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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Willis Leads Rebels in Wednesday Scrimmage
8/16/2006 | Football
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss football team took Wednesday's practice to the Vaught-Hemingway Stadium field for an afternoon scrimmage. After seeing the offense dominate in the Rebels' previous scrimmage on Saturday, head coach Ed Orgeron was pleased to see the defense control the opening phases of Wednesday's encounter.
"We had a scrimmage in the stadium and it went really well," said Orgeron, who is entering his second season at the helm of the program. "The defense picked it up at the beginning of the scrimmage. I thought our defensive line did a lot better than they have been playing. Towards the end of the scrimmage the offense picked it up, and ran the ball well. Overall, I thought it was a very balanced scrimmage."
Orgeron was quick to give credit to the rise in defensive play to the presence of All-America linebacker Patrick Willis, who did not participate in Saturday's scrimmage, but was on the field on Wednesday.
"Patrick was in there with our first defense for the first half of the scrimmage," said Orgeron. "I think they did very well with him in there. We are pleased to see that our defense made some progress. We caused some fumbles and made some sacks, we are coming along.
"Patrick makes the whole team look better. It's just obvious that when he's in there every body is feeling a lot more confident and he makes a lot of plays. He looked fantastic. I have not seen the film yet, but he was all over the field."
Willis was not the lone defensive standout on the afternoon, as Orgeron was also pleased with some of the players along the defensive line, an area he has been looking for some improvement.
"Hayward Howard played a little bit better today," said Orgeron. "Jeremy Garrett was solid. Those two guys showed out. It was the first time in a while our defensive line challenged the offensive line."
It was not a completely one-sided affair as the Rebel offense turned it on during the latter stages of the scrimmage, in particular the running backs and tight ends.
"Mico (McSwain) made some good plays and Cordera (Eason) made some good plays," said Orgeron. "Bruce Hall ran the ball well.
"I thought our tight ends caught the ball extremely well today," added Orgeron. "They made some big plays out there. Lawrence Lilly, Robert Lane and Robert Hough, all of them. Keith Houston also made some plays."
The team will take part in the annual "Meet the Rebels Day" Saturday at the Indoor Practice Facility. Lunch will be served from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. at $10 per box lunch. Orgeron will speak at approximately 12:15 p.m., and players will be on hand for autographs and photographs from 12:30-2:30 p.m. Afterwards, the Rebels will take to the practice fields adjacent to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium for a full-squad scrimmage that is open to the public.
