Kewan Lacy got another line on his growing resume Friday night when Kirk Herbstreit named him among college football’s top five offensive playmakers in the annual Herbie Awards. He was the lone running back on the list, a sign that the Ole Miss back is being judged as more than a volume runner.
Readers are looking at Lacy now because the recognition landed just as Ole Miss moves into its season opener and puts him back in the center of the conversation around the offense. Herbstreit’s list also included blue-chip receivers from Texas, Ohio State, Oregon and Miami, which makes Lacy’s spot stand out in a group built around high-end passing talent.
The choice fits what Lacy did last season after transferring from Missouri last year. He rushed for 1,567 yards and 24 touchdowns, and the 24 scores led a Power Four offense in touchdowns. That kind of production explains why Herbstreit put him in a group of five and why the honor lands before the first snap of the new season rather than after it.
Herbstreit also made clear that his praise for Ole Miss was about the offense as a whole, not only the backfield. He said what makes the unit go is balance, then added that he is anxious to see how it looks without Charlie Weis Jr. That is the part that keeps this from feeling like a simple preseason compliment: Lacy is being elevated as a centerpiece, but the structure around him is changing at the same time.
For Ole Miss, the takeaway is straightforward. Lacy enters the season opener with another accolade and with more responsibility attached to it. If the offense stays as balanced as Herbstreit described, Lacy should remain the kind of player who can justify this kind of national recognition. If it does not, the list will read less like a forecast and more like a reminder of how much one running back had already carried.
