Rebels experience second homecoming

OXFORD — Ole Miss celebrated its homecoming last weekend, but forgive a few Rebels if they think Saturday’s 11 a.m. game at Memphis serves as another one.

Eleven Rebels come from the greater Memphis area, including offensive lineman Ben Still, running backs Jaylen Walton and Jordan Wilkins and kicker Gary Wunderlich. Rebels head coach Hugh Freeze also coached at Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis for 13 years.

“I’ve been excited for this game all year,” Wilkins said. “It’s really big.”

Ole Miss and Memphis enter Saturday both ranked for the first time in the 60-game series that Ole Miss leads 48-10-2. The Rebels are No. 12 in the Amway Coaches Poll and No. 13 in the AP Top 25, while the Tigers are No. 22 in the former and receiving votes in the latter.

Memphis is also the closest FBS program to Ole Miss, edging Mississippi State by about 20 miles. They played last season, a 24-3 home win for the Rebels, for the first time in five years.

“It means a lot (for the fan bases),” Freeze said. “They work together, they live together. A lot of friends on both sides. It would give us bragging rights for the next 365 days.”

Wilkins can’t escape the trash talk ahead of the game, not even from his girlfriend, Brooke Deason, who is a cheerleader for the Tigers.

He also knows several of the Tigers well. Wilkins played AAU basketball with junior running back Sam Craft and is close with true freshman Joey Magnifico, a walk-on tight end.

“A lot of tweets have started,” Wilkins said. “Last year, this was one of the most exciting games we had all year. There was a lot of trash talk. I don’t want to get into all that.

“We heard (Memphis fans) chanting, ‘We want Ole Miss,’ after the Cincinnati game. That fired me up a little bit, so I’m excited.”

The sophomore had an opportunity to join the Tigers. He grew up in the Memphis suburb of Cordova, Tennessee, and attended several Memphis games with a grandmother during that time. The Tigers recruited him, but he wanted to play in the Southeastern Conference.

Saturday’s game holds great importance for the Tigers (5-0, 2-0 American Athletic Conference). An upset would give them a good chance of finishing the season without a loss and playing in a premier bowl game, perhaps one of the New Year’s Six.

The Tigers haven’t lost since their defeat against the Rebels last season. Their 12-game win streak is the third-longest among FBS programs behind defending national champion Ohio State (19 games) and TCU (14) and is the longest in program history.

But the Rebels have won six consecutive games in the series, a streak that dates back to 2005, and have only lost twice on the road to Memphis since 1987.

Although they don’t compete much with the Tigers for recruits, another victory could help the Rebels stand out in an area they recruit heavily.

“Recruiting Memphis is always important,” Freeze said. “It has a lot of good football programs, which means there’s a lot of good kids. That means it’s always important to us.

“This game will have an impact on (recruiting) for sure. I don’t believe one game decides a recruit’s mind. There are so many factors that go into recruiting. I think it gives you a temporary bump, maybe, but long term, I believe relationships win out.”

SCHEDULING NOTE: On Oct. 24, Ole Miss will play Texas A&M either at 2:30 p.m. on CBS or at 6 p.m. on ESPN, the SEC announced Monday.

Contact Daniel Paulling at dpaulling@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @DanielPaulling on Twitter.