A Rebel (Defensive) Uprising

Sept. 7, 2002

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By Chris Purser
Sports Information Student Assistant

OXFORD, Miss. - In Ole Miss' 38-16 victory over Memphis Saturday, the Rebel defense held the Tiger offense to a total of 18 yards on 20 carries. That's the fewest yards allowed by a Rebel defense since it limited LSU to 15 yards on 25 carries. That was all the back in 1999.

Since that time, the Rebel defense has been "much-maligned" - as head coach David Cutcliffe called it in his Aug. 26 press conference -- for its inability to contain the run. Referred to as undersized, the Rebel run defense has been under the light for the past several weeks. But today, they silenced those who had any doubts about their size, attitude, or weakness when it comes to their ability to contain the rushing offense.

"I was extremely impressed and pleased with how we came out," said Chuck Driesbach, who was hired as the defensive coordinator in February. "I was real, real pleased at how we played the run."

The Rebel defensive front didn't allow a play of longer than 8 yards, while recording 5 tackles-for-loss. The fact that the Ole Miss Rebel defense held the Tigers to less than 20 yards is a great statistic when you look at last season when the Rebel defense gave up an average of 214 yards on the ground. Furthermore, the Rebel front four held both of Memphis' star running backs (Dante Brown and DeAngelo Williams) to a total of just 41 yards. After two games, the Ole Miss defense is only giving up 64 yards per contest (110 yards to Louisiana-Monroe; 18 to Memphis). The Rebels, though, are still looking to improve.

"That was our goal coming into this season," said senior linebacker Ryan Hamilton. "There was always that nagging that the Ole Miss defense couldn't stop the run. I think we proved a lot of people wrong with this game."

While many have called the Rebel defensive frontline small for their size, they have the speed to get the job done. With a new scheme -- installed by Driesbach -- that is built around speed, senior defensive lineman Yahrek Johnson believes that is the reason why the Ole Miss run defense was able to stop the Memphis ground game.

"The defense worked on getting stronger and quicker in the offseason," Johnson said. "This scheme is more adaptive to our size."

With two games under their belts, the Rebel defensive line looks to continue stopping opponents' running backs before they ever get a second wind.

"To me, this is our main goal," Johnson said. "That is the main philosophy of any defense, to establish the line of scrimmage and stop the run."

Despite the Rebels ability to stop the Memphis ground game, Johnson and the rest of the defensive squad are not looking to rest on their laurels after this game. They are already looking forward to the rest of the season.

"We can't dwell on this one game," Johnson said. "There are bigger fish we are trying to catch."

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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