Robert Cowherd, finally healthy, has a new lease on his Ole Miss basketball life

Ole Miss basketball returns just four players off of last year’s roster.

Matthew Murrell and Jaemyn Brakefield are established and experienced. TJ Caldwell saw action in 31 games as a true freshman.

Then there’s Robert Cowherd.

Cowherd, like Caldwell, is a rising, second-year Rebel. However, he redshirted as a freshman and didn’t play due to myriad injuries. Cowherd was ranked in the 2022 recruiting class as the No. 202 prospect in the country. He held additional offers from Baylor, Xavier and Clemson, among others.

He’s finally fully healthy, and he’s been given a new lease on his basketball life under first-year Rebel head coach Chris Beard. His every-day effort and want-to have already turned heads in the locker room.

“Obviously Rob didn’t get to play last year with him redshirting; he got injured a good bit. But he’s coming back (and) being more aggressive than ever,” Brakefield said, in an exclusive interview with the Ole Miss Spirit’s Talk of Champions podcast network on Thursday.

“I mean, he plays so hard, it’s hard to take him off the court and not play him. All the small things. He makes open shots and he rebounds the ball at a high clip.”

Cowherd was almost the forgotten man during the chaos that followed Ole Miss firing Kermit Davis and hiring Beard.

He would have had options in the NCAA Transfer Portal had he decided to go that route. But Cowherd said he was sold on Beard in their very first meeting — the most ‘truth-telling’ sit-down with a coach Cowherd admitted he’s ever had.

“Really, you’ve got to just play hard and do all the right things if you want to be here,” Cowherd recalled Beard saying. The pair was meeting with local media on Thursday in advance of the Rebels’ season-opening tilt against Alabama State November 6.

Tipoff inside the Pavilion is set for 7 p.m. CT.

Cowherd continued, “You’ve got to make a lot of sacrifices and things like that and compete. I feel like I fit best in the aspects of just the toughness and defense and playing well with other guys. I have a good bond with the whole team, and I feel like I just bring guys together and things like that.”

Cowherd saw far and away his most extensive playing time to date in the Rebels’ exhibition win over Tusculum. Expect more of the same, if not an ever-evolving and growing role, over the coming weeks.

Because Robert Cowherd is free and unlocked under Chris Beard, and he’s only getting started.

“That’s probably going to be my most important game,” Cowherd said of the opener. “I’m just going to be excited just to be there. Each game is probably my most important game. That’s how I think about it.”

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