Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin looks back at the running back room after Week 1 against Furman

The No. 6 Ole Miss Rebels didn't have much trouble with the FCS Furman Paladins in their season opener on Saturday, and one area of ​​the field that looked different than it did a year ago was the running back room.

After Quinshon Judkins left for Ohio State via the transfer portal, Ole Miss was faced with the task of revamping its offensive attack this offseason. A key returnee in the room was Ulysses Bentley IV, but the Rebels also acquired Henry Parrish Jr. and Rashad Amos through the portal.

None of those names were the team's best runners, however, as that honor went to Matt Jones on Saturday with 68 yards on three carries, two of which resulted in touchdowns. Those scores came when the game was already well and truly decided in the second half, but how did head coach Lane Kiffin rate his running backs' performance after the game?

Kiffin discussed her performance in a Zoom media call Sunday night.

“I thought they ran well,” Kiffin said. “The defense wasn't clean. They got a little better, started off poorly physically and mentally and missed a blitz on the sack. We still have to work on that, but they defended the ball, the whole team with no turnovers in a game with a lot of plays.”

“It was great to see them maintain the ball security from last year when we were No. 1 or 2 in the country.”

Parrish was first out of the gate on Saturday, rushing for 40 yards on eight attempts, while Bentley rushed for 23 yards on six attempts. Amos also had three touches and rushed for 10 yards.

However, before Amos entered the game in the second half, Matt Jones had already been playing running back for some time. Can Ole Miss fans expect more of that in the future now that he has worked his way onto the roster after several years of waiting?

“It's so unique these days for someone to stay in one place and fight through adversity and roster struggles,” Kiffin said. “It's great. He was on the service team as a walk-on and he stalled our defense almost every time a couple of years ago. I brought him up and he just always played really well. This will get him more playing time.”

It's difficult to draw too many conclusions from the running backs' performance on Saturday, but it will be interesting to see how Ole Miss distributes the runs going forward. While the Rebels did rack up 243 yards on the ground this week (194 of which came from the running backs), that aspect of the game was overshadowed by Ole Miss' dominant passing attack.

Right now, Kiffin seems to see some positives in the running game, but there is also room for improvement.