Hugh Freeze’s team practiced inside Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in the heat of Mississippi on Wednesday afternoon. However, it’s the heat in Austin on Saturday night that could play a factor in the team’s matchup against the Texas Longhorns.
“I hear it’s going to be hot in Texas,” Freeze said following practice. “We’ll hopefully get adjusted to it. Hopefully we can rest some people with our (second string players) some without too big of a drop off. We’ll need to do that some.”
Freeze was pleased with Wednesday’s practice, and he especially liked what his coaching staff did.
“Our coaches, I’m really proud of them. We pushed the hard today and really got after it,” Freeze said. “It was a physical, good practice. The energy wasn’t great. We kind of expected that, but we pushed them through it. So we got some stuff done today.”
Freeze spoke about the status of a few of his players entering Saturday. First, Charles Sawyer, on the heels of a DUI arrest this past weekend, will not travel with the team to Austin. Christian Morgan will, if possible, Freeze noted, need a redshirt. Freeze said the doctors would be in tomorrow, but that lingering injuries will not prevent offensive linemen Pierce Burton or Emmanuel McCray from playing on Saturday. Vince Sanders practiced again, and Freeze praised him after practice, and it appears Sanders will play and the Rebels will be healthy prior to playing Texas on the injury front.
Freeze also spoke about his offensive line and where it stands early in the season.
“I think it’s too early to tell,” he said. “We didn’t get to play enough. They did some good things against Vandy. Losing Aaron (Morris) hurt our depth. We’ll know more about them in the next few weeks.”
Freeze also spoke about the players that Texas has on the defensive side of the ball.
“Big, big, good-looking athletes,” he said. “They don’t have any small kids. They’re all athletic and long, rangy kids, who I’m certain can play and play very, very well. That’s what I expect from them.”
In the eyes of many Rebel fans, Saturday’s game has seemingly become more and more winnable as the week has progressed. Freeze talked about how big a win could be over a program like Texas.
“I think it would cause a lot of people to see us in a little different way,” he said.
