Ole Miss is heading into its Week 6 trip to Nashville with a boost it badly needed: Kewan Lacy is expected back.
The Rebels’ star running back missed the loss to Florida after leaving the LSU win in the first half with an undisclosed injury, but the bye week gave him time to get right. Ole Miss coach Pete Golding sounded confident Monday that Lacy will be available against Vanderbilt.
"Obviously [Lacy] rested all last week," Ole Miss coach Pete Golding said in his Monday press conference. "Was good for a solid week, not practicing.
Practiced last night, came back. Did individual, did some team sessions.
A lot of that was non-contact last week. Fully anticipate having him this week."
That’s welcome news for an Ole Miss ground game that sputtered without him. In the two games after Lacy went down, backups JT Lindsey and Makhi Frazier combined for 93 yards on 23 carries. Against Florida, Trinidad Chambliss ended up leading the Rebels in rushing with 44 yards and two touchdowns, a reminder of how much the offense leaned on its quarterback to create something on the ground.
Lacy’s production has already been central to the Rebels’ offense this season. He has 191 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 39 carries, and that comes after a 2025 season in which he was Ole Miss’ workhorse with more than 306 carries for 1,564 yards and 24 touchdowns.
Even with Lacy back, Ole Miss isn’t expected to just hand him the keys and let him carry the load unchecked. Golding said the staff will be mindful of how much they ask of him as he returns to the rotation, noting that Lacy’s "not going to take the toll of 40 or 50 snaps."
The Rebels have leaned more on Chambliss’ arm early this season, and the rushing attack hasn’t looked as dynamic in 2026 even with Lacy in the mix. Still, getting him back gives Ole Miss a chance to tilt toward a more balanced offense as it moves forward.
In Other News...
Vanderbilt Found A Few Reasons For Hope Before SEC Reality Hits
Vanderbilt left Athens with a 38-14 loss to No. 2 Georgia, and the scoreboard still reflected the gap between the Commodores and the leagues top end. But for a team trying to find footing early in SEC play, there were at least a few signs worth taking back home: backup quarterback Blaze Berlowitz handled the job reasonably well, throwing for 190 yards and a touchdown, while wideout JaCory Thomas turned in his most productive outing by yardage with two catches for 43 yards.
The bigger takeaway for Vanderbilt may have been the line play, which held up well enough in the first half to give the offense a chance before things tightened up after halftime. The Commodores are now 3-2 overall and 0-2 in the SEC, so the margin for comfort is gone quickly, but this was not a game without encouragement for a team that needed some before the schedule gets any less forgiving. [Read more 🡒]
Vanderbilts Arkansas Slot Just Raised The Stakes For Bowl Hopes
Vanderbilts upcoming stretch now has a little more definition, and a little more pressure, after the SEC announced kickoff details for several key late-season dates. The road trip to Arkansas on Oct. 17 is set for 6 p.m. CT on ESPN2, giving the Commodores another prime-time chance to shape a season that still has bowl implications attached to it. The latest schedule update also places Vanderbilt in night-game windows for Kentucky and Tennessee, while the Mississippi State matchup remains a flex game with its start time still to be determined.
Before any of that, though, Vanderbilt has a major test in front of it at home against No. 9 Ole Miss on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT on ESPN. The timing matters because every one of these remaining games carries weight for a program trying to keep its postseason path alive, and the Arkansas date in particular now looks like a spotlight opportunity rather than just another entry on the calendar. [Read more 🡒]