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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Football Completes One-Third of Spring Drills
6/21/1999 | Football
March 26, 1999
OXFORD, Miss. -With the fifth day of practice completed on Friday, the Ole Miss Rebel football team is now one-third of the way through its 1999 spring drills. The Rebels have made a lot progress in the first five practices, but with the teaching of head coach David Cutcliffe's system, the Ole Miss squad is still learning and growing.
"I don't really know if we should be at a certain point right now because it's a new situation for me as far as teaching an offense that no one knows," Cutcliffe said, following the team's fifth spring practice on Friday. "However, I think that we've gotten a lot done in these first five practices. From the amount of work we've done in these practices, I feel great about that.
"We've worked hard on the kicking game, and defensively, we've made good strides. Offensively, I know we have improved."
Friday's practice began with Ole Miss spring coaches clinic, and then the Rebels went into their drills. Cutcliffe continued to be impressed with the entire squad's improvement, especially the defensive back and quarterbacks.
"I thought today's practice was better than yesterday's, and that's the way it should be and it's something to build on," Cutcliffe said. "We weren't out here a long time today because we had practice in conjunction with our coaching clinic, and our visiting coaches got something out of that.
"I thought our players competed better today. The defense set the tone early in today's practice. The defensive backs came to play today, and made some plays. I am also pleased with our quarterbacks, and they way they have improved. The strides those two groups have made are evident."
The Rebels will continue practice on Saturday, marking the third consecutive day of spring drills. Cutcliffe is eager to see how the players react to their third practice in three days.
"It's going to be interesting to see how the players respond to practicing three days in a row," said Cutcliffe. "We'll look at the tape of today's practice tonight, and we'll see how we perform in tomorrow's scrimmage.
"We have a big opportunity tomorrow to make big strides in our situation scrimmage, and we get to see where we are."
The situation scrimmage is scheduled to start at approximately 12:20 p.m. in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
