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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebel Pep Rally Set for Saturday in Grove
9/1/2006 | Football
Head Coach Ed Orgeron and several Rebel standouts will be on hand for the rally, which will also feature the Pride of the South Band, the Ole Miss Rebelettes and cheerleaders and Chancellor Robert Khayat. The Delta-born classic rock band The Krackerjacks perform at 5:30 p.m.
All Rebel fans, especially freshmen and other new students, are urged to bring picnic food and chairs and enjoy the entire Grove experience, said sophomore Richard Wood of Atoka, Tenn., student director of the committee.
"Our goal for our Rally in the Grove is to bring school spirit to an all-time high," Wood said. "We're hoping to bring back the traditional pep rallies and to generate hype. We want people to have a good time and just celebrate being an Ole Miss Rebel."
Free water, hand fans and pompoms are to be available, thanks to the rally's sponsor, Stanford Financial of Memphis.
Coca-Cola and the spirit committee are teaming up at Sunday’s game to provide commemorative cups to the first 500 students who pass through the student gates at the stadium. During the game, students can take the cups to concessions stands for a free Coke product.
Molly Meisenheimer, faculty adviser for the student committee, said the organization was formed in February, after a group of students expressed a desire to vamp up school spirit.
"The goal of the committee is to enhance the pregame and game-day environment and involvement," Meisenheimer said. "We are trying to build this committee to be around for many years and have students interested in working on it. Everyone has a job to do, and we expect them to complete it. But most of all, it is student driven and that is when something will really happen."
One of the developments they're most excited about is the new "mic-man," Marcus Guinn. Guinn, a senior music major from Memphis, is well-known by students for getting the band and the crowd fired up with his animated bass drum playing in the Pride of the South band.
"My job as the new mic-hype-man is to give Ole Miss the voice it needs to increase fan support and overall energy on game day; you can expect it to be crazy out there," he said.
Come game day, Guinn expects to be on the microphone and on the field with the cheerleaders to help pump up the crowd.
"My goal is a simple one: I want the gameday atmosphere to be so electric that visiting teams will be intimidated by the level of noise and crowd participation," he said. "Ole Miss is a school of great tradition, and I would like the fan support of our athletic programs to reflect that great tradition. The student section will be the loudest in the SEC."
