The long wait is over. Ole Miss football is here. The 2013-2014 season begins tonight as the Rebels head to Nashville to take on Southeastern Conference foe Vanderbilt at 8:15. The game can be seen on ESPN.
The Commodores, who are coming off a 9-4 season overall and a 5-3 mark in the SEC, have won five of the last six meetings between the two schools, including edging out a 27-26 win in Oxford last season. Ole Miss enters the season after posting a 7-6 record last year, including a 3-5 mark in the SEC under head coach Hugh Freeze who is beginning his second season at the helm for the Rebels.
“We’re excited about getting another season started,” Freeze said in his weekly press conference Monday. “Opening the season with a conference game like Vanderbilt, in Nashville, is something that’s certainly grabbed the attention of our staff and our kids. As I’m certain it has their kids and their staff.”
Not only will the Rebels and Commodores be opening the season with a conference matchup, the two teams will also be the second game of the season nationally following a game between South Carolina and North Carolina.
“To open the college season on opening night on national TV is somewhat of a responsibility our staff and our kids have to this great university to represent it well,” Freeze said. “We don’t take that lightly. We’re very motivated. We’ve spent an enormous amount of time preparing, hopefully to go in with a very young football team in an environment with a very mature football team. That’s somewhat of an unknown with how our young kids will perform. We don’t get a warm-up shot with a tune-up game. We’re going to have to do it for real in a tough environment against a team that’s proven over the last few years that that opening game with them at home is something they’re always ready for.”
Despite losing two of their top offensive performers from last season in quarterback Jordan Rodgers and running back Zac Stacy, Vanderbilt will return a solid unit led by senior receiver Jordan Matthews. Last season Matthews gave the Rebels trouble when he caught nine passes for 153 yards and a touchdown in the Commodore win. He finished the season with 94 receptions for 1,323 yards and eight touchdowns. He also enters this year on the Bilentnikoff Trophy watch list, which is awarded to the best receiver in the nation at the end of the season.
Vanderbilt will also go with a new starting quarterback this season in senior Austyn Carta-Samuels, who is a Wyoming transfer. Carta-Samuels played in just six games last season for the Commodores including one start and will get his first real taste of SEC play tonight. However, the Rebel coaching staff expects him to present some threats.
“We’ve watched a lot of tape on him going back to Wyoming,” defensive coordinator Dave Wommack said. “We’ve had to prepare for more things. I think he is mobile and can run. It looks like he can throw well. So we are prepared for the most. I would say he is definitely faster than Rodgers is and a little more shifty.”
At running back, the Commodores will most likely present three players, senior Wesley Tate, who is the leading returner with eight touchdowns last season and sophomores Brian Kimbrow and Jerron Seymour.
Things on the offensive side of the ball for Ole Miss appear to be a little more in their favor with eight returning starters including their top three producing players, junior quarterback Bo Wallace, senior running back Jeff Scott and junior receiver Donte Moncrief.
“We feel like we will be a better offense this year because most of our guys are coming back,” offensive coordinator Dan Werner said. “With your quarterback back and all the receivers and all the running backs really, we feel pretty good about it. We’ve just got to execute, and as coaches we’ve got to give them a good plan.”
Leading the charge will be Wallace, who threw for 2,994 yards last season with 22 touchdowns, and even more importantly this year, Wallace will be attempting to pick up the high-tempo offense Freeze and his staff are trying to implement.
“I do (think we will go faster this year),” Werner said. “Just because our guys know what to do. It depends on the referees. I hear they are going to let us play faster this year, so if that is the case we will push it to the limit.”
Ole Miss will also look to their recently added recruiting class for production offensively. Freshmen receivers Laquon Treadwell and Quincy Adeboyejo look to play a role in the passing game, while tackle Laremy Tunsil is also expected to get some snaps.
“I think Laquon is just a big body,” Wallace said. “He helps you as a quarterback. Defenders can’t get around him to make a play on the ball. Quincy is a good route runner. I think he’s a little banged up, but he is still running around and looks good.”
Defensively, Vanderbilt will return a solid unit including their top three tacklers from last season, safety Kenny Ladner, linebacker Chase Garnham and safety Javon Marshall.
On defense, the Rebels will return eleven players from last season including top tacklers sophomore linebacker Denzel Nkemdiche, junior safety Cody Prewitt and senior linebacker Mike Marry.
Despite having a nearly complete defense coming back, many will have eyes on freshman defensive end Robert Nkemdiche, who was the unanimous No. 1 recruit in the nation and is listed as one of the starting defensive ends for Ole Miss. Defensive line coach Chris Kiffin has worked with Nkemdiche all through fall camp and hopes that he will be able to stay focused and play the defensive scheme despite all the anticipation surrounding him.
“What we’ve been battling all fall camp really is the notion that he feels that he has to make every play,” Kiffin said. “Getting him to play within the defense, that’s been an on-going deal, but especially going out in that first game I can’t even fathom the amount of pressure on him outside of all the other stuff, the recruiting aspect, starting as a true freshman, but if he can just understand to go out and play the game like he has the past four weeks, I think he’ll be fine.”
As far as the game goes, Freeze believes the Ole Miss faithful will be present in Nashville and that their presence will be known.
“I’d be extremely disappointed if Ole Miss didn’t turn out very, very strong in Nashville,” Freeze said. “I think you’ll see our folks show up.”
For continuing coverage of Ole Miss football, follow @SigNewton_2 and @thedm_sports on Twitter.
