Mississippi defensive back Senquez Golson (21) watches a replay during the second half an NCAA college football game against Alabama in Oxford, Miss., Saturday, Oct. 4, 2014. The replay showed a Mississippi interception to stop a potential Alabama scoring drive late in the fourth quarter. Ole Miss won 23-17. (DM Photo | Cady Herring )
After holding LSU to only ten points last week, the Ole Miss defense now faces a big challenge with the Auburn Tigers, who have the 19th-ranked offense in the country.
Defensive coordinator Dave Wommack felt the Auburn offense was similar to the Ole Miss offense.
“I like the way we match up against them, and a lot of things that we do really strong on offense, we get to see a lot of those things from them,” Wommack said. “They have a very athletic quarterback, but I think we’ll have a good plan.”
Senior cornerback Senquez Golson also liked the matchup Auburn presented.
“Our defense is probably more designed for Auburn’s offense rather than the I-Pro (LSU’ offense),” Golson said. “So it’s kind of more familiar with us, especially running against our offense all the time.”
Wommack felt Auburn’s quarterback Nick Marshall presented a big threat for Saturday’s game.
“I think he’s a better thrower this year than he was last year, and he’s a tremendous athlete,” Wommack said. “He can out-run practically everybody on the field if you don’t capture him before he gets started.”
Wommack said Marshall and better receivers had made the Tigers a better passing team.
“I think that’s where they’ve really improved is at receiver. All those guys, they’ve played more this year, and they have a nice receiving core,” Wommack said. “That’s part of the reason the passing game has improved and why they’ve balanced out and they’ve spread it out more this year because of those guys.”
Golson saw the same improvements in Marshall and sees him as a more dynamic player this year compared to last year. Golson also complimented the Auburn receiving core.
“They definitely have a better receiving core than last year with the addition of D’haquille Williams, but we’re just going to go in, check out the tendencies and give them what we got,” Golson said.
The Ole Miss defense could be receiving a big boost this week however, as junior safety Chief Brown could return to play after tearing his Achilles in June. Brown plays the rover position, and adds some much needed depth and experience to a secondary that has struggled with injuries this season. Brown was expected to miss the whole season, so Wommack was surprised and pleased with his progression.
“He’s a lot better (than he was), four-and-a-half, five months ago, having that happen to his Achilles. I’m amazed that he’s been able to get out there to what looks like the same old Chief,” Wommack said. “We tried to get him a lot of reps last week and knock some of the rust off and I think he’ll be ready to go this week.”
Brown has also played the free safety spot, where current starter senior Cody Prewitt is also battling an injury. Wommack discussed Prewitt’s status as well as the status of defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche, who’s also battling an injury.
“Cody, we’re just trying to limit him, so we didn’t give him a lot of reps out there,” Wommack said. “Robert I think had to work through (his injury), I think he was in and out a couple times and finished strong the last half of practice, it’s just a matter of getting back into it.”
The bright spot of practice was sophomore defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche, senior safety Cody Prewitt and sophomore offensive lineman Laremy Tunsil all participating in practice.
Wommack was encouraged with Nkemdiche and Prewitt participating in practice, but at the same time wary.
“Cody we’re trying to limit him so we didn’t give him a lot of reps out there,” defensive coordinator Dave Wommack said. “Robert had to work through it, he was in-and-out a couple times and then he finished strong in the last half of practice.”
