Ole Miss knows where one of its most important starting job battles is taking place.
The Rebels’ offensive line remains one of the biggest questions around the team. The interior has been set since January when Delano Townsend, Brycen Sanders and Patrick Kutas announced their returns to Oxford.
That gives the Rebels one of the most stable returning trios in the SEC. At left tackle, Terez Davis has pushed ahead and looks like the clear favorite to win the job. But on the right side, nothing is settled.
Offensive coordinator John David Baker didn’t try to dress it up.
“It’s a collective deal between me, coach (John) Garrison, coach (Pete) Golding and everybody involved,” Baker said. “It’s a daily thing. We keep stats and track production every single day at practice. If you aren’t producing, you’re probably going to move down the depth chart.”
That depth chart, as Baker put it, is written in pencil. Not pen. Not marker. Pencil. It can change every day, and right now it is changing every day.
The names in the mix are familiar. Tommy Kinsler is the one most often attached to the job, but he hasn’t separated. Connor Howes has gotten real looks. Carius Curne has been mentioned. For a variety of reasons none of them have pulled ahead, and Baker made it clear that the staff is intentionally rotating bodies.
“Those guys are doing a great job,” Baker said. “We’re putting different guys out there, whether it’s Connor Howes or Tommy Kinsler. They have their hands full with what’s on the other side of the ball, but they’re doing a good job.”
That’s the challenge. Ole Miss’ defensive front is loaded, and every rep at right tackle comes against some of the best SEC talent. It’s a tough way to earn a job, but it’s also the best way to find out who can handle Saturdays.
Baker didn’t offer a favorite. He didn’t hint at a leader. He didn’t even pretend the decision is close.
“I don’t know that I’m going to answer that,” he said when asked who he trusts at right tackle. “But I know whoever it is will be ready to go.”
What he did make clear is why he’s comfortable with the process. It starts with the offensive line coach who was one of the few offensive staffers not to follow Lane Kiffin to LSU.
“He’s (Garrison) the best offensive line coach in the country, and he’s going to have those guys up front ready to go,” Baker said.
That’s the confidence behind the uncertainty. Ole Miss doesn’t have a right tackle yet, but it has a system for finding one. It has competition. It has accountability. It has a coach Baker trusts completely. And it has time.
The interior is set. The left side is close. The right side is still a battle. But if the staff keeps treating it like a daily evaluation instead of a preseason formality, the Rebels will eventually land on the right answer.
For now, the job is open. And Ole Miss is fine with that.
