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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Sophomore Surge
11/7/2014 | Football
By Austin Miller, Ole Miss Athletics Media Relations
Welcome to the new normal.
It's more mindset than mantra, a confidence and belief that Ole Miss will win on the field and change the perception off of it, and, over halfway through the season, the Rebels have done just that.
You can point to the historic win over No. 1 Alabama or the validation victory over No. 14 Texas A&M as when the new normal arrived in Oxford, but the seeds of success were sown Feb. 6, 2013.
It was National Signing Day and it was the day the game changed for the Ole Miss football program, as head coach Hugh Freeze and his staff lured a consensus top-10 signing class and became the talk of college football.
The historic class was headlined by the nation's top overall prospect in Robert Nkemdiche, the No. 1 offensive tackle in Laremy Tunsil and the No. 1 wide receiver in Laquon Treadwell, among other key contributors on this year's team.
"I think today has the possibility of being a program changer," said Freeze at the time. "Obviously, it's all on paper right now. We'll start having to manage expectations now. We'll still be in the second year of our journey together, but I do think we took a huge step forward today on that journey toward being where we all want to be, and that's competing for an SEC West Championship."
Fast forward 21 months, and Nkemdiche, Tunsil and Treadwell have all met, if not exceeded, expectations set for them. The talented trio has been joined by Tony Conner, who was the No 2 safety prospect in the nation, and Evan Engram, a 3-star recruit, as standouts from a star-studded sophomore class that has been instrumental in helping change the culture around the football program.
"I came here with the 2013 class to change the culture around here," Nkemdiche said. "We came to do something different. I could have gone to Alabama or LSU, but I wanted to come here and make a difference. And that's what we have done. I'm really proud of ourselves."
"Being from Florida, I took all the criticism," said Tunsil of his decision to sign with Ole Miss. "Being on the top right now, you get bandwagoners from back home talking about Ole Miss this and Ole Miss that. I feel like my decision has been validated. I told everybody we were going to do something special."
Less than two years since their arrival in Oxford, the Rebels became the talk of college football, but for the results on the field, as they started the season 7-0 and debuted at No. 4 in the first College Football Playoff rankings.
"They're very mature," Freeze said. "Laquon (Treadwell) and Laremy (Tunsil) are two of the more mature kids I've ever coached, as well as Tony Conner. You don't think of them as just young sophomores. They really are mature, young men. They're kind of the leadership of that class. I'm very pleased with the way they're going about their business."
"When they came in, every one of them was an asset on the field," senior safety Cody Prewitt said. "At the very least, they gave us good, quality depth that we didn't have before. It's going to take consistent recruiting like that to become the elite program we want to become. A lot of the success we're having right now is due to that class, and you can't take that away from them."
On the field, Engram and Tunsil became the first Ole Miss freshmen to earn All-SEC honors after they were both named to the Associated Press second team last year. The duo helped Ole Miss to an 8-5 record and a bowl win over Georgia Tech, its second consecutive bowl victory under Freeze.
In year two, the sophomore class has raised the program's profile and helped the Rebels achieve their highest national ranking since 1964, with all five players earning midseason All-SEC honors from various media outlets.
"That group, you knew," said SEC Nation host Joe Tessitore, who called their first college game, a thrilling 39-35 win at Vanderbilt. "I could remember that afternoon, sitting there and hyping up Nkemdiche in his debut, and you just knew it was going to happen. And to be able to say a year later that they have even over-delivered on all the hype, it's true.
"It was an incredible recruiting class that, in a span of 18 months, has Ole Miss competing for a national title. That's as good as a group you're going to see. But it takes that kind of a group. It takes guys who all buy in and believe."
Freeze and his staff hit on each of the players, and while they each came in with loads of talent, the development of that talent has not gone unnoticed.
"I give a lot of credit to the players and their talent, but I also credit Freeze and his staff's ability to manage those guys, not only to deal with the expectations, but it also seems like they're making a lot of strides on the field and all of the pieces are coming together," said Fox Sports reporter Bruce Feldman. "Sometimes, when you bring in such a celebrated class, you get some friction with the older guys, but that doesn't seem to be the case at all. That's why they're having so much success."
The Rebels, however, will be without at least one of them for the stretch run of the regular season, as Treadwell suffered season-ending leg and ankle injuries against Auburn, while Tunsil has battled a bicep and shoulder injury, which caused him to miss their game against Auburn.
Before the injury, Treadwell ranked fourth in the SEC in catches (5.3 per game), sixth in receiving yards (70.2 yards per game) and tied for seventh with five touchdown catches.
"He's a tremendous young man," said Freeze of Treadwell. "We're looking at four or so months of recovery time. He'll be back with us and hopefully ready to go for spring ball. We love him and appreciate the effort he gave in helping our team in that situation."
This talented group of sophomores will undoubtedly bring home more individual and team honors on and off the field before they likely go on to long careers in the NFL. However, their greatest impact may be felt in the years to come, having come to Ole Miss to do something different and make a difference.
"Recruits are always watching that stuff," said ESPN.com SEC reporter Edward Aschoff. "They watch signing day when they're freshmen, sophomores and juniors. They're always looking at who's signing where, and when you see one program hit as well as they did, they're going to keep up with that class. They're seeing all these guys at the forefront of this program, and it influences them. It's certainly a positive for Ole Miss because a lot of those kids are going to say, 'Look what they did with this; maybe we can do it too.'
