ohn David Baker said Kewan Lacy won’t get 300 carries — but might get 300 touches. Steven Willis and Tyler Komis of Ole Miss on SI break down exactly what that means.
Komis was in the room for Baker’s press conference, and he came straight to the show with it.
IN THIS EPISODE:
🔢 300 carries vs. 300 touches. Lacy was around 335 touches last season counting receptions, and nobody thinks that repeats. So where do the missing touches come from? Steven’s read: Baker’s proclivity for empty formations lets Ole Miss go empty out of 11 personnel with Caleb Odom or Luke Hasz at tight end — the defense prepares for the normal look and then has to defend five spread out. Screens, bubbles, tunnels, jet motion. Plus the honest math: carries and catches probably land nearer 250 than 300.
🏆 The Heisman logic behind the punt reps. Running backs don’t win that trophy just by running — Ashton Jeanty went for 2,600 at Boise State and didn’t. To be clear, Steven does not predict Lacy returns punts. But if he lines up there, teams kick away, and you force two shanks, that’s field position you didn’t have.
🩺 The shoulder, explained. Baker confirmed the surgery. Komis connected it to the injury in the opening playoff round against Tulane — which is why Lacy was limited in spring and why Mekhi Frazier was the featured back. He’s 100% and good to go.
🧬 It’s the 2021 offense. Steven’s call: this looks like the Jeff Lebby version. Corey Burton’s East Carolina film work backs it up. Plus the thing nobody says out loud — last year’s offense was a retrofitted Austin Simmons offense, adjusted on the fly for Chambliss. This year it gets built for him.
🏅 Three first-team All-Americans. On3 has Ole Miss with three — the quarterback, the running back and the kicker. And Komis’s warning: this program has always thrived under the radar.
Plus the right tackle race, and why Komis was surprised Baker named Connor Howes unprompted.
