OLE MISSCamp start: Aug. 8Opener: Sept. 4 against Jacksonville State at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium (3:30 p.m. EDT, CSS)Fun fact: By winning the Cotton Bowl the past two seasons, Ole Miss has 21 career bowl victories. The only SEC programs with more are Alabama (32), Georgia (26) and Tennessee (25).
What is it with Ole Miss and these heartwarming stories of overcoming adversity?
Less than a year after the motion picture "The Blind Side" chronicled the impoverished background of former Rebels offensive tackle Michael Oher and his adoption into a wealthy Memphis family, along comes senior nose tackle Jerrell Powe. Oher and Powe both were in the 2005 signing class, but Powe didn't suit up for the Rebels until 2008 after being ruled academically ineligible for three consecutive years.
"Jerrell Powe is a wonderful story," Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt said. "To me, that's what college football is all about. What you love about him is his perseverance. Anybody could have given up. Anybody could have stopped after the first time or second time or third time when he couldn't get in school, but this guy kept going.
"He's got a heart bigger than Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, and he's going to be a tremendous ambassador for Ole Miss no matter what happens in the next five, 10, 15 or 20 years."
The Rebels are being pegged as sixth-place finishers in this year's SEC West race, but the combination of Powe, Lawon Scott and Kentrell Lockett should give Ole Miss a defensive front that's as formidable as any in the league.
Powe is appearing on every All-SEC preseason team as well as first-round projections for next April's NFL draft. The 6-foot-2, 316-pounder from Waynesboro, Miss., made 34 tackles and 12 tackles for loss last season and enters this year continuing to make up for missed time.
"I've had a lot of doubters, no doubt about it, but I always knew in the back of my mind that the sky is the limit if you just put the work in and never take your eyes off the prize," Powe said. "There were a lot of low points, but I never thought about giving up."
The nadir occurred Aug. 28, 2007, when Powe was ruled ineligible for a third straight year. Four days later, the Rebels opened their third and final season under Ed Orgeron with a 23-21 win at Memphs.
Powe was among Rivals.com's top 25 prospects nationally in '05 when he failed to qualify out of Wayne County High. He spent that season at Hargrave (Va.) Military, and in '06 the NCAA Clearinghouse ruled he had completed his requirements with "significant assistance."
That was the most embarrassing of the rejections, because legal papers contained a quote from Powe's mother, Shirley, in which she allegedly said, "Jerrell really is a good child, but he just can't read." Powe was adamant that wasn't the case, even reading aloud an article to a Jackson-Clarion Ledger reporter to prove it.
"It was definitely disappointing to have my mama quoted wrong in the paper and for people to keep bringing that up," he said. "It definitely motivated us as a family, and it definitely motivated me to erase all those things they were saying about me by having some success. I hope they read this paper like they were reading all the bad stuff."
Powe took some courses at Wayne County and a Pennsylvania-based correspondence school after failing to qualify a second time, but he was allowed to take courses at Ole Miss following his third rejection. After passing the necessary hours in Oxford, Powe finally was given the go-ahead to play on July 28, 2008.
By that time, Nutt had replaced Orgeron as coach. By that time, Powe weighed a whopping 383 pounds.
"At 383, you don't have the energy to go like you want to," he said.
So Powe starting drinking more water, eating more vegetables and running more. He also cut out eating after 8 at night.
Powe spent much of the '08 season shaking off the rust, but he did manage an interception during the 45-0 shellacking of Mississippi State. He was noticeably better last season and said his favorite game was the 42-17 whipping of Tennessee, which had Orgeron as its defensive line coach.
"Knowing Coach O was over there, I knew I had to do my best," Powe said. "He hit me before the game and told me, 'Good luck.' I knew I had to go out and perform my best, because he believed in me. He didn't give up on me and got me here at Ole Miss. After the game he told me, 'Good job, big fellow.'"
Powe is on track to graduate next spring in criminal justice. He is in demand whenever he goes home to Waynesboro, as kids want to hear him speak about his past as well as Rebels football.
Among his teammates he is extremely popular, especially those who have tasted the catfish, jumbalaya, pasta salad and baked beans that he and Lockett prepare at cookouts.
One of his best friends is Oher, who often visits Oxford when he's not practicing or playing with the Baltimore Ravens. Powe believes Oher is deserving of the movie that wound up having a domestic theatrical run of $256 million, but he admits his story would be pretty good, too.
"We never really talk about it," Powe said. "We always talk about the All-American Game in '05, when we went against one another. It's more of a competitive thing.
"We don't talk about the hardships. We kind of leave those behind us."