The Ole Miss defense has had a trial by fire in the first four weeks of the season. The team lost a lot of key contributors from the Sugar Bowl winning defense last season and have endured a rash of injuries, as a result a lot of inexperienced players have had to step up for the Landshark defense. Although there have been some struggles, the defense showed marked improvement against Georgia last week, especially in the secondary.
Freshmen Myles Hartsfield, Deontay Anderson and Zedrick Woods have stepped up at the safety position, and endured big tests against Florida State and Alabama. While the former two teams had some success through the air, especially in the second half, Georgia’s freshman quarterback Jacob Eason struggled to move the ball at all in the game. Head Coach Hugh Freeze saw some improvement in his young safeties against the Bulldogs.
“They haven’t played much football and I think Corey (Batoon) and I and Jason (Jones) have worked hard at coaching them the past few weeks to not give up explosive plays, to get their eyes right and to be disciplined on every snap,” Freeze said. “We still weren’t as disciplined as I would have liked for them to be last week, but it was much better than weeks before.”
“When you are playing that many young kids, it is impossible for us to prepare for a team and cover everything that they could possibly do,” Freeze said. “(Memphis) is working this week too on their game plan, to put new things in and bring different looks. For a young kid, we double call a lot of stuff and he’s got so many things running through his mind and all of a sudden, this is a different formation, we haven’t seen this motion and there are a lot of things going on. We kind of got spoiled having Mike Hilton and Trae Elston, those guys back there who had done it for years and years and these guys are just four games into their career, but they are getting better.”
The defensive end spot had also seen its fair share of injuries, and on Saturday sophomore Garrald McDowell made his presence felt when called upon.
Freeze said McDowell played his best game yet against Georgia.
“Effort wise was really good, and made a few mistakes on some gap control,” Freeze said. “I think that he improved his status. He and (Victor Evans) had kind of been going back and forth and I think (McDowell) performed pretty well. It will be a battle this week to see who the second one is between those two. I am glad we’ve got them both, but (McDowell) definitely helped himself Saturday.”
McDowell’s biggest play was his sack and forced fumble on Georgia’s quarterback Jacob Eason.
Defensive players celebrate the win against Georgia Saturday. (Photo by Cameron Brooks)
“That felt really good,” McDowell said. “All my hard work is paying off now and I got to show it a little bit on the field.”
McDowell said he felt improvements on the mental aspects of the game had helped him improve to his current level.
“Knowing my plays and everything, I felt more confident so I could play faster and physical,” McDowell said.
Junior A.J. Moore has has also stepped up in the secondary, and is currently fourth on the team with 16 tackles. Freeze praised Moore, but also pointed out that stats don’t tell the whole story.
“What a wonderful kid. He has played solid, but he can play a lot better,” Freeze said. “We are going to continue to challenge him and he wants that type of coaching. Even though his stats say he’s doing well, you can put on the film that there are three times that you ask, `Where are your eyes, they are bad and that costs you,’ and he knows it and he wants that. We are proud of the good things he has done, but he can still improve more.”
