The Ole Miss defensive line is 'a lot more fresh' heading into a test in Georgia's offensive front
This time last year the Ole Miss defense appeared to hit a wall and looked very beat up in the final November push to the season. The results spoke for themselves, losing their last four games.
Enter Pete Golding who Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin hired away from Alabama in the offseason to come in and overhaul the defense.
Plenty of change has been witnessed and the Ole Miss defense has come on to be one of the best in the Southeastern Conference over the last seven weeks. In fact, the defense really turned a corner once SEC play started.
One reason for that is the wholesale substitutions along the defensive line that resemble more of a line change at a hockey game than a football game. Golding’s strategy is paying off, though as Jared Ivey and the rest of the defensive front feel better this November than they did a year ago at this time.
“A lot more fresh. I think I speak for the entire room when I say we got a lot of trust in a lot of guys in our room that have gone in there, proven themselves and made plays,” Ivey said. “Guys that had to be developed from last year that are coming out and making plays and being accountable. I feel like as a team, just as a whole, we’re a lot more fresh than we were last year. I feel like we were really beat up, physically, last year. Very, very fresh.”
While it may not seem as such, Ivey and the rest of the starting five are on the field less throughout a game than they were last year. Even though Ivey is currently averaging roughly the same snaps per game (43) as he was in 2022 (43.6).
A rested and fresh Ole Miss defensive front is about to have its toughest test yet against Georgia’s front five.
The Rebels will be trying to get after a quarterback that has been sacked the least among all SEC quarterbacks this season.
Georgia quarterback Carson Beck has been sacked nine times, averaging out to one sack allowed per game by the Bulldog’s front line. They will be just as tested going up against the second best sack defense in the conference in Ole Miss.
Ivey and the rest of his defensive line teammates have gotten to an opposing quarterback 31 times, second only to Texas A&M’s SEC-leading 34 sacks.
“They got a real solid group,” Ivey said. “A real solid group. a great right tackle (Xavier Truss) and (Beck) moves well in the pocket. He’s not known as a runner, but he’s got good movement skills in the pocket and he can get out of some trouble when needs to. That doesn’t deter us. We feels like we have a good rush plan formulating (for) this weekend. We’re just going to go put that to the test this week at practice and keep with the script this Saturday.”
Ivey leads the Rebels with 5.5 sacks followed by Cedric Johnson‘s 4.5 and freshman Suntarine Perkins 3.5.
