Ole Miss led the SEC in passing last season. Chad Kelly set or tied 14 school records and was named Sugar Bowl MVP. Receiver Laquon Treadwell was drafted in the first round. Cody Core went in the sixth.

For all the good the Rebels did through the air — 10th in the country in yards per game — they didn’t do that on the ground.

Ole Miss ranked 45th in the country in rushing yards per game with 183. That was middle-of-the-pack seventh in the SEC and fifth in the SEC West, where a dominant back is a necessity.

It has been a while since the Rebels had a game-changing force at running back. Jaylen Walton ran for more than 700 yards last season but that was 12th in the SEC for the 5-foot-8 back. Ten teams in the league had a runner rush for more yards.

In 2016, the Rebels have a handful of backs they hope will run them up the rushing rankings and add a danger level to the SEC’s top passing offense.

ROTATION

Kelly ran for 500 yards and a team-high 10 touchdowns last season. Each potential breakout back for 2016 brings something different. A junior and senior are hoping to be the answers. Senior Akeem Judd (5-foot-11, 222 pounds) ran for 421 yards on 77 carries last season. Junior Jordan Wilkins (6-foot-1, 214) had 379 yards on 72 carries. They started only a combined three games.

The two will likely split time unless one becomes dominant. And redshirt freshman Eric Swinney will finally get his chance to prove his hype. Swinney was the only back recruited for the 2015 class, but a stress fracture in his leg ended his season before it began.

Wilkins is the bigger of the backs, and Judd will likely get the first nod, but Swinney — a four-star recruit — has all the tools to steal the show from both.

CHASING 1,000

The Rebels haven’t had a 1,000-yard rusher since Dexter McCluster in 2009. Brandon Bolden was six yards away in 2010, but that is six years and including bowl wins in the Compass, Music City and Sugar without a top SEC back. These are the school’s 1,000-yard rushers since the turn of the century.

2009: Dexter McCluster, 1,169
2007: BenJarvus Green-Ellis, 1,137
2006: BenJarvus Green-Ellis, 1000

PLAY-CALLING

Ole Miss’ 2015 running totals on first down are nothing to insult. The Rebels took off 245 times on the down and averaged better than five yards per carry. They scored 18 touchdowns and had 45 plays of 10-plus yards and 13 plays of 20 or more.

Where that dips is on 3rd-and-short. On third down with three or fewer yards to gain, Ole Miss ran 37 times for 104 yards, an average of only 2.81 yards per carry. That is a significant drop from every other down. The longest run in that situation was 17 yards. It did pick up 20 first downs but netted only one touchdown.

GREATEST CONCERN

The offensive line is replacing every starter from the Sugar Bowl, and while there is experience returning, left tackle is going to be spotted by true freshman Greg Little taking over for first-rounder Laremy Tunsil.

Like Swinney at running back, Little has the markings of being great, but it is still to be determined. If the offensive line fuses together, the other concern could be how Wilkins improves in his third season. He rushed for 18 more yards as a sophomore than a freshman but averaged 6.9 yards per carry as a freshman and 5.3 last season.

Whether he leads the way or not isn’t necessarily the concern. Having him develop as the bigger back would be a new and improved look in Oxford.

ONE STAT THAT MUST IMPROVE

Ole Miss was tops in the league in passing. How much better could it be if the running game had a 1,000-yard guy?

Judd had 7 carries for 43 yards in the Sugar Bowl for a 6.1 yard average. With only one start, he averaged 5.5 yards per carry despite a pretty slow start to the season. If he earns double-digit carries per game in 2016 (happened four times in 2015), he could be the guy to hit the 1,000-yard mark.

BETTER OR WORSE

Rebels won’t be running behind Tunsil, but the line will gel by fire against Florida State, Alabama and Georgia early on.

Judd finished last season strong, and he and Wilkins bring size to the Ole Miss backfield. Swinney could be the one to force defenses to respect the run.

With Chad Kelly’s receiving options still loaded on each side, the run game is going to have its chances to improve on last season’s low ranking. The Rebels will be better running in 2016.