No. 9 Ole Miss and Kewan Lacy head to Vanderbilt with Jared Curtis trying to return

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The ninth-ranked Mississippi Rebels can't wait for Kewan Lacy's return , knowing how valuable the running back is to Trinidad Chambliss and the offense.

Vanderbilt hopes starting quarterback Jared Curtis is back Saturday when the Commodores put their 10-game home winning streak on the line against the Rebels.

“We know we got our work cut out for us, but I think our guys are in a good spot,” Ole Miss coach Pete Golding said.

His Rebels (3-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) had an open date last week to regroup after their 52-28 loss to Florida . The extra time off should help Lacy return from the injured left shoulder that knocked him out of action during the win over LSU.

Golding said Lacy returned to practice Sunday. Golding plans to continue giving carries to JT Lindsey and Makhi Frazier, who have run for 159 yards sharing 40 carries. How that rotation goes will be based on how healthy Lacy is.

"Even coming back, he’s not going to take the toll of 40 to 50 snaps and all those things,” Golding said.

Lacy has rushed for 191 yards on 34 carries for four touchdowns after rushing for 1,567 yards and 24 touchdowns last season, which put him among the potential Heisman Trophy candidates for 2026. Lacy also is a key pass blocker for Chambliss and an offense averaging 35.5 points a game.

Vanderbilt (3-2, 0-2) held out Curtis during a 38-14 loss at No. 2 Georgia with an undisclosed injury suffered in a loss at Auburn. Coach Clark Lea said Curtis was gutted by the decision after throwing for 746 yards with four TDs. The freshman also has run for 133 yards and two more scores.

“I think he’s further along than he was a week ago, which is really encouraging,” Lea said Wednesday. “So we’ve had some positive signs, but, we gotta continue to see how he responds, and make sure he’s physically prepared to do the things we’ll need him to do to win a game.”

Blaze Berlowitz started his third game of the season with Curtis out at Georgia. After leading Vanderbilt to wins over Austin Peay and Delaware, the senior had moved to wide receiver with Curtis starting. Berlowitz threw for a career-high 190 yards at Georgia, and he has 358 yards passing and a TD.

“Depending who is in there, it’s like preparing for two different offenses,” Golding said of preparing for both quarterbacks.

Golding used practices since the Florida loss to get physical and work on mistakes in the run game knowing the next opponent features a defensive coach in Lea. Vanderbilt is giving up 128.2 yards rushing a game. Ole Miss ranks 119th nationally managing just 117.5 yards a game.

“They fly around,” Ole Miss tight end Luke Hasz said. “We’ve hurt our run game by missing one detail or one assignment but our mistakes are correctable.”

Ole Miss has won nine of the last 11 in the series with the last five coming by a margin of 24.4 points a game. Vanderbilt's last win came in overtime in 2018. The Rebels need this with their schedule over the next month featuring Missouri, a trip to Texas, Auburn and Georgia.

AP freelance writer Chris Burrows contributed to this report from Oxford, Mississippi.

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