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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Push Through The Heat Tuesday
8/20/2002 | Football
Aug. 20, 2002
OXFORD, Miss. - Ole Miss worked out for over two hours Tuesday afternoon, battling heat indexes that reached triple digits, as the Rebels continued to prepare for the Aug. 31 season opener with Louisiana-Monroe.
Head coach David Cutcliffe called Tuesday's weather one of the warmest days that the Rebels have practiced under this year, and was pleased with how his team worked through the conditions.
"We got a lot of full-speed work in today, which is what we needed," Cutcliffe said. "It's probably the hottest day that we've had. I thought yesterday was hot, but today with the humiditiy, it was hotter. When the sun came out, it stressed us and pushed us, particularly going over two hours on the field back-to-back days."
In addition to continuing to work on its offensive and defensive schemes, Ole Miss also spent some practice focusing on its game plan for Louisiana-Monroe.
"We're working on the game plan right now," Cutcliffe said. "We're putting some things in for Louisiana-Monroe and looking at their stuff on both sides of the ball and in the kicking game. We'll continue to do that the rest of this week."
The Rebel defense received some good news in the injury department Tuesday. Senior linebacker Lanier Goethie practiced at full speed for the second straight day after suffering from a strained hamstring that has sidelined him since the start of preseason drills, and junior linebacker Justin Wade practiced for the first time after recovering from a foot injury.
"We've got some people back out there, but speed is a different matter," Cutcliffe said. "That's still a concern to get the entire squad back at full speed. The biggest thing we're going to do is evaluate who we have at full speed and can go play with. If we can pick some other people up along the way, especially veteran players, it'll be a bonus. Lanier looked better today, and Justin Wade was feeling his way around, but it was great to see him back out there."
This Sunday will be the season's first airing of the "Ole Miss Football with David Cutcliffe" TV show, on most of the 11 stations in Mississippi and Memphis that are scheduled to carry the program. The program has also been picked up by ComCast/Charter Sports, which will air the show on Wednesdays at 5 p.m., and by FOX SportsNet South, where the show can be seen Mondays at noon. Please check local listings for the times and dates in your area.
