Like every college football team, Ole Miss has had its share of injury struggles throughout the season, with players like Isaac Gross, Robert Conyers and Herbert Moore all suffering season-ending injuries.
Head Coach Hugh Freeze said he is hoping for the team to be as healthy as possible for Saturday’s matchup against LSU. One of the questionable players is junior husky Tony Connor, who played his first game since week 3 last week while battling a knee injury.
Denzel Nkemdiche, pictured here trying for an interception, may not return to the field Saturday. (File Photo)
“We held him out today, just trying our best to have him in the best possible situation for Saturday, and the game will dictate how he’s performing, how he’s feeling. We won’t try him again until then,” Freeze said. “It’s really unknown; anything I would say today would be a total guess.”
Joining Connor as questionable is junior defensive end Fadol Brown. Brown is one of the larger players on and would be sorely missed in the Rebels attempt to stop LSU’s running back Leonard Fournette if he can’t play.
“He’s got a fracture in his foot, and he is trying to just manage it, just like we are with several (players), to get through the year, and that’ll be a game time decision also,” Freeze said.
Freeze said Brown would need surgery in the offseason for the injury.
“He’s going to have to have surgery on it, to put a pin in it, but (the doctors) feel like he’s at no additional risk of trying to make it through the year,” Freeze said. “(Brown’s playing status) just depends on how he feels come game time.”
Denzel Nkemdiche is also questionable for the game, but his status does not involve any injury.
“He’s dealing with a personal matter that he and his family are kind of going through. We’re going to walk through it with him,” Freeze said. “It’s kind of day by day on that, so I don’t know that I have the answer exactly on that also.”
“When issues come up that you need to get through that involve one of our players and anything with their family you just want to support them and help them through it,” Freeze said.
Freeze broke down the Rebels backup plan if Nkemdiche cannot play on Saturday, and who would play at outside linebacker in his place.
“(Demarquis) Gates has been playing the majority of those snaps, Tayler Polk and Ray Ray Smith and Temario (Strong) will be the other options should we need to go in that direction,” Freeze said.
Gates has registered 48 tackles, two of which were for a loss, and three pass deflections on the season.
“He’s played solid,” Freeze said. “He’s still young and makes some mistakes, and the number of snaps he’s gotten which have continued to increase from week to week so I think he’s ready for this challenge. It’s a different type of challenge for him but we’ve worked really hard on getting him in the right spot.”
