2015 was a historical year for the Ole Miss Rebels. Chad Kelly turned in a record-breaking season, the Rebels were one incredibly lucky play away from a berth in the SEC Championship Game, and a dominating victory over Oklahoma State in the Allstate Sugar Bowl was the perfect exclamation point.
Here was one of the more exciting plays of the Rebels' 34-16 victory:
Now Kelly, who still has one year of eligibility remaining, has to decide whether or not he will return to Oxford for his senior season. All signs point to him doing just that—especially with highly-touted pro prospects Jared Goff and Christian Hackenberg each announcing they will go to the draft—and if he does, an even more special 2016 season might be on the horizon for Hugh Freeze’s squad.
The Rebels certainly have the talent to do it.
The draft stock of junior Laquon Treadwell, the SEC’s leader in receiving yards and touchdown catches in 2015, is likely at its highest after his three TD catches in the Sugar Bowl, so he probably won’t be back next year. Cody Core, who finished second on the team in receiving yards, and leading rusher Jaylen Walton are both seniors and played their last collegiate game on Friday.
However, while those three will definitely be missed, there is plenty of other skill position talent left on the roster.
Quincy Adeboyejo will be a senior next year and will likely take over as the go-to guy in the receiving corps, but the duo of Damore’ea Stringfellow and Markell Pack each showed pass-catching potential in 2015 and will see increased roles next season. Former 4-star recruit Damarkus Lodge only caught one pass this year, but with Treadwell and Core exiting, he could see his fair share of targets next year.
And don’t forget about All-American tight end Evan Engram. There is a legitimate chance that he declares for the NFL Draft—he is the fourth-ranked tight end in the class, according to CBS Sports—but if he decides to return, he would be yet another weapon on a loaded offense.
However, it’s the guy distributing the ball to those guys that is of utmost importance.
If Kelly returns next season, the Rebels will enter the 2016 season with tremendous hype. Kelly was one of the most productive players in all of college football this season as well as SEC history—only Johnny Manziel has accounted for more yards in a single season than Kelly did in 2015—and with a full offseason getting even more comfortable with the nuances of Freeze’s offense, the ceiling is sky high.
He set Ole Miss single-season records with 4,551 total yards, 4,042 passing yards, 41 total touchdowns and eight 300-yard passing games. He also led the SEC in passing yards.
Kelly, the nephew of NFL legend Jim Kelly, is the entire package. He has an incredibly strong arm that he is not afraid to showcase on a regular basis, run extremely well for a quarterback and possesses a fiery competitiveness that makes him the perfect leader for an outsider like Ole Miss, challenging traditional bluebloods like Alabama and LSU.
He will make a fine NFL quarterback, but he needs to return for his senior year. He has taken a circuitous route to where he is now, getting dismissed from Clemson before starring at East Mississippi Community College and getting a second chance from Freeze, and another big year could cement his name as one of the greatest SEC quarterbacks in recent memory.
In addition to the positive individual benefits that come with a Kelly return, it also makes the Rebels a potentially scary contender in 2016.
They recorded huge wins against Alabama, LSU, Texas A&M and Mississippi State, and they were a 4th-and-25 lateral against Arkansas away from playing in the SEC Championship Game. Even though they will lose quite a bit from this year’s 10-3 squad, they have the necessary talent to be even better next season.
Ole Miss also currently has the No. 6 recruiting class in the country, according to 247Sports, including two of the top five players in the country in 5-star offensive tackle Gregory Litte and 5-star quarterback Shea Patterson.
Ultimately, an offense with Freeze calling the shots and Kelly chucking the pigskin is almost guaranteed to be potent, and the vaunted “Land Shark” defense will surely inflict plenty of damage on their opponents.
How many wins that results in is yet to be determined, but what is for sure is that the 2016 Rebels have the ability to be as good, if not better, than this year’s team.
And when you think about how good they were in 2015, that is a terrifying thought.