What it means: Jerrion Ealy to miss baseball season with shoulder surgery

Ole Miss two-sport athlete Jerrion Ealy will undergo surgery on his throwing (right) shoulder Thursday, a procedure that will keep him from participating in the 2021 baseball season.

Ealy, who rushed for 745 yards and scored 11 total touchdowns in nine games during football season, missed the Outback Bowl with an ankle injury but is expected to be full strength for next football season.

The football timetable demanded a shoulder clean-up now prior to the fall.

The sophomore (football and academically) played in 13 games, with six starts, during the COVID-shortened baseball season. Ealy was expected to compete for playing time in the outfield and give the Rebels a dynamic runner and defender.

Ole Miss, which returns seven of its nine non-pitcher starters from last season, has the depth to overcome Ealy’s absence, however this does bring a few things into greater focus.

Here are three of those things.

Justin Bench was likely the favorite to start in centerfield regardless of Ealy’s availability, but that’s even more the case now.

Bench can play all over the field and has alternated time between outfield and the middle infield during his time in Oxford. He reached base in 16 of 17 games in 2020 including the first 15 games of the season.

He hit .295 and is the best bunter on the roster. Bench missed time in the fall due to injury but is 100 percent for the spring and will play every day somewhere.

Bench had a .458 on-base percentage last season and struck out just six times in 59 at-bats.

Ole Miss has had riches at shortstop for a while now, as Errol Robinson, Grae Kessinger and Anthony Servideo have occupied the spot since Robinson, who spent time in Triple-A in 2019, was a freshman in 2014.

Kessinger won the Brooks Wallace Award, given to the nation’s top shortstop, in 2019, and Servideo was his heir apparent and didn’t disappoint. In the shortened season, Servideo hit .390 and led the SEC in walks and on-base percentage while hitting five home runs in just 17 games.

It’s the first time in a while Ole Miss hasn’t had a clear idea of the premier position heading into the season, and newcomer Jacob Gonzalez has a chance to take over the spot.

The 6-foot-2, 175-pounder flashed throughout the fall and showed the ability to hit and defend during the practice period that had more intrasquads than usual. He hit .400 against his teammates in the fall and showed advanced plate awareness, leading the team in swing selection (taking pitches outside the strike zone).

He’s profiles as a physical shortstop who may end up a third-base prospect, but the early returns have been very promising at shortstop. He needs to continue his transition to SEC play well in the spring, but there’s the hope he solidifies things at shortstop, allowing Bench to play elsewhere and TJ McCants to not have to rush his development.

Ealy needs the surgery to make the shoulder as healthy as possible, but it's not an injury that would keep him out of action on the football field. The decision to operate now, at least indirectly, is him putting football in front of baseball -- a logical option since the path to a professional football career is clearer and a straighter line.

It's the best move to give him the best chance at the most productive football season possible in 2021, and a healthy Ealy would at least have the option of bypassing his fourth season in Oxford this time next year for the NFL Draft.

Ealy intends, as of now, to play baseball next spring, but between his possibilities in football and his year away from the game, it's fair to question what his future on the diamond holds. Mike Bianco will always welcome him back whenever he's ready, but this is clearly a football decision with surgery a day away.