Ole Miss is about to find out right away whether the lessons from last season’s struggles in the run game have actually stuck.
The Rebels open Sept. 6 at 6:30 p.m. CT on ABC against Louisville at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, and the assignment is as tough as it gets: Isaac Brown, one of the nation’s most explosive backs, waiting in the first game of the year.
That’s a problem Ole Miss knows well. In 2025, the Rebels were No. 12 in the SEC in rushing defense, giving up 149 yards per game. They also felt that weakness in the College Football Playoff semifinals, when Miami’s Mark Fletcher ran for 133 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries in the Fiesta Bowl.
Pete Golding didn’t soften the scouting report on Brown.
"This kid is special," Ole Miss coach Pete Golding said Aug. 31.
"He's explosive on tape, really good in space. He's got top-end speed.
He's built to finish. Super impressed.
I think he's actually one of the best backs we'll see all year."
Brown, a 5-foot-9, 190-pound junior from Miami, has been a big-play machine when healthy. He ran for 884 yards and seven touchdowns in nine games in 2025, averaging 8.8 yards per carry despite lower-body injuries that cut his season short. In 2024, he piled up 1,173 yards and 11 touchdowns over 13 games and averaged 7.1 yards per carry.
Ole Miss has tried to make practice as useful as possible, but Golding said there’s only so much a team can do before a real game arrives. Live tackling periods help, but they still don’t fully recreate what Brown brings.
That’s where Kewan Lacy comes in.
Golding said facing Ole Miss’ own star back every day has been a major help for the defense. Lacy rushed for an Ole Miss record 1,567 yards in 15 games in 2025, good for No. 3 nationally, and Ole Miss enters the season with a dual Heisman Trophy campaign built around Lacy and quarterback Trinidad Chambliss.
"There's nothing like getting out there 11-on-11, having responsibilities run and pass and coming up against an elite player and having to get him on the ground," Golding said.
Ole Miss did have some success against other top rushing threats last season. Against Georgia running back Nate Frazier, the Rebels limited him to 158 yards on 32 combined carries across two games, a 4.9-yard average, with one touchdown. In the Egg Bowl, Mississippi State’s Fluff Bothwell ran for 80 yards, though quarterback Kamario Taylor added 173 yards on the ground.
Golding also praised Louisville coach Jeff Brohm for sticking with the run game, even when the Cardinals’ offense has to grind through a game. Louisville is projected to start quarterback Lincoln Kienholz, who transferred from Ohio State, but Golding said the offense still runs through Brown.
"That offense kind of goes as (Brown) goes," Golding said. "That's one thing, when you watch them in games, Brohm does a really good job of staying patient and he doesn't loose control.
To where, when the game is on the line in the third and fourth quarter, you know who is about to get it. He's show to be really explosive, really competitive."
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