This article marks a continuation in the series highlighting the changing of the guard in Rebel football. I will be taking to the film in order to watch, break down and evaluate notable Ole Miss athletes who have either declared for the draft or are transferring into the program.
Stat Breakdown
H/W/P: 5’10, 220 lbs, RB
Pro Comparison: Chris Carson
In a Nutshell: Conner is a short yardage back at heart, but has shown the vision and explosiveness required to become a more versatile threat. He has a compact frame which he uses to his advantage when pass protecting or running inside the tackles.
Strengths
First and foremost, Conner is physical. He invites contact and is more than willing to use his body blocking in the open field, falling for extra yards or picking up a blitzer in pass protection. He is also a bigger guy, coming in at 220 despite being just 5’10, which Kiffin loved to take advantage of by using Conner as a lead blocker on jet sweeps. This would entail lining Conner up next to Corral in the shotgun away from the slot receiver, then motioning the receiver pre-snap and giving him the ball. Conner would then lead the charge and attack the edge, picking up the first colors that showed to him. Conner was able to execute this quite well and showed impressive vision and control when deciding when he should commit to picking up a defender.
One of the best examples of Conner doing his job on these outside runs came on the first offensive snap against Tennessee. Henry Parish Jr. came around in motion and got the ball. The Tennessee slot corner was left un-blocked at the line of scrimmage, leaving Conner one-on-one with him. Conner attacked him straight on as opposed to picking a shoulder, which was the right call as Parish had not yet committed to a gap. Conner then shot his hands into the defender just outside the shoulder to restrict him from shedding the block for half a second. This was not long enough to draw a holding call, but just long enough for Parish to rush by him.
Being able to block is a huge skill for Conner, who will likely be a complementary back at the next level and will need to pick up as many small skills as possible. Kiffin also used this same formation/motion combo to run a deadly option, with Corral being able to hand it to Conner for a strongside run or keep it himself if a backside gap opened up. This was the bread and butter of the Rebels’ run game. With Conner as a bruiser, defenses had to respect his ability inside, but if they collapsed on him, Corral had the option to keep it himself.
As a runner, Conner has flashed a number of valuable traits, but the most impressive has been his speed when compared to his size. At 5’10, 220, Conner is more compact than a lot of running backs in the NFL, but has shown the ability to hit home runs. Against Arkansas, Conner put this on display with a 51-yard touchdown run where he identified a whole, hit it and then outran everyone on the field. The guards did a good job of getting upfield and cutting off the linebackers, then Conner read the block perfectly and beat the DBs in the open field for the touchdown. Although he did not directly break any tackles, Conner showed something even more valuable — that he doesn’t have to. Most power backs are confined to interior runs where they find a defender, run into him and fall forward for yardage. Conner has flashed the ability to make people straight up miss. It will always be more valuable in football to be able to keep tacklers from touching you as opposed to going through them, and speed is the best way to do that.
Weaknesses
The biggest drawback for Conner is volume. He has flashed the ability to beat defenders with speed, strength or with a straight up juke move, but he never had the volume to truly prove himself. Though Conner has rushed for a very impressive amount of touchdowns in his career, he has never been the feature back in an offense. He has eclipsed 15 carries just once in his career (In 2020 against Alabama when he ran for 128 yards), but had 5 games in 2021 alone where he did not reach 10 carries. That sort of load management makes projecting Conner tough, which could scare NFL scouts away until the later rounds of the draft.
In all honesty, if Conner were to transfer to a program where he could be the feature back, he could have a chance to play himself into a day-2 pick after the 2022 season. On the field, Conner could also work out improving as a receiver. He has shown how strong he can be in pass protection, but adding some route running finesse and the ability to catch the ball would take his skillset to the next level and allow him to be a true three down back. Once again, there is not much to critique about his game because finding meaningful film on him is tough.
Takeaways
In all honesty, Conner is a guy whose draft stock would skyrocket if he returned for another year. He was the victim of a three back system, splitting time with Henry Parish as the backup to Jerrion Ealy.
Ealy has gone on to the NFL, Parish has transferred to his home school of Miami and Zach Evans has come in as the running back of the future for Ole Miss. The Rebels were desperate for a change-of-pace back to compliment Evans to give him a breather, and Conner would have been the perfect guy for the job. Evans is a true do-it-all back, but having a power specialist in the stable would be great to give Evans a breather on the more violent reps. The Rebels did bring in running back help by hitting the portal and getting Ulysses Bentley from SMU, but he is a joystick-type player and will be operating mostly as a scat back.
I fully expect Conner to get picked somewhere on the third day of the draft, and declaring early will have minimal impact on his NFL success, but he is certainly being overlooked by scouts due to his collegiate situation.
