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Ole Miss football: Wide receiver Malik Heath continuing to emerge for Rebels
By Crissy Froyd
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Ole Miss is known this year for a rushing attack led by freshman standout Quinshon Judkins that ranks No. 1 in the Southeastern Conference and No. 3 in the nation.
But while the ground game has dominated and the passing game has largely been a work in progress as transfer quarterback Jaxson Dart has continued to develop, there have been some games that the Rebels have accomplished a good bit through the air. Take Dart’s 448-yard passing game in the 52-28 win over Vanderbilt as 1 instance.
That game marked wide receiver Jonathan Mingo’s incredible performance of 247 receiving yards in which he also had 2 touchdowns on 9 receptions. Pass-catcher Jordan Watkins also crossed the century mark with 7 receptions for 117 yards with 1 touchdown.
Among the team’s receivers standing out aside from those 2 is Mississippi State transfer Malik Heath, who seems to be reaching new heights with a change of scenery. So far this season, Heath has 3 games in which he has caught passes for at least 100 receiving yards, tallying exactly 100 yards in the 22-19 win over Kentucky, 145 yards in the 45-20 loss to LSU and 123 yards in the narrow, 30-24 loss to Alabama last Saturday.
On the year, with 2 regular-season games left, Heath has come down with 38 catches for 614 yards (16.2 yards per catch) with a long catch of 37 yards and 3 touchdowns.
It was in that last performance that Heath particularly caught some attention, going up against one of the most formidable opponents in the nation in an angry, 2-loss Alabama team that was eager to get back to the win column after a 32-31 overtime loss to LSU the week before.
“Just great throws and great ball placement with the back shoulder fades,” Heath said after the game when asked about his success on the field. “Coach [Lane Kiffin] told me throughout the week that I need to be ready to make a play. [Alabama’s] right-side corner has been weak all year, so we just have to be ready to play ball.”
Heath came close to being the one to secure a win for the Rebels over the Crimson Tide on his final target of the contest after helping move the chains several times throughout the contest. But there was a miscommunication as Dart looked to mail one in in the red zone.
“I tried to go outside [first], ended up slipping back inside, me and the quarterback just weren’t connected right there,” Heath said. “That’s my fault. I should’ve taken the outside release.”
Heath seemed to reflect some of Kiffin’s sentiment about the outcome of the game, which could be deemed “so close, yet so far away.” But at the end of the day, a loss is a loss regardless of how much it may have come down to the wire. And moving forward, Heath is looking ahead to continuing to become a player who can help this team get the job done when it matters the most.
“In my opinion, I think we had everything we wanted; we just didn’t finish,” Heath said. “When you’re at the 15-yard line getting ready to beat Alabama, you have to finish that. We’re getting everything we want and driving the ball down the field; we’re just not finishing drives.”
The closest Heath came to 100 receiving yards in 2021 with Mississippi State was his 87-yard outing in the 55-10 victory over Tennessee State. He had 1 touchdown in that game, also scoring a single touchdown against Auburn, Vanderbilt, Memphis and North Carolina State. He finished the 2021 season with 34 receptions for 442 yards (13 yards-per-catch average) with a long catch of 56 yards and 5 touchdowns.
As the Rebels’ passing attack continues to take shape as Dart garners more experience, it will be interesting to watch just how much Heath continues to progress. No. 14 Ole Miss (8-2, 4-2 SEC) is set to take on Arkansas on the road on Saturday, before closing out the regular season with the Egg Bowl matchup against Heath’s former team on Thanksgiving night at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
In the previous Egg Bowl matchup when Heath suited up on the other side in Starkville, he finished the Bulldogs’ 31-21 loss with just 1 reception for 5 yards — numbers Heath is sure to top this time around.
Crissy covers SEC football news for Saturday Down South.
