On Monday, the Ole Miss football team got back to work with their first spring practice since returning from spring break. Head coach Hugh Freeze said the practices have been back and forth so far.
“This is day seven,” Freeze said. “The first two days were non-pads. We didn’t have any competitions then, but since then it’s been about even. Before we broke for spring, it was a dominant practice by the defense. Today was a dominant practice by the offense.”
Freeze outlined his plan for the week.
Coach Hugh Freeze paces during Monday’s practice. (Photo by: Ariel Cobbert)
“I thought we still looked like we were on spring break a little bit today, as far as the conditioning and getting back into it,” Freeze said. “Hopefully, they’ll meet with coach Jackson tomorrow, and we’ll get the film knocked out and come back Wednesday and Thursday.”
Through the first seven practices of the spring, a few players stuck out to Freeze early in the process. Freeze said redshirt freshmen Alex Givens stood out to him during the spring training.
Freeze also mentioned defensive lineman Marquis Haynes, DJ Jones and defensive back Myles Hartsfield as players that had impressed him. He stressed that plenty of players who had been with the program longer had also performed well, along with redshirt freshman receiver Van Jefferson. With the departure of Laquon Treadwell and Cody Core, Jefferson has a great chance to move into the rotation as a receiver and possibly in the return game as well.
“Van shows up every practice,” Freeze said. “He’s really looked good.”
Freeze also addressed the defensive line, which is missing many of the contributors from last year’s group.
“We need to get some kids healthy,” Freeze said. “ We’re without Fadol (Brown) right now, without Herbert (Moore), without Issac (Gross) in the team stuff. We need those guys to get back and give us the depth we need, but I think we have a chance to be OK there.”
Freeze also addressed a few of the players currently fighting their way back from injury — including redshirt freshman Eric Swinney, who has a chance to receive some of the carries vacated by last year’s leading rusher, Jaylen Walton.
“He looked very good today,” Freeze said. “He hasn’t gotten a ton of carries, but today he looked quick, powerful and strong. He finished runs well. I liked what I saw. I think all of our guys, they’re all up over 200 pounds now, and they all have certain things, but he seems to finish runs with a certain amount of authority for sure that we might not have seen so much of in the past.”
– Cody Thomason
