OXFORD, Miss. — After enduring its second loss of the season to Texas in Week 8, Ole Miss will have pressure to bounce back at home against Auburn this weekend, but will have to do it without star running back Kewan Lacy.
Head coach Pete Golding revealed that Lacy dislocated his left shoulder during the second half of Saturday’s loss in Austin and confirmed he’ll miss the upcoming game against the Tigers, on Monday.
However, though it’s the same shoulder Lacy injured against LSU in Week 3, Golding mentioned that it was a different injury.
“(The injury) wasn't exactly what it was before, it was different,” Golding shared with reporters on Monday. “With the combination of both of those (injuries), obviously he’s not going to play this week. We’re going to evaluate that moving forward (and) kind of what that looks like. Normally we wouldn’t tell you that, but there’s no chance that we’re going to try that at all this week. He’s still in the rehab process, we’ll get MRIs and that stuff, but definitely a different injury than what it was.”
Against Texas, Lacy was neutralized as the Longhorns held the Rebels’ starting running back to just 36 yards on 16 carries (2.2 YPC).
After tying the program record for rushing yards in a single season (1,567) and setting a new one with 24 rushing touchdowns as a sophomore during the 2025 season, the last nine or so months have been filled with adversity for Lacy.
Over the offseason, Lacy underwent surgery on his left shoulder after enduring an injury in Ole Miss’ opening-round playoff win against Tulane, which he played the rest of the postseason with. In Week 1, Lacy was forced to exit the Rebels’ eventual win against Louisville during the third quarter with a lower body injury. He then was forced to miss Week 4 against Florida due to aggravating his shoulder in the third quarter in Ole Miss’ win over LSU the week prior.
The Rest of Ole Miss' Stable
Since October, Michigan State transfer Makhi Frazier has emerged as Ole Miss’ most consistent running back.
In games against Vanderbilt, Missouri and Texas this month Frazier has totaled 221 rushing yards on 34 attempts (6.5 YPC), averaging 73.6 rushing yards per game.
Of course, his role is about to grow even more. But so will the rest of the offensive backfield.
“I think Makhi has come in and played well. I think, with Kewan being out this week, Shekai is going to have a real opportunity this week as well,” Golding said Monday. “Obviously JT is still in the room, we gotta find some things for him to do. But I think to me those three guys and then Josh (Dye) got in there and did some good things. I think, from a packaging standpoint — whether it’s protection or getting the ball out of the backfield, I thought he did some really good things.”
“We’re going to need all of those guys moving forward to be honest with you and do a good job in that room creating roles for them and allow them to execute throughout the week, so we could play better on Saturday.”
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