LIVE! From Jordan-Hare: Tre Harris played out of position and still dropped 102 yards on Auburn

Tre Harris has been so good in his first (and possibly only) Ole Miss season, he made his four-catch, 102-yard performance in a 28-21 Rebel win at Auburn seem quiet. 

To be fair, he started slow, including a couple of dropped passes. But while the Louisiana Tech transfer will never make excuses, in his defense, he was playing out of position. 

Harris slid inside and mostly handled the slot in place of the injured Jordan Watkins. Watkins, the team’s leading receiver in both catches and yards entering the game, broke his hand last week in practice and had surgery. Two plates were inserted into his hand. 

Watkins was available against the Tigers, however, he was quite limited. Harris, the Rebel leader in receiving touchdowns (6) now has two 100-yard receiving performances at Ole Miss. He’s up to 21 catches for 469 yards on the year.

Harris transferred in from Louisiana Tech in the off-season. He had 65 receptions for 935 yards and 10 touchdowns last season and was named a first-team All-CUSA. He also earned honorable mention all-league honors in 2021.

“Tre did a great job,” Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said afterwards. “He played a position he’s never played. He played Jordan’s position, played the slot. We actually flipped him when their corner got hurt and put him out there on the backup corner for the fade. Quarterback made a good throw and he made a big play, which was a big, changing play.”

The Ole Miss defense stepped up, too. 

The Rebels and Tigers were locked in a 14-14 tie late in the third quarter. However, by the final whistle, they had improved to 6-1 (3-1 SEC) for the third straight season (a first since the 60s).

Ole Miss mostly had a strong defensive effort to thank.

The Rebels are in their first season under defensive coordinator Pete Golding, formerly of Alabama. Ole Miss held its second consecutive SEC opponent to 300 yards or less of offense, a first since 2009.

“You’ve got to give Pete Golding a lot of credit,” Kiffin said. “He took a lot of heat, just like our defense did, after the LSU game and really has come back and we’ve played a couple of our best defensive games since we’ve been here or in a long time, really. That’s awesome.”

Kiffin was joined in the postgame locker room by, among others, Rebel quarterback Jaxson Dart, who was 10 for 17 for 202 yards and three total touchdowns in the win.

Here’s everything they had to say.