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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Cutcliffe, Rebels Look To Open Season Saturday With Memphis
8/30/2004 | Football
Aug. 30, 2004
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss Rebels kickoff the 2004 football season this Saturday when they host mid-south rival Memphis. Kickoff at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium/Hollingsworth Field is scheduled for 6:00 pm.
The Rebels look to continue the momentum from last season that saw Ole Miss record 10 wins, a share of the SEC Western Division title and a victory in the SBC Cotton Bowl. But they will start the season against a Memphis team that is returning 16 starters on both sides of the ball.
"We saw Memphis in person last year," said Ole Miss head coach David Cutcliffe. "Memphis had a great season in 2003, and I would imagine they are ready for bigger and better things in 2004."
When Ole Miss takes the field this Saturday, they do so with a few new faces on the field. For the offense, gone is veteran QB Eli Manning, in his place is fourth-year junior Michael Spurlock. While Spurlock enters his first year as the starter, he has had the privilege of learning Coach Cutcliffe's system while studying under Manning.
"You'd always like a new quarterback to be successful early so he can get in a good rhythm," Cutcliffe said. "He is in a situation where he hasn't started a game in three years. He just needs to get out there and mix it up."
One area where the Rebel's thrive in experience is the running back position. Junior Vashon Pearson will head the Rebel Running-Back Committee up this year. The Ripley, Miss native returns after gaining an impressive 71 yards on 13 carries with a TD in the annual Red-Blue game in the spring. Last season, Pearson averaged 4.2 yards per carry while serving as a vital role in the system. Aiding Pearson in the scheme will be junior Brandon Jacobs, senior Marvin Vaughn, and redshirt freshmen Alan Abrams and Dawan Woods. Seniors Lorenzo Townsend and Rick Razzano return for their final seasons as the fullbacks for Ole Miss. However, Razzano will be unavailable for the Memphis contest.
Another area where the Rebels have plenty of experience is at wide receiver. Senior Bill Flowers is back, as well as senior and team captain Kerry Johnson. Together the two combined for 942 yards on 67 catches with six TD's, five by Johnson. Also returning are speedy juniors Mike Espy and Taye Biddle. Espy led all returning receivers in yards per catch last season with 18.1.
Defensively, Ole Miss must replace seven starters off of last season's team that saw the Rebels ranked 14th nationally against the run. Senior Daniel Booth is the team's lone returning starter on the line. However, the ability of third year defensive coordinator Chuck Driesbach to rotate players in the 4-2-5 scheme has paid dividends as a number of returning players saw action last season. Juniors Jayme Mitchell, McKinley Boykin, Michael Bozeman, senior Cory Robinson, and sophomore Andrew Wicker all saw significant playing time last season.
Seniors Brian Lester and Rob Roberson take over the as the starters in the linebacker position, having seen huge amounts of playing time last season.
The secondary has the benefit of returning three starters in juniors Travis Johnson at cornerback, Kelvin Robinson at strong safety, and senior Eric Oliver at free safety. Oliver is the team's leading returning tackler with 233 total stops over the last two seasons. His leadership abilities have earned him status as one of this season's team captains as well as the Chucky Mullins Courage Award that will allow him to wear number 38 this season.
One area the Rebels hope that they can truly play special is on special teams. All of last season's contributors are back this season, including 2003 Lou Groza award-winning place-kicker Jonathan Nichols. Punter Cody Ridgeway returns, hoping to improve on his already impressive 44.2 yards per punt average from last season. Long-snapper Sydney McLaurin also returns, as does return man Mike Espy.
This will be the season opener for both teams. Ole Miss holds a 42-9-2 lead in the series with the Tigers. Tiger head coach Tommy West is 17-19 at Memphis with a career record of 52-54. Offensively, senior QB Danny Wimprine leads the Tigers. Wimprine passed for 3,174 yards and 22 TD's.
Defensively, Memphis returns six starters from last season's squad. Junior DB Wesley Smith is the Tigers leading returning tackler with 98 total stops.
