Ole Miss is expected to have one of the youngest travel rosters in the league when the Rebels head to Memphis for the season opener come Aug. 31.

While that may be reason for some concern, it doesn’t seem to bother Ole Miss offensive coordinator Rich Rodriguez when discussing Jonathan Mingo, one of the program’s true freshman receivers.

The Rebels managed to keep Mingo in state and away from Georgia, where Mingo had visited leading up to National Signing Day, and now it appears he will start his collegiate career as one of the team’s starters entering Week 1 of the season.

During his Wednesday media availability, Rodriguez talked up Mingo’s training camp performance — both from a physical standpoint and a mental aspect.

“Been really good,” Rodriquez said of Mingo’s training camp. “We knew the physical part was there when we recruited him, he’s a big strong fast physical guy, but he has picked things up really well mentally. The football part of it, he’s worked really hard on that – he’s going to play. He’s going to play an awful lot as a true freshman, maybe start, I don’t know, probably. He’s definitely going to be in the mix.”

When you sign a high school Under Armour All-American, you expect to be getting a difference-maker on the field and that appears to be what the Rebels are getting from the Brandon, Miss., native. Mingo was rated as a top 250 overall prospect in the nation for the 2019 recruiting cycle after catching 77 passes for 1,451 yards and 14 touchdowns as a high school senior.