OXFORD -- Keidron Smith was forced into early playing time last season.
What he learned, via the trials and tribulations of life in the Southeastern Conference, was he needed to get stronger and faster.
So Smith, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound cornerback, went to work in the weight room. He got stronger and improved his speed.
On Saturday, in Ole Miss' 15-10 loss at Memphis, the improvement showed. Smith had seven tackles for the Rebels, looking the part of a dominant SEC corner.
"I was way more confident," Smith said. "I was out there making plays left and right. ...With my length, they continue to look at me as a slow guy, so I want to be out there and be able to stay with those quick receivers that have the ability to get loose and that kind of stuff."
"He's done really good," Ole Miss defensive backs coach Charles Clark said. "He's a younger guy but I put him in a leadership role in certain things just because we have some freshmen behind him who haven't played. He's helped bring those guys along and help mentor those guys when I'm not around."
Smith gives a lot of the credit to his improvement to new Ole Miss defensive coordinator Mike MacIntyre, who changed some areas of emphasis when he arrived in Oxford. The Rebels lost at Memphis, but the defense was solid and left the Liberty Bowl confident it can continue to improve.
"We're buying into Coach Mac's philosophy and it showed out there Saturday," Smith said. "It's just discipline, knowing Coach Mac is giving us a gameplan and we're going out and executing.
"Coach Mac"s main focus coming in was us tackling. We do tackling drills most every day. Coach Mac is more focused on tackling than last year. We were more about plays last year."
Smith and the Rebels will look for their first win of the season Saturday against Arkansas (1-0) in Oxford. Ole Miss won in Little Rock last October, 37-33, in a wild game that has proven to be par for the course in the series between the Rebels and the Razorbacks.
"It was cold," Smith said. " I know that for sure. It was my first cold game, but I know they're going to come out here with a mindset to beat us. We've just got to be ready."
