OXFORD - With Kewan Lacy sidelined by a shoulder injury, Shekai Mills-Knight has stepped into the spotlight for Ole Miss and made the most of it against Auburn.
The 6-foot-1, 220-pound sophomore delivered a breakout first half on Oct. 31 as No. 12 Ole Miss (5-2, 3-2 SEC) took a 14-9 lead into halftime against Auburn (4-3, 2-3) on SEC Network. Mills-Knight piled up 12 carries for 55 yards, both a career high in yardage, and finished the half with a touchdown from the Auburn 1-yard line with 2:26 left before the break.
Mills-Knight has spent most of his time behind Lacy on the depth chart since 2025, but his role has grown with Lacy unavailable. He entered the Auburn matchup with just four rushing attempts in 2026, all of them coming in Ole Miss’ Oct. 10 game at Vanderbilt. In that outing, he ran for 42 yards and a touchdown, highlighted by a 35-yard scoring run.
Before this season, Mills-Knight’s workload had been limited. He appeared in three games in 2025 and finished with eight carries for 25 yards.
A native of Montreal, Canada, Mills-Knight played his high school football at the Baylor School in Tennessee, a Chattanooga powerhouse that also produced Ole Miss starting center Brycen Sanders.
He arrived in Oxford as a four-star recruit in the 2025 class, according to the 247Sports Composite. He was rated the No. 6 running back in the class and the No. 2 player in Tennessee.
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