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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebel Freshmen go through Second Day of Practice
8/2/1999 | Football
Aug. 9, 1999
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss freshmen went through their second day of two-a-day workouts here Saturday under first-year head coach David Cutcliffe and his staff.
The Rebels again split their two practices into a defensive and offensive session. Defense took the main stage during the morning's 90-minute workout, while offense was the main focus during the afternoon session.
The squad continued to work mainly on fundamentals as the coaching staff used the two days as an evaluation period to decide which positions to place the 23 newcomers when Ole Miss begins full-squad two-a-day workouts on Tuesday.
Cutcliffe was pleased again with Saturday's practices and said the coaching staff will have most of the freshmen placed in positions by Tuesday's morning practice.
"We accomplished a lot of things in the four practice sessions we had," Cutcliffe said.
"There's no question we got better in a lot of things. They got better at how we expect them to practice, and they got better in a lot of their skills.
"We'll make some evaluations and place these guys in positions for the most part Tuesday morning. There may be a few that we spend a few more days making up our minds on, but for the most part everyone will be settled into a position Tuesday morning."
The Rebels will be off Sunday and Monday as the upper-classmen are due to report Sunday evening. Cutcliffe said, however, they will continue to hold meetings with the freshmen before starting full-squad workouts.
He also added that he expects this group to blend in nicely with the Rebels returning cast of players.
"I think they'll filter in well with the older group," Cutcliffe said. "I think there are a number of them that will help us this year. The one thing that I do know, having done this a few years, is that until you go through full contact it's real hard to tell who's going to do what. I'm going to reserve full judgement until after we've had a couple days of hitting."
One area the Cutcliffe was particularly pleased with was how fast the newcomers have seemed to grasp the basics that the coaching staff has been stressing to them.
"One thing that's been obvious is that we've had really good retention among this group," Cutcliffe said. "They've learned a lot fast."
When two-a-days resume on Tuesday, Ole Miss will continue to hold two-a-day workouts until the following Wednesday when classes are scheduled to begin. The Rebels are scheduled to have their first full day in pads next Friday.
