When former LSU football coach Gerry DiNardo was fired from Indiana University two years ago, he was not the only big name to leave the Hoosiers’ program. Current Ole Miss running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis played at Indiana under DiNardo but decided to transfer to the Rebels after his sophomore season. Now 10 games, 189 carries and 891 yards into the 2006 season, the New Orleans native has worked himself into one of the Southeastern Conference’s most effective running backs. Green-Ellis is averaging 4.7 yards per carry and has scored six touchdowns this season. He ranks second in the SEC in rushing with an average of 86.6 yards per game, and his production accounts for 32 percent of the Rebels’ total offense each game. Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron said Green-Ellis is the saving grace of his team’s offense, which ranks last in the SEC in scoring offense at 14.8 points per game and last in the SEC in total offense at 274 yards per contest. “He’s a guy that we want the ball in his hands,” Orgeron said. “He’s going to make the play when we need him. He means the world to us.” The junior tailback said he decided to transfer once DiNardo was fired, and new coach Terry Hoeppner’s pass-happy offensive ideology did not perk his interests. “They didn’t run the ball as much, and I didn’t think that fit me,” he said. “I trusted these guys over here better. I felt like this was a better situation for me.” Green-Ellis enjoyed his visit to Oxford, Miss., so much that he canceled planned trips to check out four other universities and decided to play for Orgeron. “I have been having a lot of fun here so far,” he said. “It’s just been fun playing down here in the SEC so far.” One of the more attractive aspects about the Rebels’ program, Green-Ellis said, was the university’s focus on its football program compared to basketball-powerhouse Indiana. LSU senior wide receiver Craig Davis played football at O. Perry Walker High School in New Orleans and is also friends with the Ole Miss running back. When Green-Ellis decided to attend Indiana, Davis said he was a little surprised by the decision. “I was really shocked he did go that far up north,” Davis said. “The type of back he was, I didn’t think Indiana was a fit for him,” Ole Miss junior quarterback Brent Schaeffer, a transfer from the University of Tennessee, said it is assuring to have a dependable player like Green-Ellis to lean on to get the Rebels’ offense moving. “He’s a physical, powerful running back,” Schaeffer said. “He carries a lot of the load. We can hand the ball off to him a lot of times, and he’s tough enough to take that.” LSU senior safety LaRon Landry, who played football at Hahnville High School, has a vivid memory of playing Green-Ellis during a state playoff game. “In a playoff game my senior year, I still remember he ran over me – twice,” Landry said. When Landry was asked if he was eager to lay a pay-back hit Saturday on Green-Ellis, he laughed and replied politely. “I look forward to playing defense,” Landry said with a smile.
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