Wednesday was not Ole Miss’ best day of practice, and Head Coach Hugh Freeze made that clear after it ended.
“I’m going to be honest: I expected a lot more today,” Freeze said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do before we play.”
While he noted that his displeasure ranged from a number of different things, attention to detail was something that sorely stuck out.
“It was like pulling teeth for me to get the coaches to do their job with urgency and the kids. It was just not a good day,” Freeze said.
He noted that Tuesday was a good day and his concern was isolated to today’s practice. Ole Miss has played three ranked teams in four weeks in what has been a trying month of September, and that could contribute to the lack of energy, but it is certainly not a justifiable reason, according to Freeze.
“You can’t use excuses in this game, but yeah it is a concern, but you have to go out and execute and we didn’t today,” Freeze said.
Ole Miss defensive back’s Montrell Custis and Deontay Anderson attempt to block a pass intended for Alabama wide receiver Calvin Ridley. With injuries early in the season and the defensive depth depleted, Ole Miss struggled holding Alabama throughout the game as the Tide stayed on offense 10 minutes longer than the Rebels. (Photo by: Cameron Brooks)
Here are some other notable things from Wednesday’s practice
Notes:
- Carlos Davis and Montrell Custis both practiced today after suffering stingers in the win against Georgia. Freeze said on Monday he didn’t expected them to miss much time and confirmed on Wednesday that they will be ready to go for Memphis.
- Freeze said on his weekly SEC coaches teleconference that he has had more involvement on the defensive side of the football than he has in years past.
“I didn’t think we were playing well,” Freeze said. “Ultimately the responsibility goes through the coaches to me, and if I can assist in some way then I want to, and I know I can assist in getting kids to do their job on every play and I think we have made improvement in the past few weeks.”
This stems in part from the youth on the Ole Miss defense. Freeze said there is no replacement for experience and his young defense doesn’t have much.
- The Ole Miss secondary is where a lot of its youth resides. Freshmen like Deontay Anderson, Jalen Julios, Jaylon Jones and Myles Hartsfield, among others, have played a lot of snaps and took their lumps in the opener at Florida State. The unit has improved as it has gained more experience, and it his shown in the last two games.
“We didn’t give up explosive plays in the pass game, last week at zero and the week before there was very few,” Freeze said. “So there has been some improvement there, but we are about to face a difficult team this week and will be tested again.”
- Ole Miss has one of the deepest receiving corps in the country, but it will face a solid group of its own in Memphis this week. The Tigers have a deep group at receiver and they’ve been a pivotal reason as to why Memphis has scored 155 points in three games.
“They’re playing very good and are playing some kids that have had a lot of success,” Freeze said. “They haven’t been challenged a lot yet, so they probably have some things they haven’t even shown yet because they haven’t had to. We will see it all this week I’m sure.”
- This will be the first night game for the Rebels in the newly renovated Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Freeze said his team relishes the chance to play under the lights at home.
“We are excited to play a night game in our home stadium,” Freeze said. “I’m hopeful that our people will take pride in Saturday night here and making it a difficult place to play.”
Kickoff between Ole Miss and Memphis is set for Saturday at 6 p.m.
