When Ole Miss was predicted to finish last in the SEC West it might have been a shock to some.

Not to Houston Nutt.

The Ole Miss coach kind of figured this was coming after the team lost its starting quarterback and best offensive weapon, not to mention a slew of starters on both sides of the ball.

“That’s really helped recruiting the last two signing classes, they’ve been outstanding,” Nutt said of the recent success. “But as you look forward to this year, we lost a lot.”

Nutt and the Rebels took their turn at the podium Friday in Hoover, Ala., at the Southeastern Conference’s annual media days. The Rebels were last in the rotation, the same spot they were picked to finish in the division by the media that covers the league.

Ole Miss has finished second in the West each of the last two seasons, both of which ended in Cotton Bowl victories. It wasn’t all that long ago, however, that both the program and Nutt were on the bottom of the pile. Ole Miss went 14-32 in the four seasons before Nutt was forced out at Arkansas and came east to Oxford.

That made it easy for the coach to shrug off the feeling of once again being the low man on the SEC totem poll.

“Well, you know, again, been here 13 times. Most of the time I’ve been picked toward the bottom. I don’t really worry about that. I never have. A lot of people say you coach better when you’re not under such high expectations. I’ve always been under low expectations, so most of the time I don’t really worry about that,” Nutt said. “I tell our young men it doesn’t matter. All the polls and bowls, that’s decided on the field, so it doesn’t really matter. Doesn’t matter where you put us. I understand somebody told us y’all picked us last. Thank you. That’s all right. It’s good. It really doesn’t matter.”

Ole Miss opens preseason workouts on Aug. 6 and has plenty of holes to fill.

Quarterback Jevan Snead left school early for the NFL draft — he ended up going undrafted and signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a free agent — and running back Dexter McCluster graduated. McCluster carried the offense last season as the first player in SEC history to have 1,000 yards rushing and 500 receiving in the same season.

The offensive line was also decimated. Four starters graduated, including tackle John Jerry who was a third-round draft pick of the Miami Dolphins. Left tackle Bradley Sowell is the only returning starter on the line.

The Rebels do have running backs Brandon Bolden and Enrique Davis, who combined for 783 yards and six touchdowns in 2009, coming back. Sowell said it’ll be crucial for the line to open running lanes for them, which will allow the Rebels to control the ball and keep the defense off the field.

“We have to try to make it second-and-4, second-and-5, and as an O-line, we have to get better, we have to work hard. We have to really try to get where it’s second and short instead of second and long,” Sowell said. “If you look at Alabama, they’re very good defensively and they run the ball well. That’s what we want to do this year. Have a great defense, we have a really experienced defense, and run the ball.”