In practice Wednesday, the Rebels had a shakeup at the kicker position with freshman Gary Wunderlich set to take over all kicking duties. Wunderlich was ranked as the number one kicker in the country in the class of 2014 by Rivals.com and was already the kickoff specialist and long-field goal kicker for the team.
“Gary is gonna get the start, and we’ll go from there. But it’s his to win or lose,” head coach Hugh Freeze said. “He’s always been very steady on the long ones. It seems that the shorter it gets, he gets a little quick sometimes and a little bit inaccurate, but I think he deserves the chance to get in a game, and let’s see. He hasn’t missed one in a game other than an extra point.”
Defensive line coach Chris Kiffin also talked to the media, addressing several topics, including last week’s matchup against Alabama, where his brother Lane is the offensive coordinator.
“It was a different feeling. It really was,” Kiffin said of coaching against his brother. “Just like growing up with our dad, we used to live or die every play for a family member, so I’m already hoping they rebound against Arkansas and that their offense plays well.”
Kiffin also discussed the play of sophomore defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche.
“He does do so many good things in there, but his production’s just not up, his stats and the numbers,” Kiffin said. “As far as technique and all that, he’s just constantly getting better. He just absolutely loves defensive tackle, now. when before he didn’t even know if he wanted to play that, so all that stuff’s good.
“He’s playing very well for us. You don’t really notice it until all the sudden, you realize that you’re in the top five in total defense,” Kiffin said. “Something is happening up front with him where he is, playing against Alabama, to really control what they did.”
Kiffin also discussed the opponent for this Saturday, Texas A&M and said the depth of his defensive line could really help the team.
“This week going into A&M, I think that plays into our hands that we have 8-10 guys that have played,” Kiffin said. “A team like that is going to be tempo and get 80 plays a game, where you can rotate guys and not like you’re missing a beat.”
Freeze discussed the Aggies as well and how they were preparing for the noise level of Kyle Field.
“We’ve been blaring the speakers about as loud as we can. We seem to have handled it pretty well. Bo (Wallace) has been in those types of places before, so that helps,” Freeze said. “We have a few new lineman that haven’t, so that’s always something that you have to adjust to a little bit, and hopefully, we’ll help them this week and get accustomed to it.”
