Rebels’ Amos finishing what he started, playing in Gator Bowl

OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss defensive back Trey Amos was one of the first Rebels to announced he was playing in the Gator Bowl. That’s different from a lot of the college football world these days.

Amos, a senior transfer, saw his ranking for the NFL Draft rise as much as anyone over the course of this year. He’s not taking a month or so off before the game Jan. 2 against Duke at 6:30 p.m. on  Jan. 2. Amos is finishing what he started in a season of high expectations. Falling just a little short didn’t mean walking away now.

“We still have a lot to prepare for this bowl game,” Amos said Wednesday. “Everybody is really excited for this bowl game to play against Duke.”

About 95 percent of this year’s Ole Miss team elected to hang around and play the Gator Bowl. With the number of players expected to taken the draft, in this era of college football most go ahead and start getting ready for the NFL Combine. It’s a part of the culture surrounding the program this year.

“It was a great decision on my behalf,” Amos said. “Coming in, it was a smooth transition. I love every second, minute of being here. I feel like that’s what made me have a great season – being comfortable getting to know new faces, new teammates, new coaches. But yeah I had a great season having fun with the team.”

Success came with career highs in tackles (47), pass breakups (13), interceptions (3) and a forced fumble that tied his career high. This season under Rebels defensive coordinator Pete Golding helped him develop for a shot at the NFL.

“I wasn’t really looking forward to the accolades and all that, it just comes with the hard work from January until now,” Amos said. “It just goes to show you that hard work pays off. I’ll continue doing that. My younger self was looking forward to that, but now it’s just like I appreciate that, but there’s still stuff left on the table. I still want to keep on improving for this last game and see what I can improve on, work on and stuff like that. Just getting the recognition of being an All-American, I’m still grateful for that too.”

Now they’ve got one more game that may show NFL teams something they can’t get from Combine workouts or anything else. That’s the things that do matter when it comes to the draft most people want to ignore. NFL scouts will tell you finishing what you started does mean something to the scouts.

Most folks don’t want to talk about that aspect. amos is going to find out if the extra year helps.