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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Complete First Workout In Full Pads
8/13/2004 | Football
Aug. 13, 2004
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss Rebel football team completed its first day of workouts in full pads on Friday with a spirited practice in unseasonably cool weather for August in Mississippi.
The Rebels took the field at 10 a.m. for the squad's first workout in full pads of the season due to the new rules in place that require the team to work out once a day for the first few days of practice.
"For our first day in pads, we saw some really positive work," said Ole Miss head coach David Cutcliffe. "Competition was evident. I know we got better. We had a lot of one-on-one contact and group contact. I thought the two-minute drill work went well. With inexperienced quarterbacks, we're going to need to do that more often. This is something to build on."
The Rebels opened practice with work on the kicking game before breaking down into positions and working one-on-one with the position coaches. The squad then came back together for more group work on offense and defense.
The offensive line caught the eye of the coaching staff as a solid spot in the workout.
"I thought the offensive line did well," Cutcliffe said. "The first team group was exceptional. The one-on-one looked good, but I expected it to be good because that's an experienced group out there."
The defense and wide receivers also continued to take up some of the spotlight as the offense and defense continued to battle.
"I thought today we again dropped too many passes," "I hope our defense is making it more difficult to complete passes. I think they are competing with the receivers closely and that's having an effect, but we also have to learn on the other side of the ball to make those plays on offense."
The Rebels will begin the first day of two-a-day practices on Saturday with an 8:30 a.m. practice. The squad will meet again for its second practice of the day at 6:45 p.m.
