Ole Miss veteran defenders Washington and Johnson earn SEC weekly honors
Two Ole Miss defensive players on Monday picked up weekly honors from the SEC following the Rebels’ 33-7 win over Vanderbilt.
Safety Trey Washington was honored as SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Week, while senior Cedric Johnson was named SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week. It’s the second SEC weekly award of the season for both players.
Washington and Johnson helped lead an Ole Miss defense that limited Vanderbilt to just 229 yards of total offense, the fewest against an SEC opponent since the Rebels limited Texas A&M to 192 in 2015. Ole Miss also held Vanderbilt to just 60 yards passing, the least against an SEC opponent since the Rebels kept Vanderbilt to 60 in 2014.
Washington intercepted two passes — the first time a Rebel had two interceptions in a game since A.J. Finley against Liberty in 2021.
“I was just in the right spot,” Washington said afterwards. “I took advantage of the quarterback throw and I caught the ball coming my way.”
Johnson had a career-high seven tackles, including four solos.
Johnson has registered two tackles for loss, a sack and two quarterback hurries. Johnson’s 17.0 career sacks are tied for seventh in school history.
No. 10 Ole Miss (7-1, 4-1 SEC) will host Texas A&M (5-3, 3-2 SEC) Saturday at 11 a.m. CT. The game will be televised on ESPN.
The Rebels have won seven of their first eight games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the 60s.
“I’ve said before, I don’t think we handled (last year’s final stretch of games) very well,” fourth-year Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said, also after Vanderbilt. Kiffin’s the second-fastest Rebel head coach to 30 wins.
“I think the Alabama loss, we let that keep beating us. Chance in that game to go to 8-1, 9-1, whatever it was. Kind of fell apart after that. Two years ago, we lost to Alabama and seemed to play really well after that. Seems to be that we’re doing the same thing again this year, and I think that says a lot about the players — the resolve to overcome a bad game.”
SEC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK – WEEK 9
Offensive: Ladd McConkey, WR, Georgia
Defensive: Trey Washington, S, Ole Miss & Edgerrin Cooper, LB, Texas A&M
Special Teams: Charles Campbell, PK, Tennessee
Defensive Line: Cedric Johnson, DE, Ole Miss
Offensive Line: Gunner Britton, OT, Auburn & John Campbell Jr., OT, Tennessee
Freshman: Connor Lew, C, Auburn
