'No Pressure': Rebels RB Quishon Judkins Is Just Getting Warmed Up

After cementing his name as one of the top running backs in college football as a freshman, Quishon Judkins is just getting started.

Quishon Judkins doesn't view his freshman season at Ole Miss as a breakout one. Consider it the opening act for what's in store come 2023. 

Judkins, who set the Rebels' single-season program records in rushing yards (1,567) and rushing touchdowns (16), only had a taste of college football. He now has his sophomore steps in and his feet firmly planted as the team's top runner.

Last season, Judkins started the year off as a role player. Imagine the fear he will now strike in SEC defensive coordinators as the leading man? 

"I know what my role is to this team," Judkins said Tuesday during his first media session of the spring. "I know if I come in, work hard just like I did last year and just get better at a lot of things I could fix, there's no pressure."

Why would there be pressure on Judkins to over exceeded his out-of-this-world expectations? Last season, he was expected to be the No. 3 running back behind transfers Zach Evans (TCU) and Ulysses Benetly IV (SMU). 

That lasted for what felt like two minutes. In reality, it was six games. Once mid-October arrived, so did Judkins, who finished the final seven outings with at least 20 carries and 91 yards on the ground. 

“I wasn’t (surprised by early success). I knew that coming into … last year, coming out, working hard, giving my all, just enjoying the moment with my teammates and having their back as much as they had mine, I knew it would pay off,” Judkins said.

Rebels coach Lane Kiffin has seen his fair share of talented tailbacks in his day. He's even coached a few to trips to New York City to hoist up the Heisman Trophy. And while Derrick Herny was a unicorn en route to becoming one of the NFL's top rushers, Reggie Bush is more so a namesake Kiffin can see in his sophomore runner. 

Bush, one of the top running backs in college football history, started his USC career off on the opposite spectrum to Judkins, rushing for 521 yards and three touchdowns. As a sophomore, the numbers improved, but still couldn't be found in the same zip code as the Alabama native's first season on the Grove. 

But as a junior? Bush rushed for 1,740 yards to go along with 478 receiving yards and 18 total TDs. That year, he took home the Heisman before being forced to forfeit it. 

Kiffin, who was an assistant coach at USC from 2001-06, isn't trying to make comparisons of Judkins' year in Oxford to what Bush did at Southern California. Then again, Kiffin is a realist. Despite a first season filled with plenty of positives, there's still room for growth. 

"He had a good freshman year, but it was like, 'OK, now you could do all this other stuff with him that you didn’t want to do too much right away with a running back because then they’re not improving on their base, normal running back stuff they need to do,'" Kiffin said. "So, really excited about that.”

There will be a target on Judkins' back entering the season — similar to the one found in the offseason, but for a different reason. Kiffin didn't make it a secret that the former three-star recruit was being courted by other programs to leave Oxford after a stellar first season. 

“I didn’t pay attention to any of those things,” Judkins said. “I just focus on football and where my head is, where my team is, where my coach is and just focus on what matters and win games." 

Judkins said that Ole Miss didn't "out-recruit" other programs to land him during his senior season, but instead took a different approach. Unlike treating him as if he were another name on the roster, Kiffin and running backs coach Kevin Smith was "more genuine” in trying to land his services. 

During his final year at Pike Road High School, Judkins remembers that Smith and Kiffin made multiple trips to watch him play. He'll now return to the favor to play for them in 2023 and beyond at a place he considers home. 

“I love Oxford. I love the people,” Judkins said. “Most definitely my teammates, the coaches, and I’m just where my feet are and I just love this community. I don’t want to be nowhere else.”

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