Ole Miss could lose Kewan Lacy for rest of regular season

Lacy is already ruled out for Auburn. The bigger news is how much longer it could be, and the Rebels' offensive line is already talking like the backup plan is the plan.

Ben Garrett

@SpiritBen

Ole Miss could be without Kewan Lacy for the remainder of the regular season — and potentially longer. Delano Townsend doesn’t expect the Rebels’ ground game to fall apart. “Kewan is our guy, but when he’s not able to go, Makhi steps up.” t.co/Pv0P7FWF9D t.co/oiH88RdxRX

"Makhi" is Makhi Frazier, the junior transfer from Michigan State who has been at the front of a 4-man rotation with Lacy out. Delano Townsend is one of the guys blocking for him. When a lineman says the run game won't fall apart, he's partly vouching for himself, but it's still a pretty clear sign of where the locker room's head is at.

Here's why it hurts. Lacy ran for 1,567 yards as a sophomore last year, a program record, with 24 rushing touchdowns. He was the engine of the offense. This has also been a bad shoulder for a while. He had surgery on the left shoulder after last season, a lower-body injury in Week 1 against Louisville, aggravated the shoulder against LSU in Week 3, and then dislocated it in the second half against Texas. Pete Golding said the Texas injury was a different one from the LSU injury, and that the 2 together are why Lacy is out this week.

The staff saw some of this coming. New offensive coordinator John David Baker said over the summer that he wanted to cut back on how often Lacy carried the ball, because that many runs between the tackles leads to exactly this kind of injury. They tried to protect the shoulder and it gave out anyway.

Golding has said Frazier and Shekai Pitts will get more work, and that Josh Dye will be needed too. So the bet on No. 12 Ole Miss (5-2, 3-2 SEC) is that a committee can do what one guy did last year. That's a fair thing to doubt. A committee can move the chains, but it's hard to replace a back who just set the school's single-season rushing record.

For bettors, the next few weeks will be telling. The line on Auburn already accounts for Lacy being out. What hasn't been priced yet is the possibility that Frazier is the lead back through the end of November. The official timeline is still pending MRIs, but if the reporting holds, Ole Miss is chasing a Playoff spot without the guy who was supposed to carry it there.