Fins up: Lockett ready to hit the field again

The past year for Ole Miss defensive end Kentrell Lockett has been a rollercoaster to say the least, but as the 2011 season approaches, he is ready to get back out in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium for another year of SEC football.

The ride began when Lockett was preparing for the 2010 season. The defensive line was supposed to be the strength of the team and carry the load until the offense got going.

However, this particular rollercoaster had some kinks that needed to be worked out.

During fall camp, Lockett had an irregular heartbeat, which held him out of the season opener against Jacksonville State — a 49-48 double-overtime loss that broke the hearts of Rebels everywhere.

Lockett began to play in a limited role the next week at Tulane, where the Rebels hoped the lingering effects of the devastating loss to the Gamecocks would wear off. For Lockett, he hoped to just recover fully and do whatever he could to help the team win.

Then, another bump reared its ugly head on this already horrifying ride.

Lockett’s season was cut short when he went down with a knee injury that was later determined to be a torn ACL against Fresno State.

Unfortunately for Lockett, he had to watch his defense surrender the most points in school history. He said he thought his days wearing the Ole Miss red and blue were over.

Despite it all, the track on this rollercoaster got smooth once again.

The NCAA granted Lockett a sixth year of eligibility for having lost two seasons in his career to injury, the other being a shoulder injury in 2006. The man that had given his all for the Rebels would get a chance to do it one more time.

“It’s crazy,” Lockett said. “It’s going to be emotional. But at the same time it’s been almost a year since I’ve played, so I’m just really looking forward to it.”

Going into the 2011 season, Lockett isn’t worried about his knee being another bump in the road this season.

“I’m just going to try to keep the lid on the top of this pot and keep the excitement from boiling over,” he said. “I think if I’m too excited, I’m going to make a mistake early. 

“I’m more worried about the excitement, it being the first game and just getting back out there.”

In his career, Lockett has tallied 23.5 tackles for loss with nine sacks, but head coach Houston Nutt doesn’t know how many more opportunities the sixth-year senior will get.

“I don’t know how many plays he can get,” Nutt said. “It will be a pretty good amount of plays and make a pretty good ball game for him, but we do not know the number.”

Nutt said the coaching staff will be watching Lockett closely.

“He has rehabbed hard and his leg is awfully strong, but he has had four surgeries,” Nutt said.

Lockett, who was voted as a team captain for the second consecutive year on Sunday, said he can play more than even Nutt thinks.

“I can play the whole game,” Lockett said with a big smile on his face.

No matter how long Lockett can go every Saturday, the defense is going to have to step up. And, from the offseason through fall practice, he sees a different attitude around the unit this time around.

“We’re hungry,” Lockett said. “We’re trying to get that respect back from being the Landsharks.” 

Lockett said he thinks the defense can get back to where it was.

“We’re trying to give the Landsharks the name where it’s being looked at, has some meaning and some weight to it,” Lockett said. “Everybody is just trying to get that Landshark name and give it the respect that it has had in the past.”

In order to get that intensity and the mindset back, the Ole Miss defense will be looking at some freshmen, as well as some other newcomers to step up and bring some depth to that side of the ball.

Among those players, defensive backs Wesley Pendleton, Senquez Golson, Cody Prewitt and Chief Brown and linebackers Aaron Garbutt, C.J. Johnson, Keith Lewis and Serderius Bryant have all impressed their veteran teammates.

“They are resilient,” Lockett said. “They don’t even seem like younger guys.” 

Lockett said they are all fitting in.

“They’ve taken all the coaching; they’re falling in place, and they are just ready to play ball,” Lockett said. “They got thrown into the mix when they got here, and now, they are just another part of the machinery.”

But for now, it’s time to focus on the next twist and turn to this rollercoaster – Brigham Young University.

Lockett knows the Cougars of BYU are older and more mature than a normal college team because their players take two-year missions during their college years. He also knows sophomore quarterback Jake Heaps is a guy who can lead his team down the field just as well as anyone in the country, but that doesn’t intimidate Lockett.

“He is a guy that can run and a guy that can execute,” Lockett said. “As a whole, they like to take advantage of the opposing team’s mistakes. 

“They’re going to execute. They are going to wait for us to slip up and try to make a play. So if we limit our mistakes and play ball, we’ll be alright.”