Ole Miss running back Snoop Conner getting "comfortable" in three-headed rushing attack
With a three-headed monster rushing attack such as the one Ole Miss has this season, reps are hard to come by but Snoop Conner is aiming to make each one count.
Connor had yet another big play on Saturday with his 13-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, set up by an Ashanti Cistrunk interception, to help put the game out of reach against Texas A&M.
Those explosive plays and long runs are what Conner has been known for, along with willing to bulldoze his way into the teeth of the opposing defense for those couple yards to keep a drive alive.
Unfortunately, those opportunities are not coming as frequently as Conner — or the Rebel fan base — might have expected with the way his season started.
Sharing snaps with Jerrion Ealy and Henry Parrish, Jr., Conner has to bide his time and wait for his moment but it is something they are all getting used to.
“It’s getting more comfortable for us,” Conner said on Monday. “It’s making us fresher. So, it’s good for us and then we’re staying healthy with it, too. So, that’s a good thing.”
Conner finished with 55 yards and the touchdown on 11 carries on Saturday. Parrish rushed for 58 yards on 9 carries while Ealy paced the rushing attack with 152 yards on 24 carries.
Despite Conner and Parrish’s combined yardage still 39 yards shy of Ealy’s production against the Aggies, Saturday’s effort by the running back corps was, in Conner’s eyes, one of the best complete performances of their first 10 games.
“I’d say it’s probably the closest, but me, Parrish, we left some yards out out there,” Conner said. “So, we’ve got to get better on our end and Ealy, he had a good game. I salute him for that.”
Saturday’s touchdown was big on the whole for the Rebels, but to Conner it was business as usual.
The score was Conner’s 11th rushing touchdown of the season and it put Ole Miss up by nine at the time, making it a two-possession game for the Aggies with under seven minutes to go.
Conner possibly put the Rebels back on the path to a New Year’s Six bowl berth with the score that put his team ahead for good on Saturday. The magnitude of it was not lost on Conner, but he’s keeping it in perspective.
“It was just another one for me,” Conner said. “It was a big one for me, but it was just another one, too.”
The junior out of Hattiesburg will have a decision to make at the end of the season regarding his future with Ole Miss. The running back could declare for the NFL Draft and see if a team decides add him to their ranks, or he could return to Oxford for a final season.
There is always the option of the transfer portal, which has been come quite popular in the last couple years, especially for a position player who is part of a full room and might want to be on the field more than they are.
Whatever the decision, Conner is putting it on the backburner until January.
“I’m going to stay undecided on it,” Conner said. “(I’m) just trying to finish these two games and a bowl game. So, I’m going to let that come (later).”
No. 10 Ole Miss (8-2, 4-2 SEC) hosts Vanderbilt (2-8, 0-6) on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CT on the SEC Network.
