Kirk Herbstreit names Ole Miss weapon as CFB’s ‘best kept secret’
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Lane Kiffin’s high-powered offense turned heads in Year 1 at Ole Miss. Elijah Moore is generating potential “Rookie of the Year” buzz in NFL preseason camp. Matt Corral is being mentioned in the 2021 Heisman Trophy discussion. While the passing attack is the reason for lots of the Year 2 hype, ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit recently showed some love to Rebels running back Jerrion Ealy.
During his preseason “Herbie Awards,” Herbstreit selected Ealy as college football’s “Best Kept Secret.”
“All you hear about is Lane Kiffin, Matt Corral throwing the ball and how great they are and devastating they are as an offense when it comes to throwing the football,” Herbstreit said, per 247Sports. “But they’re balanced, man. They can run the ball, and Ealy is a big-time player in the SEC for that offense.”
“We’ve seen that over the years when (Lane Kiffin is) in charge of offense it’s not just one guy,” Herbstreit added. “He’ll spread it around. He’ll find weaknesses to a defense. Louisville better be ready because, again I want to reiterate with Ole Miss, Lane Kiffin people think about quarterback play, they think about wide receivers, but if you watch this offense that he has it’s a very balanced attack and Ealy is a guy that if you’re not paying attention to the box in the running game he’ll get you for big plays. So excited to see what he can do on that opening night on Labor Day.”
In 9 games last year, Ealy rushed 147 times for 745 yards and 9 touchdowns. He also logged 15 catches for 155 yards and a TD. We’ll see what kind of numbers the speedy running back puts up in his junior season.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
