Jordan Watkins transferred to Ole Miss from Louisville in January with the expectation he’d be a featured weapon in a high-powered Lane Kiffin offense.

He assumed he’d be used all over, too.

However, in preseason practices in the spring and early-fall, the 5-foot-11, 191-pound Watkins, a junior, was mostly worked in the slot and occasionally outside at wide receiver.

His role changed once starting tight end Michael Trigg went down with a likely season-ending collarbone injury in a 52-28 win at Vanderbilt.

“I’ve made some plays from the backfield,” Watkins said. “The touchdown I scored against Vandy, I came out of the backfield. With the injury with Trigg, you’re kind of seeing me move a little bit into the tight end role to kind of help Casey (Kelly) out. Kyirin’s still young, so he’s still developing (and) still learning.

“Kind of to put a guy who knows what to do a little bit and a guy who’s played a lot of ball along with Casey to kind of help him out a little bit. You’re seeing me in the tight end spot, you’re seeing me in the running back spot (and) of course in the slot. Kind of all over, really.”

Watkins is currently third on the team in receptions and receiving yards.

The raw numbers also don’t tell the whole story.

Watkins has totaled 13 of his 19 receptions and 209 of his 278 receiving yards in October alone. Ole Miss is 7-0 (3-0 SEC) for just the second time since the 60s and currently sits alone atop the SEC West.

The Rebels were ranked No. 7 in Top 25 polls released by the Associated Press and league coaches on Sunday. They next travel to rival LSU (5-2, 3-1) in five days for a 2:30 p.m. CT kickoff on CBS.

Ole Miss last won in Baton Rouge in 2008.

“We’re a very good football team,” Watkins said. “But we’re not great yet.”

Watkins details his emergence for the Ole Miss offense, as well as the trip to LSU and quarterback Jaxson Dart’s growing confidence, in this edition of Wat’s Life, an Ole Miss podcast in association with the Ole Miss Spirit (On3) and Talk of Champions.

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