By Hayden Sowers ...

As football season approaches I know that’s all you all want to talk about these days, but these next few days I’d like to dive into Andy Kennedy’s 2012 signing class and what I think these guys can do on the hardwood next season.  We will look at the guards today and the forwards tomorrow.

- The most important piece of this class is SG Marshall Henderson out of Levelland, TX and South Plains Community College.  Henderson signed with Utah out of high school and averaged 11 ppg as a freshmen before deciding to move on through the JUCO route where he was named National Junior College Player of the Year last season.  Henderson is slotted in by many experts to be Ole Miss’s starting SG next season and provide the outside shooting that the Rebels desperately needed last year.  At 6’2” 170, Henderson will be expected to come in and average between 10-15 ppg and be a consistent outside shooter.  Murphy Holloway told Mr. Parish in an interview last week that Henderson can shoot it as well as everyone thinks he can so a lot will be on this young man’s shoulders as he suits up next season.  My only concern is that Henderson will have some adjusting to do with the speed of an SEC game.  Henderson chose the Rebels over Texas Tech and Southern Miss.  

- Martavious Newby, out of Memphis, TN, is another player that has a great chance to come in and play immediately.  A top-100 recruit, Newby is describe as a “hustler” and a “lockdown defender” to go along with a 40 inch vertical leap.  I look at him as a more polish version of Nick Williams, who easily has the most heart on the Ole Miss team.  Newby played SG in high school, but with the log jam there between Nick Williams-Marshall Henderson-Ladarius White, Newby could see time at backup PG or swap with White and battle it out with Henderson and Williams for time at SG.  He reminds a lot of another Memphis native, Terrico White with his athleticism and raw offensive game coming out of high school.  Ole Miss has had success with players coming out of Memphis in the past and most people certainly expect Newby to be no different.  Newby chose the Rebels over Arkansas, Auburn, Memphis, and Missouri.