OXFORD | Henry Parrish’s second stint at Ole Miss is off to a banner start.

The fifth-year running back, who moonlighted for two seasons at Miami before returning to the Rebels this past offseason, has taken over lead back duties, sharing the load with Matt Jones and making Ulysses Bentley’s lack of playing time a storyline.

Parrish has 44 carries for 338 yards and six touchdowns, including four touchdowns against Middle Tennessee two weeks ago. That’s double the attempts for Jones, who is the Rebels’ second-most used rusher. Ole Miss is trying to limit Jaxson Dart’s exposure in the running game, and Bentley has 14 carries – almost all in mop-up time.

“And just in that game it was kind of pass-heavy, and we really hadn't gone to third back, which right now he is,” Kiffin said of Parrish’s playing time against Wake and why Bentley isn’t seeing many touches.

“The good thing is when you have to make those hard decisions like that and somebody, a veteran player, isn’t playing as much as they’d like, at least we're playing well… So it's kind of hard to argue right now when the other two are doing what they’re doing, especially Henry.”

No. 5 Ole Miss has outscored its opponents 168-9 going into the 6:15 p.m. Saturday matchup in Oxford against Georgia Southern. The Eagles are 2-1 with wins over Nevada and South Carolina State and an 11-point loss at home to Boise State.

Parrish played 64 snaps against Wake Forest, almost double his high from the first two games. It’s also his high as a Rebels, eclipsing the 61 snaps against Tennessee in 2021. Fourteen of Parrish’s 44 attempts have gone for at least 10 yards, and he’s run for 20 first downs. He’s turned eight targets into six catches for 49 yards.

The 5-foot-10, 185-pounder is averaging 3.36 yards after contact, with 148 of his yards in that category. Parrish also hasn’t allowed a pressure while pass blocking this season.

Georgia Southern is 131st nationally in defensive yards per rush (6.57) and yards per game (236). The Eagles are facing the 97th most rushes per game.

In the opener, Boise’s Ashton Jeanty ran for 267 yards and six touchdowns on 20 carries, averaging 13.4 yards per rush. The Broncos ran for 371 yards as a team. Georgia Southern beat Nevada 20-17, but two different Nevada rushers ran for at least 89 yards, and the Wolf Pack ran for 227 yards (5.4 per carry) as a team.

Ole Miss is currently 12th nationally with 258 yards rushing per game and 10th nationally at 6.2 yards per rush. Parrish is 11th nationally and third in the SEC in rushing yards.