Deuce Alexander is making sure Ole Miss gets the full benefit of his speed.
Through five games, the wideout has piled up 32 catches for 503 yards and five touchdowns, putting himself in position as one of the SEC’s most dangerous playmakers and an emerging NFL prospect. The numbers are loud enough on their own, but Alexander thinks there’s still more coming.
“It’s been great, man,” Alexander said. “Over the years I knew I could have been showcasing this, but I’m just glad that this year I’m able to showcase my talents and show the world and everybody what I can do.
And I’m not done yet. You haven’t seen anything yet.”
That burst has fit neatly into offensive coordinator John David Baker’s system, especially because Baker has found ways to move Alexander all over the formation and even give him touches out of the backfield.
“He likes to move me around a lot more and let me showcase my speed,” Alexander said. “Even in the last game, he let me get some touches out of the backfield.
So it’s things like that, letting me showcase the things I can do. It just fits me more.”
Alexander also pointed to the work he’s put in as a route runner, saying that part of his game has taken a clear step forward.
“It’s very important, because playing wide receiver is all about creating separation,” Alexander said. “In my eyes, if you can’t create separation at this level, you’re not going to be able to do it at the next level.
So I worked on that in the offseason with my father and my coaches, making sure my cuts and breaks are good so I can create that separation. It’s very important.”
Ole Miss will need that version of Alexander again Saturday when the ninth-ranked Rebels host No. 13 Missouri at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium at 2:30 p.m. on SEC Network. The Rebels are 4-1 overall and 2-1 in the SEC, while Missouri comes in at 5-1 and 2-1.
The Rebels are coming off a 52-17 win at Vanderbilt, a result Alexander said the team needed “bad.”
“After taking a tough loss, we had to wait two weeks to play another game, so everybody was anxious and ready to go,” Alexander said. “We kept our focus during the week on the next game and on going out there and putting together a full game. We still haven’t put a full game together, so I’m excited to see that going forward.
“Just taking it one play at a time and playing as a whole, as a group. Some games it’s the defense, some games it’s the offense, some games it’s special teams. Putting it all together and coming together as one will help us finish out a game, especially halfway through the season.”
On the other side of the ball, Ole Miss cornerback Antonio Kite said the defense’s five turnovers against Vanderbilt were a welcome change. The Rebels had forced just two turnovers in their first four games.
“That was big for us, seeing a lot of guys go out there and get the ball,” Kite said. “We haven’t been doing that, but we’ve been working on it every day at practice, trying to get the ball more and get better at it.”
Kite said the focus sharpened after the loss at Florida, which gave the Rebels two weeks to sit with it and reset.
“I don’t want to say a loss is a good thing, but I think we learned from it,” Kite said. “We don’t want to feel that feeling again. So with everything on the line, we just want to go out there, win every game, play our best and have fun.”
Saturday’s matchup also means facing some familiar faces. Austin Simmons, Cayden Lee and Chris Graves are former Ole Miss starters now with Missouri.
“I feel like it’s a regular game,” Kite said. “They’re a great team, but I take every game as a high-level game, especially when I’m playing against some old friends. There’s going to be a lot of trash talking between me and Chris Graves, and I’m going to try to get in Lee’s head a little bit.”
Up front, Connor Howes has been one of the Rebels’ quiet success stories. Injuries pushed him into the starting lineup at right tackle, and he has held that spot by competing every day with Tommy Kinsler IV.
“Man, I’ve just been competing every day,” Howes said Tuesday. “Tommy came in, and we’ve been battling for the spot.
It’s a battle every day to see who comes out on top. It’s day by day.
We continue to battle it out every day, just like today in practice. We rotate reps, and it comes down to whoever has the better week.”
Howes said the transition to college football has been a challenge after playing in a Wing-T offense in high school, but the live reps have helped him settle in.
“I’d say I run block pretty well- down blocks and all that stuff,” Howes said. “My hands are good in pass pro.
I need to work on getting my pad level down, settling bull rushes and countering guys’ moves, like spin moves. But I’d say the little things are what I need to work on most.”
He said the biggest boost has been the chance to line up consistently and learn through game action.
“One of the main things in football is being comfortable with the guy next to you,” Howes said. “I’m blessed to have (Patrick) Kutas right next to me, and everybody else on down the line, and Terez (Davis) helps me out a lot from the left side.
So it’s being comfortable with the guy next to you, taking reps and reps and reps, the walkthroughs we do, and coming in to get extra meeting time. That’s the process to become great.
“I think getting some playing time this year has helped a lot, because I’ve been able to watch film on Sundays and know what I do right, what I do wrong and what I grade out at. I’ll know, ‘Hey, you struggled with getting your hat inside on cutoffs,’ or, ‘You struggled with settling bull rushes.’
Actually getting live reps and understanding what I struggle with helps me for the next week. Going into the week, I know what to work on.”
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