OXFORD, Miss. -- The only thing Chris Rippon knew about Ole Miss's kicking situation when he stepped into his job as the Rebels' special teams coordinator was that coach Ed Orgeron had recruited Briarcrest Christian's Justin Sparks with hopes he was the man to replace the departed Jonathan Nichols.

Rippon knew nothing of the three walk-on kickers already on campus, none of whom had attempted a kick at Ole Miss. Because of that, Rippon summoned kicking guru Carol White, who runs a series of kicking camps in the summer for eighth through 12th graders across the country, to see if she could tell him about any of the walk-ons.

White, a former kicking coach at Georgia Tech in the 1980s, began hyping freshman Robert Bass of Pontotoc, Miss.

''I have great respect for her,'' Rippon said of White. ''She said she thought that he was the best kicker that we had, from a leadership standpoint and from him being a good kicker.''

Bass went through his summer workouts preparing to live up to White's assessment. But when preseason practice rolled around, Rippon saw something completely different.

''When he came to camp and kicked, I called Carol and I said, 'I think we mixed up the kids,' '' Rippon said. ''He didn't kick well. After awhile, you couldn't put him in the rotation.''

Bass couldn't make a kick from anywhere on the field. As the season opener against Memphis drew closer, Bass had all but eliminated himself from the competition.

But Bass neglected to tell Rippon why he struggled so badly in August. It was eventually learned that he had a groin injury.

''It's just the type of kid that he is,'' Rippon said. ''He didn't say boo.''

Bass injured himself kicking just before preseason practice began, then tried to kick through his injury.

''That's rule No. 2, no excuses,'' Bass said.

As he worked on getting healthy, Ole Miss's kicking woes saw Rippon go through three kickers -- Will Moseley, Matt Hinkle and Sparks -- trying to find someone to win the job.

None of the three were consistent enough. Finally, after a 31-23 loss at Vanderbilt in which Moseley had an extra point attempt blocked, Bass was given his shot.

He nailed kick after kick in practice last week. But while Rippon was pleased, he still waited until pre-game warmups to make his call.

''We had the collection of kickers, and we charted everyone,'' Rippon said. ''He had a real good pre-game and then went out there and banged two very solid PATs. We didn't win the Super Bowl, but I think the confidence level of he and the rest of the members of the team kind of went up a little bit.''

The excitement over those two PATs shows just how desperate Ole Miss was to find someone who could put the ball through the uprights.

''It's just a dream come true,'' Bass said. ''Right now, I just feel real good being a Rebel. It's what I've wanted to do since I could ever remember. I'm just living a dream right now.''

Bass has had another solid week of practice this week, and will head into pre-game warmups at Tennessee Saturday as the kicker for PATs and field goals 40 yards and in.

''I don't want to let my teammates down,'' Bass said. ''I have a job to do, just like the quarterback does. I want to do my job to make sure we have the best chance of winning the football game.''

There may be no one who hopes Bass comes through Saturday more than Rippon.

''I'd like the carousel to stop,'' Rippon said. ''I think they all have talent. It's just which one wants to take the ring and establish themselves. Now, it's his turn.

''We had our kicking woes, and everybody wanted to know where the kicker is, and he just bided his time and was positive. He never missed a day and did what he could for the team. I'm glad to see that hard work perseveres and character is rewarded.''