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Ole Miss

Ole Miss' Bentley has speed that is hard to describe until you see it

Chuck-Rounsavilleby: Chuck Rounsaville10/04/23
Andre Sam
Andre Sam makes the tackle during the second half at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. - Petre Thomas/USA TODAY Sports

You can try and tell people about the speed of a player in words, but it somehow never matches up to the real thing until those who read your description see the speed in real time, as we say in the South, with their own two eyes.

For two years, we have been ballyhooing the speed of Ole Miss running back Ulysses Bentley IV, but the eyewitness accounts and descriptions never seemed to measure up enough to sway people into unequivocal belief.

Well, Rebel Nation, now do you believe me after seeing Bentley scorch the earth on a 43-yard touchdown run against LSU last Saturday?

Bentley broke a tackle on the second level of the Tigers’ defense and then smoked three LSU defenders in hot pursuit that lost ground on the Ole Miss jackrabbit.

How fast was he running? The last five yards or so, Ulysses was so far out ahead he was able to curl his way into the end zone with ease.

The TD, his second of the season, gave the Rebels a 14-0 lead at the 4:00 mark of the first quarter as they went on to win 55-49 with Bentley gaining 90 yards on 9 carries for an even 10.0 yards per carry.

“Dude,” as his teammates call him, has found his niche on the Ole Miss team that needed a compliment to star RB Quinshon Judkins, more of a bruiser than a speedster, and Bentley has started providing that.

Bentley’s now gained 184 yards on 24 carries for a 7.5 YPC average, he’s caught 5 passes for 64 yards and a TD and he’s returned 7 kickoffs for an 18.7 average.

His game against LSU was propelled by the fine play of the offensive line.

“We all had a meeting last Thursday and we all said we were going to have to pick it up and play better,” Bentley explained. “Everyone took that to heart and that’s what happened. We played better and we played as one.”

‘Dude’ is happy with the way he’s starting to be used now, meaning more and in different ways.

“They are handing me the ball, lining me up out wide, letting me return kicks. I love that the coaches are getting me the ball in different ways and quickly. It fits my game,” he noted. “I came here to make plays and that’s what they are giving me the opportunity to do.”

With LSU behind them and Arkansas up next, Bentley feels the team is trending in the right direction after the setback at Alabama.

“We definitely have confidence now. We lost a bit of that at Alabama, but LSU helped us get it back,” he explained. “We know Arkansas will be a hard team to play and we will have to play well, but I believe we will be ready for them.

“We know this is going to be a tough game. We know what we have to do. This is a big game for us and I hope Rebel Nation will support us like they did against LSU. The energy was unreal in that game and we need that again.”

Now that you know what Bentley’s speed looks like, we may start using Dude as a measuring stick or description of speed.

“(Insert name) has Dude speed.”

You will then have a visual of what we mean.

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