Bo Wallace releases a pass during practice Monday. (DM Photo/Thomas Graning)
As the Rebels prepare for their opener Thursday against Boise State, Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze took the podium Monday afternoon with his first weekly press conference of the year.
Freeze and starting quarterback Bo Wallace met with the media to talk about the upcoming season and the Rebels’ first game against Boise State.
Freeze, much like Rebel fans, is excited to get the season kicked off against Boise State, a program he believes will challenge his team.
“They understand winning, they have for many years; I think over the past 10 years their program has had the No. 2 most winning percentage in college football so there is no question in my mind that they will be prepared and anxious for the opportunity to play us,” Freeze said. “I know our kids will embrace it also and they’re very excited about the challenge, and also about the opportunity.”
Freeze then went on to elaborate on the players he believes to be threatening on the Boise state roster.
“I’m really impressed on offense with 2 (Matt Miller) and 11 (Shane William-Rhodes). 27 (Jay Ajayi), that tailback, is the real deal,” Freeze said. “Those two receivers can play on any team,” Freeze said. “The quarterback is a really good player, too. He can run and throw. Their corners, 1 (Bryan Douglas), 5 (Donte Deayon) and 9 (Mercy Maston), are really good. They’ll play all three of them. They can run.”
With the new coaching staff for Boise State, Freeze said it’s been difficult for him and his staff trying to prepare the defense for the possible various looks from the Boise team.
“It has been rather difficult to pinpoint our first down calls. ‘Well, what if they do this? Then we probably need to be calling something else,’” Freeze said. “We’ll have to do some checks and it may slow us down some early just to see what’s going on and try to get a feel for them.”
One of the biggest issues for the Rebels last year was their red zone performance, so Freeze wanted to develop more packages to give the offense more looks in that area.
“We’ve just tried to come up with the packages we felt like were very sound and hopefully our kids execute them better,” Freeze said. “We certainly got a few ideas in the offseason on how we can make something we do better.”
Regarding the team’s tendencies, Freeze reinforced there are still things to work on.
“The main focus has been on us on third down efficiency, don’t turn the ball over and we have to score in the red zone,” Freeze said. “Touchdowns a large percentage of the time would be nice. At the end of the year last year, we had some field goals that could have made some differences and we didn’t covert those either.”
When asked about what freshmen will get significant snaps Thursday night freeze listed several hopeful starters for Thursdays game.
“Rod Taylor, Marquis Haynes, C.J. Hampton, The Moore brothers (A.J. and C.J) will play on every special team. A.J. will be the backup Huskie. DeMarquis Haynes will play. (Kendarius) Webster will play. Markell Pack just kind of depends on how the game goes. I expect him to play this year.”
Senior starting quarterback Bo Wallace then took the podium to answer the media’s questions.
Wallace, entering his third season with the Rebels, said his team is ready to go, and he feels more confident this year compared to the last.
“I have a lot more confidence this year,” Wallace said. “I feel like I had a great camp. Last year I felt like I didn’t have a good camp at all. It took me two or three weeks to really get back in the groove of things. But from day one I felt good and I still feel good, so I’m just excited about going out there and playing.”
Regarding the opening Boise State game and preparing for their unknown defense Wallace said it’s been difficult.
“It’s difficult just because we have had to look at two teams and three different years of film to get a feel for what they’re going to do,” Wallace said. “But at the same time, that tempo can help us if they come at us with something totally different. They all play hard. They have been in this position a lot. They will come out trying to beat an SEC team. They are going to try to get after us, so we have to come out prepared from the start of the game.”
Wallace ranks second in school history in total offense (7,085 yards) and passing (6,340 yards) behind Eli Manning and first in passing efficiency (140.2) and completion percentage (64.3). He is the SEC’s top returning passer after throwing for 3.346 yards last year (second-most in the league behind Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel).
When asked about Southeastern Conference records as motivation, Wallace makes it clear he is extremely motivated by setting goals.
“It definitely motivates me, but I feel like I have the guys around me if I just get them the ball. Laquon (Treadwell) is going to make big plays,” Wallace said. “Vince (Sanders), all of those guys are going to make big plays. One thing that no quarterback has ever done here is win an SEC Championship (game). I want to be the first one to do that, and that’s the most important thing to me.”
-Maggie Mitchell
