Ole Miss linemen Jared DukeNASHVILLE – It finally overcame Jared Duke as his Ole Miss teammates began to celebrate Monday evening’s Music City Bowl win over Georgia Tech. Rebels co-offensive coordinator Matt Luke whispered something in the mammoth offensive guard’s left ear and the tears formed, briefly running over his goatee, though not quite drowning out his smile.
“I lost my grandfather this morning,” Duke, the former Walker Valley High star, said after playing his final game as a Rebel.
“He always joked about sometime getting his name in the paper whenever I got in the paper. He was from Rossville. Raymond Kenneth Duke. If you could mention him, that would be great.”
You couldn’t mention this 25-17 Rebels victory without mentioning Duke and the player next to him on the interior of the Ole Miss offensive line: center Evan Swindall, who played his senior year of high school ball at LaFayette, Ga., for his father, Perry, who had just become the Ramblers’ head coach.
The two seniors helped the Rebels run for 221 yards and throw for 256, numbers to make Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace the bowl’s MVP, numbers to make the Rebs 8-5 in head coach Hugh Freeze’s second season on the job.