Redshirt Season a Blessing for Ole Miss Breakout Star Brandon Mack
Brandon Mack is unquestionably the breakout stud out of Ole Miss football's fall camp. But the redshirt freshman edge player came to a point one season ago where he really wasn't sure he would be back in Oxford.
A unanimous three-star defensive end recruit out of Jefferson Davis High School in Montgomery, Ala., Mack wasn't exactly used to sitting on the sidelines. In high school he started as a sophomore, junior and senior. Then, when Mack showed up to Oxford, everything changed.
"At first last year, I wasn't too fond of redshirting. In my mind, I'm like 'am I really supposed to be here?'" Mack said. "Then, talking to older players who redshirted, they told me just to take the year and learn. I got in the weight room and got bigger. At first, I didn't like it, but now that I look back on it, I'm glad I did."
Mack arrived in Oxford at 6-foot-4 and 230-pounds. He says he's put on at least ten pounds between the start of that year too now.
Playing outside linebacker in the Mike MacIntyre 3-4 defense last season, Mack was exclusively on the scout team. He didn't do the redshirt move of getting his four games of live action then redshirting – he was on the sidelines the entire season without dressing.
That said, the scout team experience ended up being a bit of a blessing in disguise that he never saw coming when the 2020 season started up.
"What probably helped me this year from last year where I redshirted was getting a feel of going against the starters," Mack said. "That helped me get a little bit of experience. It pretty much feels the same as it did last year because I was going up against the starters. It doesn't really feel different for me. I'm not just thrown in, it feels like second nature."
Early in camp, the defense struggled. Mack wasn't planning on being a borderline starter. Sam Williams was supposed to be the team's leading pass rusher, but he's out indefinitely amid sexual battery investigation. Mack had to step up, and he's done it flawlessly.
Not one media member asked specifically about Brandon Mack during the first week of camp interviews. His name came up three separate times without prompting. He's stood out to the point where he's gone from a player who didn't see a snap of live action in 2019 to a guy who very well may start in 2020.
The offense dominated the defense in the first scrimmage. They've since held their own, and Mack credits that a lot to spending more time together outside of the facilities.
"Recently, we've come together more as a team and started to understand each other more so we can build a relationship. Since we started building a relationship together, it's carried on to the field," Mack said. "We've started to communicate better and we're playing for each other out there. As a defense, we've looked pretty good the past week or two."
Will Mack start in 2020? That's still up in the air. The defensive line for Ole Miss is the single group with the most turnover from one year ago, leaving a lot of opening for Mack to make his mark. The opening is there for him to grab it and run.
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