John Rhys Plumlee to start on Saturday, per report

Late Friday afternoon, Supertalk Mississippi’s Brian Scott Rippee reported that fellow three name dude John Rhys Plumlee will be starting for Ole Miss when they travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala. to take on No. 2 Alabama at 2:30pm on CBS.

And if that report wasn’t enough, redshirt freshman quarterback Matt Corral posted on his Instagram account, imploring J.R.P. to “show them what we have been seeing since day one”.

The true freshman from Hattiesburg, Miss. will be stepping in for the injured Corral who is recovering from bruised ribs suffered in last week’s 28-20 loss to Cal. Plumlee, who came in and sparked a comeback that almost saw the Rebels be a two-point conversion away from overtime, will look to build off his brief success against the Bears and try to get something going against an Alabama defense that is ranked 7th in the nation in SP+ defense.

Earlier this week, head coach Matt Luke confirmed with the media that Corral has not been doing much at practice and that Plumlee has been taking all of the first team reps.

The 6’0, 192-pounder is an electrifying athlete that is set to play baseball for Mike Bianco in the spring. He appears to be a great fit for the traditional Rich Rodriguez offense that featured super athletic speedsters at quarterback like Pat White at West Virginia, Denard Robinson at Michigan, and Khalil Tate at Arizona.

But, he will have his work cut out for him in his first start as a Rebel going up against the Crimson Tide in Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday. in fact, this true freshman theme is something Alabama fans will need to get used to apparently.

Today’s game isn’t as much as Plumlee needs to lead Ole Miss to a win because, come on, we all can admit that’s a tall order. But, it’s more about he and fellow backup and true freshman Grant Tisdale getting quality SEC reps against a talented unit and letting Corral get some much needed rest before returning home and taking on Vanderbilt.

I wrote about why I thought they should both play earlier in the week and now they will have their free shot at Alabama to show the staff and you, the fans, what they have. The Rebels may not win, but if Plumlee and Tisdale can do some good things, it’s certainly something to build on and lets the staff know that they can count on them if Corral were to go down again or not be ready for the Commodores.

No pressure right?