OXFORD — Juice Wells knows it’s not going to be this easy the rest of the way.
No. 6 Ole Miss has cruised to a 4-0 start, scoring 76, 52, 40 and 52 points in its first four games.
The Rebels face Kentucky Saturday (11 a.m., ABC) to open the Southeastern Conference portion of their schedule, and the Wildcats are known for their defense. Through four games, Kentucky (2-2) has allowed just 50 points and is holding opponents to 217yards per game.
In other words, the assignment is about to get more difficult for Ole Miss, and Wells, a South Carolina transfer who is second on the Rebels in receiving yards (274), is happy tougher tests have arrived.
“I’m very excited,” Wells said. “I know we're going to face the adversity. I'm very excited and eager to see what we do. I feel like you can do a great job executing on everything we do, and I feel like we want to run, so I just want to take it every week, go 1-0 every week but I'm super excited for what we got in store.
“We face adversity sometimes in practice, you know, but I feel like as long as we got each other on the sidelines, we're not doing any back and forth. We just bring each other together and we, if anything happened, next-up mentality, things like that, and on the defensive side of things, I feel like they can do the same thing. We can be very successful. I feel like as long as we got each other's back and we continue to build that brotherhood, we can lean on people to be there for each other and we can overcome adversity.
“I feel like we’ve gotten a little glimpse of adversity. I feel like we can always bounce back from anything that's on our way. We’ve got each other. We're real close as a team.”
Wells knows what’s next for Ole Miss also. The Rebels play at South Carolina next Saturday, and his return figures to be a hot story in the Palmetto State.
“Honestly, I'm not really worried about it, honestly,” Wells said. “You know, I just want to go 1-0 every week I focus on what we how to do this week. I do a great job of not cluttering my mind with any negative things and anything like that. I don't want everybody to make the game about me once we get there. We still have to be a team. And when this game is a team, it's not about me at all. I want to make sure everybody understand that, but I want to focus on going 1-0 every week and (right now) that’s Kentucky.”
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Wells impressed with Dart: Wells has given Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart a lot of credit for Wells’ growth in the Rebels’ offense. On Monday, he had high praise for Dart’s work ethic and attention to detail.
“I mentioned, I think about a week ago, anything he sees on the field, he's like a coach,” Wells said. “Every time he sees a look or coverage or any tendency that we got from a corner, he's on it quick, and if there's anything we need to correct at practice, he want to approach you like a coach, explain every detail that he sees and also just the way he approaches the game, he probably doesn’t leave this building until probably about 8 every night, so he's up here all the time.
“And even on Thursdays, we just meet as a wide receiver unit and a quarterback and just go over, you know, plays and concepts and he gives us an idea of what he's thinking and we tell him what we're thinking now and we can all be on the same page.”
Amos familiar with Kentucky receivers: Ole Miss cornerback Trey Amos faced Kentucky a season ago when he was with Alabama. So he’s familiar with the Wildcats’ talented receiving corps, one that includes Dane Key (15 receptions, 264 yards) and Barion Brown (12 receptions, 90 yards).
“They have a pretty good wide receiver room, real speed,” Amos said. “We’ve got to get up, get them off their routes, mess with their timing. The D-line is going to eat.”
Miscellaneous: Ole Miss’ game at South Carolina next Saturday was slated Monday for 2:30 p.m. CDT/3:30 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised nationally by ESPN. …Tre Harris was named the Reese’s Senior Bowl Co-Offensive Player of the Week after catching 11 passes for 225 yards and two touchdowns versus Georgia Southern. …Dart was graded out at 92.2 for his effort versus Georgia Southern, which came in at No. 2 on Pro Football Focus’ weekly quarterback grades. Only South Carolina’s Robby Ashford, with a 93.8 versus Akron, graded out higher.
