Ole Miss Star Running Back Kewan Lacy to Return Against Vanderbilt – Sports Illustrated

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OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss anticipates getting a sizable boost in Week 6 with star running back Kewan Lacy expected to return to the lineup against Vanderbilt, according to Pete Golding. 
The Rebels’ first-year head coach said on Monday that Lacy spent the bye week resting up his injured left shoulder and returned to practice Sunday night as a limited participant. 
The junior running back injured the same shoulder he had offseason surgery on during the third quarter of Ole Miss’ eventual win over LSU on September 19. The injury held Lacy out of the blowout loss at Florida the following week.       
“Obviously, last week, (Lacy) rested all last week. Did rehab. Was good for that for a solid week (of) not practicing. Practiced last night, came back,” Golding said during his availability on Monday. “Did individual, did some team sessions. Obviously a lot of that was non-contact last night, but fully anticipate having him back this week.”
The other two leading rushers in Ole Miss’ running back room are transfers JT Lindsey and Makhi Frazier. Both have received around 20 carries each, but neither have cracked 100 rushing yards or have scored a touchdown through four games. 
Still, both had flashes of efficiency in Ole Miss’ tight wins over Louisville and LSU in September. That gives Golding confidence in the room around Lacy to take some of the workload off of the star running back’s plate when he does return to the lineup.      
“JT continues to go to work. I think he’s a very explosive player. I think Makhi runs the football extremely hard. Obviously that game wasn’t everything that we wanted it to be, but I think they came to work last week as well. Same thing with Josh (Dye). That’s going to be a constant rotation based on how 5 is and how healthy he is, but even coming back he’s not going to take the toll of 40-50 snaps,” Golding explained. “Those guys gotta come in and execute and play efficiently, which I think they will.  
Against the Gators in Gainesville, Ole Miss had a similar challenge to what was posed in its previous ranked games. Against Louisville (thigh) and LSU (shoulder), Lacy exited both games in the third quarter and would not return, forcing Ole Miss to lean on its stable of running backs in critical moments while both games were still in the balance.  
The only real difference in Week 4 was that the Rebels’ offense wouldn’t have Lacy for any of the four quarters. Lindsey got the starting nod, receiving handoffs on the Rebels’ opening four plays which resulted in a tone-setting turnover on downs.      
“Especially the start of the game, I think it’s a little different if we keep our footing a little bit,” Golding said about the run game against Florida. “A lot of that was we were cutting up the inside foot and some of that was on us. I felt like (Lindsey) got started early. There’s a couple that he slipped on that first drive that you’re moving the chains (if not), feeling a little different about it. The flows a little different and all those types of things.” 
After a record-setting year as a sophomore in 2025 with over 300 rushing attempts, Lacy has totaled 191 rushing yards and four scores on 39 total carries (4.9 YPC) through three games played with the Rebels in 2026. 
Ole Miss will return to Nashville this weekend, where they’ll meet Vanderbilt for a 2:30 p.m. CT kickoff on ESPN.  
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Bio: Tyler Komis is a beat reporter for Ole Miss On SI. He is a Biletnikoff Award and Lombardi Award voter from New Jersey with more than five years of sports reporting experience. Prior to joining On SI, he previously covered Ole Miss Athletics for 247Sports (2021-2026), chronicling the ascension of the football program and the beginning of its coaching transition to Pete Golding ahead of the 2025-26 College Football Playoffs. You can find Komis on social media channels, including X/Twitter @TylerKomis.
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