OXFORD, Miss. -- Junior wide receiver Melvin Harris was dismissed from the Ole Miss football program Monday.

The oft-injured, frequently embattled Harris was suspended for the first three games of this season for violation of team rules. He played against Georgia, Fresno State and Alabama, catching two passes for 21 yards and a touchdown.

"We tried to help him for three years," Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt said. "I don't want to get all the way involved in everything, the scenario of this thing, but he's going to continue to go to school and hopefully get his life in order.

"…It's just sad, but I know this. I know we did everything we could to try to help him. I know that."

Harris was suspended from last season's season finale, an Egg Bowl loss to Mississippi State, after getting a DUI in the early-morning hours following the Rebels' return from a loss to LSU in Baton Rouge, La.

The Buford, Ga., native finished his Ole Miss career with 33 receptions for 434 yards and three touchdowns.

Harris' dismissal comes just four days after four players _ running back Brandon Bolden, wide receiver Philander Moore and offensive linemen A.J. Hawkins and Alex Washington _ were suspended from the Rebels' date with Alabama for a violation of team rules. Ole Miss lost to the second-ranked Crimson Tide, 52-7.

"I wake up in the middle sometimes thinking, 'Can we have a perfect week?'" Nutt said. "It seems like there are some years _ this is probably about the second time _ where you feel like once you get going you have something like Wayne Dorsey and Marcus Temple (suffering season-ending injuries). Boy, that just hurts your team and hurts everything.

"The only thing I know is go to work, roll up your sleeves and take the guys that you have, get them better and compete hard. I just believe we'll have some guys that will step up."

Ole Miss (2-4 overall, 0-3 in the Southeastern Conference) will face No. 10 Arkansas (5-1, 1-1) Saturday at 11:21 a.m. at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. The Rebels have lost 11 of their last 12 SEC games and haven't won in the league since beating Kentucky in Oxford on Oct. 2, 2010.

"It's not fun," Nutt said. "Winning, you know, is how spell fun. So you can imagine it's not a good feeling because you want to win and that's all you try to do each and every Saturday is win."

Nutt said Monday he feels there is "a light at the end of the tunnel. I really do. I know it's not a train coming because of the guys that are playing, especially the amount of young players that are playing. So, to me, about hanging on, the stick-to-it-ness, the never-give-up attitude, the perseverance, all those things. All those lessons, to me, (are) what football's about. Everybody keep believing."

FREE FALLING: After Saturday's loss to Alabama, Ole Miss is now 11th in the SEC in scoring offense, scoring defense, total offense and rushing offense. The Rebels are last in the league in total defense, rushing defense and time of possession and 10th in the SEC in pass offense and pass defense.