes on.
He’s done all this in the SEC, where even the best running backs get punished. Still, he’s rushed for 1,106 yards on 231 carries, a nation-leading 19 touchdowns and a healthy 4.9- yard average. He is 5-11, 200 pounds but runs much bigger.
Thinking back to 2013 reminds me just how fortunate Ole Miss is to have him. Under coach Hugh Freeze, the Rebels had only one running back close to 200 pounds, I’Tavius Mathers (197). Their other runners were Jaylen Walton and Jeff Scott — terrific backs who made a lot of big plays during their careers. But they were 172 pounds and 167 pounds, respectively. Short yardage was a problem for the Rebels the entire year. They couldn’t produce the “dirty” runs, the ones where it appears to be nowhere to go but somehow the back plows forward for a yard.
Lacy thrives on those, especially on the goal line behind his newest friends, Harper and Davis.
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As No. 6 Ole Miss (10-1) enjoys a bye week before playing at Mississippi State on the Friday after Thanksgiving, I’ll say this once again: Do not take for granted the work of the Rebels’ punter and kicker.
Oscar Bird, a freshman from Australia, averages 49 yards per punt with a long of 64.
Lucas Carneiro is 43 of 43 on PATs and has made 21 of 23 field goals. That is a comfort for coaches. If you go back and look at the Rebels’ SEC wins, Carneiro’s leg was often the difference.
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A couple of non-Ole Miss college football notes:
Following Georgia’s victory over Texas last Saturday, a reporter asked Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart why his team seems to play so well in the fourth quarter and in big games.
Smart’s answer: “Work. We believe in being physical. We get after it. Our kids believe in down and dirty. They believe in the (Navy) SEAL mantra of ‘Let’s take ‘em to the water, let’s see who can survive in the water, see who’s gonna tap out first and ring the bell and run from the contact contest.’ “They believe in the physical toughness that it takes to win games. And that has prevailed in a lot of our tight games.”
He added a few minutes later: “Drew Brannon, our sports mental guy, we had a long talk Friday. We talked about ‘What’s not for some is for others.’ The hardest part of the SEAL training is after the hype phase, when everybody is hyped up like everybody’s hyped up at kickoff, they go to the water phase and do the water torture, surf torture. Not everybody wants it and people start ringing the bell.
“We want our guys to take it to the water and see who wants to be the most physical team. They enjoy that. They enjoy that personality.
“It’s the approach we take — we’re gonna win the fourth quarter and dominate. It’s what we do in practice, what we do in the off season. It’s what we build our core culture around— being the more physical team. You have to recruit physical players and they have to buy in to that.”
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When Bill Belichick was coaching the NFL’s New England Patriots, I used to watch his Friday press conferences, which often turned into a football history lesson. The usually stern Belichick was loose and (almost) friendly on Fridays — I guess because the work for that week’s game had been done for the most part, and also because he’s a history buff and enjoyed talking about it.
He is now head coach at North Carolina, and I decided to check out his press conference leading up to last Saturday’s game against Wake Forest. What I found that week was priceless — Belichick explaining how World War II advanced college and pro football like nothing else.
“World War II was the explosion of football,” he said “Prior to that, everything was regional. Nobody in the East knew whaat the South was doing. Nobody in the South knew what was going on in the West. There was no film, no TV, there was nothing. Once we got into war, those (military) teams (and a few in the Midwest) came together and all those players came together. Guys started talking and sharing ideas. ‘How did y’all run this play?’ And that led to a lot of information exchange after the war when people went back to where they were from. People from the Ivy League would interact with people from the Southwest, the South and the West and the Midwest.
“And that’s when the sports writers, guys like Grantland Rice, they would see teams from around the country. When those guys picked the All-America teams, they were the only ones who had seen everybody play.
“From a playing standpoint, a training standpoint, a coaching standpoint, a networking standpoint, once you got into the late 40s and early 50s you saw the T-formation and the passing game expand, Players in the NFL were higher quality because the good players were more easily recognizable because they were playing against other good players.”
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