SATURDAY’S GAMES
Auburn at Arkansas, noon, SEC Network
Tennessee at Alabama, 3:30 p.m., CBS
Missouri at Vanderbilt, 4 p.m., SEC Network
Texas A&M at Ole Miss, 7 p.m., ESPN
Western Kentucky at LSU, 7 p.m., ESPNU
Kentucky at Mississippi State, 7:30 p.m., SEC Network
Laquon Treadwell leads the SEC in catches and receiving yards, a considerable feat considering less than a year has elapsed since the gruesome injury that left his left ankle dangling at an unnatural angle.
The Ole Miss receiver’s return from a broken left fibula and dislocated ankle has been so complete that he’s considered one of the top prospects for next spring’s NFL draft, should the junior decide to turn pro.
“Laquon is as good a receiver as any that I have coached,” Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said this week. “I was a receivers coach here, and I had Mike Wallace, Shay Hodge and Dexter McCluster. They were all great players. Donte Moncrief was the best we had until that point. Laquon Treadwell is just as good as Moncrief, if not better. Treadwell is strong and physical. He is very talented. He is one of the best that I have coached.”
Treadwell leads the SEC with 49 catches — nine more than South Carolina’s Pharoh Cooper — and 654 yards receiving — 45 more than Texas A&M’s Christian Kirk.
He has four touchdown catches, including a one-handed grab of a slightly overthrown pass that he turned into a 37-yard score against New Mexico State on Oct. 10.
Dak is OK: There has been less fanfare around Dak Prescott this season.
Mississippi State has two losses, unlike last season, when the Bulldogs were undefeated in October and spent most of the month as the No. 1 team in the FBS.
So fewer eyes have been on Prescott, but his numbers are again solid.
He has passed for 1,700 yards with 11 touchdowns, but remarkably, Prescott hasn’t thrown an interception in 26 quarters, a streak that stretches to last season and covers 274 consecutive attempts.
That’s the third-longest streak in SEC history, behind former Kentucky quarterback Andre Woodson, who threw 325 attempts without an interception (2006-07) and former Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron, who had 291 attempts (2011-12).
“(Prescott is) a big, strong guy,” Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said on the SEC teleconference this week. “He’s just very comfortable distributing the ball and throwing the ball this year. That’s probably, I think, the biggest thing, the evolution I’ve seen in him, just how comfortable he is in sitting in the pocket and throwing the football.”
Prescott also is the only active FBS player with at least 6,000 career yards passing and 2,000 career yards rushing.
TD maker: Peyton Barber (Milton) has become Auburn's go-to running back.
Barber entered the season in a group that included Roc Thomas, Kerryon Johnson and Jovon Robinson, who transferred from Georgia Military College, but has distanced himself from the pack with four 100-yard games and a five-touchdown performance against San Jose State.
Barber ranks fifth in the SEC with 650 yards rushing and ranks third — behind the more heralded Leonard Fournette (14) and Derrick Henry (12) — with eight touchdowns.
He scored Auburn’s first and final touchdowns in the Tigers’ 30-27 victory over Kentucky last week.
Rising star: Freshman Minkah Fitzpatrick lines up in Alabama's "Star" position, which seems appropriate.
“Star” is a hybrid defensive back position that Fitzpatrick has transformed into a star-making role.
He has 24 tackles, two sacks and became the first Alabama player to return two interceptions for touchdowns in the same game when he accomplished that in the Crimson Tide’s victory over Texas A&M on Saturday.
He also blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown in the win at Georgia.
“He’s really smart out there,” receiver Richard Mullaney told AL.com. “I feel like that’s one of his biggest things, how smart he is. He’s really physical. Obviously he can run. Really, just how smart he is, reading the defense, reading the quarterback. That’s one of the best things he’s got.”
Glow in the sun: Texas A&M will unveil glow-in-the-dark helmets on Halloween.
The problem: The game against South Carolina has been scheduled to start at 11 a.m. Central.
The black helmets have a special Texas A&M logo “clear-coated seamlessly into the black satin finish of a HydroSkin helmet. This innovative helmet features all-new reflective technology to light up the night.”
The Texas A&M equipment staff tweeted this week the new helmets “will look just as awesome during the day.”
Stepping in: Treon Harris has an extra week to prepare for Georgia after his quarterback crash course heading into Florida's game at LSU last week.
Coach Jim McElwain said Harris “played his tail off” after he was 17-of-32 for 271 yards and two touchdowns in the 35-28 loss.
But Harris struggled after the Gators tied the score at 28-28.
He completed just five of his final 15 attempts, was sacked twice and called for intentional grounding, Gatorzone.com reported.
He said it: "I play with a chip on my shoulder. Keep doubting me." — LSU quarterback Brandon Harris, as reported by The Advocate
Etc.: Mississippi State has outscored its opponents 55-12 in the fourth quarter. … Kentucky sophomore running back Stanley "Boom" Williams (George Walton) needs 58 yards against Mississippi State to reach 1,000 for his career. He has 942, including 469 this season. … Auburn's Daniel Carlson has kicked four field goals of at least 50 yards in his past seven games, matching the total of Auburn's kickers from the previous 150 games, dating to 2003. He has three field goals of at least 51 yards this season, the most of any kicker in the country. … Ole Miss is 1-5 in its past six away and neutral-site games, losing to Memphis, Florida, TCU, Arkansas and LSU. Its lone victory was at Alabama on Sept. 19. … Stoops said Kentucky didn't play artificial cowbell noise at practice in preparation for its game at Mississippi State.
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