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Big Turnout For Meet The Rebels
Team Notes
OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss
continued its preparations for the Sept. 3 football season opener
against BYU with an intrasquad scrimmage in front of nearly 6,000 fans
at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday evening.
An
estimated 4,000 Ole Miss fans showed up at the Indoor Practice Field
for the annual Meet the Rebels Day prior to the scrimmage.
A
range of activities for fans of all ages included autographs by the
Rebel players and coaches, poster and schedule card giveaways,
merchandise for sale, interactive children’s activities and speeches by
Head Coach Houston Nutt and other Ole Miss administrators.
The
Rebels scrimmaged in full pads for almost two hours. The offense wore
blue jerseys and the defense had on white, while quarterbacks and
kickers wore red “non-contact” jerseys.
Nutt
applauded the team’s effort and intensity throughout preseason camp and
in Saturday’s scrimmage, and said there is still much improvement to be
made.
The rushing attack was particularly
successful during the scrimmage, with four of the team’s six touchdowns
on the day coming from the ground game.
“We made
some runs the last three days of practice,” Nutt said. “We made some
good things happen with blocking and guys running, and a lot of it
without Brandon (Bolden) and Jeff (Scott). I thought Devin Thomas did a
really nice job for us today. The linemen are getting better.”
Thomas
scored the first TD of the scrimmage with a 9-yard run up the middle
and later added a 29-yard receiving score off a screen pass from Barry
Brunetti.
Freshman receive Donte Moncrief also
showed out during the scrimmage with impressive scores on a 35-yard
reverse down left side and a fantastic 53-yard reception from Randall
Mackey.
“He’s a special guy,” said Nutt of the Raleigh, Miss., native.
Nutt was high on the receiving corps as a whole, especially the freshmen.
“Since
day one as a freshman, Tobias Singleton, Nick Brassell, T.J. Worthy,
Collins Moore, Donte Moncrief - every one of these guys is very good.
They have good hands, they compete and they’re explosive. They’re
playmakers.”
Brunetti and Mackey each had a
touchdown pass, and Nutt talked about the tough choice between those
two and Zack Stoudt for the starting quarterback job.
“All
three of our quarterbacks do some things well,” Nutt said. “All three
of them are excellent. Each of them has strengths. You can put any one
of the three in the game. (Offensive coordinator) David (Lee) feels the
same way. That’s what makes it difficult, but I’m glad we’ve got them.”
Nutt
added that he does not feel pressure to make a decision quickly and
that the coaching staff is going to scrutinize and grade the film very
hard.
Other players to score touchdowns in the
scrimmage were Brandon Bolden on a 4-yard run up the middle out of the
“Wild Rebel” formation and Philander Moore on a 24-yard run to the left.
The Rebel kickers, led by junior Bryson Rose, made all of their PATs and field goal attempts.
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