Ole Miss defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche is the perfect example of a player whose impact can’t be found in his numbers.

The super sophomore recorded just 33 tackles in 12 games this season, including just three tackles for loss and two sacks; those numbers don’t blow anyone away.

Yet he still managed to anchor the best defense in the SEC without having to make tackles or sack opposing quarterbacks.

No one in the SEC collapses pockets from up the middle better than Nkemdiche did this season. The 6-foot-4, 280-pound freak (and he looks even bigger than those figures indicate) moved linemen out of his way and moved quarterbacks out of the pocket, setting up young, undersized pass rushers like Marquis Haynes with opportunities to make plays off the edge.

Nkemdiche has done nothing but improve since arriving in Oxford as the nation’s No. 1 high school recruit. He recorded 34 tackles, eight tackles for loss and two sacks as a freshman All-American in 2013. He played defensive end that season, and although he moved inside to defensive tackle in 2014 his numbers hardly dropped.

He learned a new position on the fly and found himself buried in the interior of the line, yet adjusted his skill set and continued to dominate opposing linemen like he’d been playing tackle his whole life.

His opponents have begun to take notice of his power and skill. Reese Dismukes — Auburn’s four-year starting center, All-SEC first-team selection and Outland Trophy finalist — called Nkemdiche one of the best linemen he’s faced. He didn’t have to think long to come up with that name.

Again, it’s the impact Nkemdiche makes up the middle that makes him such a valuable asset to the defense.

He was a key member of the vaunted Landshark defense, and he’ll need to be even more impactful next year. If his trend as a collegiate is any indication, he will be.

In his third year of college and his second year as a defensive tackle, Nkemdiche will have a chance to come into his own with a breakout season that could vault him to a high pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. He’ll certainly have plenty of opportunities, as Ole Miss will lean on its biggest, baddest defender more next year than ever before.

The Rebels are about to lose a ton of talent at linebacker in seniors Serderius Bryant and Deterrian Shackelford, as well as in the secondary with the impending departures of All-SEC stars Senquez Golson and Cody Prewitt. Nkemdiche will see more snaps and be asked to do more up front to create opportunities for the new starters in the lineup.

Once again, he may not put up numbers that cause jaws to drop. But he will open up opportunities for a new crop of linebackers and a handful of new faces in the secondary to make tackles and stymy opposing offenses the way the Landsharks did time and time again in 2014.

Nkemdiche will not only get better with nine months to focus on his game between the Rebels’ bowl game and the start of the 2015 season; he’ll get bigger, too. That’s critical, considering Nkemdiche’s power-based skill set only stands to improve with greater size and strength.

It will be up to the rising junior to occupy multiple blockers on every snap, creating lanes for linebackers to make tackles in the box and defensive ends to apply pressure off the edge. That’s a tough task for any player, and a thankless task at that.

But just as he’s done his whole career, Nkemdiche will likely rise to the challenge and blow up lines like the human wrecking ball we’ve come to know. He’s done it for two years, and he’ll do it better in 2015 better than 2013 or ’14.

Next year could be a breakout year for a star we thought had broken out each of the last two years. That was nothing compared to what Nkemdiche has in store, and if Ole Miss continues its domination on defense next year without many of this year’s key players, you’ll know who to thank.

It will be the big guy in the middle of it all — you can’t miss him. And trust me, you won’t.